9 unusual professions that are extinct now

2/17/2021

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History Story: 9 unusual professions that are extinct now

With the advent of modern age technology, a lot of jobs that were largely popular in the old age have become extinct. Let us take a look at some of these now-extinct jobs.

Before you start reading, make sure you didn't miss our article about the flipsides (good and bad) of some modern jobs: 12 workers in various fields showed us the other side of their jobs

And here are 9 jobs that no longer exist because easy and better ways have been created to make life generally easier:

#1 Human bowling pinsetter

Long before automated pinsetters were invented, pinsetters were originally young teenage boys (pin boys) who manually reset bowling pins and put the balls back in their place. It was a lowly paid job.

#2 Human alarm clock

In the past, especially during the industrial revolution in Britain and Ireland, it was the job of certain people known as “knocker-uppers” to serve as human alarm clocks and wake up their clients. Their clients were mostly factory workers who needed to get to work early.

#3 Ice cutter

It was the job of certain people back in the days to cut out large chunks of ice from frozen natural water sources with long hand saws. The ice was a means of keeping things fresh and cold before the advent of mechanical refrigerators.

#4 Manual rat catcher

In order to reduce the rate of rat infestation in Europe, certain people known as rat catchers were employed. Their job was to capture as many rats as possible. They used a wide variety of devices and weapons.

#5 Lamplighter

Imagine having to light the street lamps manually every night, this was how things were in the past. There were night owl lamplighters whose jobs were to light the street. This was long before the days of electricity.

In fact, this job still exists in some cities of the world as a tribute to the past.

#6 Handy old milkmen

The regular way of having milk in the past days was through the daily supply of milk from milkmen. It was the period before milk preservatives and naturally, milk had to be consumed and delivered daily.

This was a typical job in the past but traces of this particular method of milk delivery are still seen even now.

#7 Female switchboard operators

Switchboard operators were used by telecommunication corporations to connect incoming calls. This was the period before 1960s and women were highly demanded for this occupation because of their suitable personalities.

#8 Body-snatchers or resurrectionists

Body snatching was an illegal job that involved digging up corpses for weird scientific research. Resurrectionists were hired by extremist scientists who had no regard or respect for the dead. The job was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries in the UK.

It's one of the jobs we're truly glad are extinct now.

#9 Lectors

A Lector in the olden days (although still a profession in parts of Cuba) was responsible for reading union publications and papers to workers at factories. They were usually hired by workers themselves at the factories or unions.

All these professions were the norm before the days of technological advancement. Reading about them makes us appreciate modern devices and at same time appreciate the work that people had to do to make life easier before better ways were developed.

Which of these professions do you wish never went extinct? Would you do any of these jobs? Tell us below.

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What are your thoughts on this subject?

57 Comments

Lilian Ling

I guess I must be really old as, while still at school in the 1950’s, I milked cows by hand on my grandfather’s farm then, from 1953 to 1957 I was a switchboard operator (I had to take a second look to make sure I wasn’t on that picture). Followed that with secretarial school, shorthand and manual typewriter (no-one does either of those today, either) then executive secretary with an electric typewriter. Finally got into computers in the early 1980’s and became a data analyst. Now, I just play on my i-pad 😊

Raymond Cardona

I'm old enough to remember milkmen who delivered our milk in glass bottles. My mother used to shake the bottle to mix the cream into the milk. I also vaguely remember switchboard operators and party lines where a few people were connected on a single phone line. Bonnie

Steve Tingle

Milkmen are not extinct, I still get my milk left at the door 3 days a week - OK he has a modern truck now (rather than horse and cart) but the fact that it comes in glass bottles appeals to my conservationist side - no recycling - they are reused. And from my own career there were the Punch Cards people (mostly women) without whom no computer program could get into the computer - a few years after I started my career they were all pensioned off (or made redundant) as we the programmers could then enter our programs directly through terminals.

Jim Johnson

I remember the following: Party Lines, 3 long rings and 1 short, Milk being delivered, Milking by hand, my Aunt was a switchboard operator. She knew everyone in the small town of Jenks, OK. I have never heard of Lector’s or a “ knocker-up

doreenwiseman

I was a switchboard operator in the 80’s at a hospital in Ontario. A job I loved

Jean Fox

We had daily milkmen. I was a switchboard operator in the early 70s. Don't know how people have the nerve to say they have rotten jobs compared to some of these!!

Dan Gottlieb

I know that the job of switchboard operator still existed into the 1970s. Body snatchers didn't only dig up bodies for weird scientific research. It was of course illegal, but they often sold the bodies to medical schools who in the end used them for legitimate study.

Eve

I remember milk deliveries and I worked for an answering machine that used the old cord boards. I had 80 ports on my board and I answered calls for all sorts of companies, hotels and medical professionals.

Eve

We had our milk delivered and my first job was at an answering service where the old "cord boards" were still in use.

Betty Wiendels

Julie Allen, My late mother’s late father was a milkman in Holland until his death of a brain tumour on Aug 30, 1947. He would have turned 44 the next day.

mikemerr

Wow my age is a telling lessons these days. I actually did the first job listed - pin setting at the local bowling alley in Boulder City, NV - the pay wasn't that great but for a freshman in high school it wasn't bad - the pins went into a pin setting machine that we lowered by hand and put the pins in and then raised it so the bowler could roll the ball to get the spare assuming he or she didn't get a strike - then we would put the rest of the pins knocked down put them into the setter and then push down on the setter and push the rail and it would set the pins in the alley for the next bowler. Also my Grandmother was a Switchboard operator and it was common in those days. Our first phone number was 362M and it was a party line. So when you picked up the phone to call you had to listen and if the phone was being used by another party you had to put the phone down and wait.

Gilbert Barsky

I worked as a 'pin up' boy. We had to grab all the pins and set them up as quickly as possible. The pins had a hole drilled into the bottom. When we went to set them up, we stepped on a elver which raised up some sort of nails where the pins had to sit. We just set the pins onto the nails. If we worked fast enough, or the bowlers were really nice, they would send a dime, or even better, a quarter down the lane at the end of the game.

Conrado De Leon

The knocker who woke up the whole village is the theme of a great story by Eric Knight, the author of Lassie, in his delightful book "The Flying Yorkshireman!". The story is called "Never come Monday" and is about a knocker who decides it is still Sunday for several days, creating a world-wide conflict.

Caroline Weis

One of my great aunts operated a switchboard backin the 40's and 50's. i can remember my mother ringing her when she made calls and we were on a party line. I also helped my father deliver eggs house to house to customers. He had around 600 customers and that was a lot of eggs to be delivered. We were on the route 5 days a week. A friend of ours had a dairy farm and delivered milk to people as well as the schools in the area.

bina sarmah

I remember to ask hotel lobby person to wake me up on certain time in the morning. It was their duty too. It was in 90s.

bina sarmah

Steve Tingle, Milkman is still there.

Lupe Hernandez

I remember the milkman delivering our milk, the Helm's bakery truck bringing fresh baked pastries, my brother was a bowling alley pin setter, a two party telephone line and a few other things not seen anymore.

Scott Aird

We also had a “ party line” telephone. 3 houses, I believe

Scott Aird

In the late 50s and early 60s we had a milkman, a bread man , and an orange juice man( “ Home Juice “ was the company name ) plus an irregular egg salesman. Clarkson Ontario.

lmoores

I was a switchboard operator for the government department 🏬 I worked for in the mid 1980s. I was 20 at the time. I also remember milk and bread being home delivered. I once was saw a dog🐕 making off with someone's loaf of bread. My teenage cousin worked briefly as a milkman in the late 80s early 90s.