You Will Not Believe That These Jobs Used To Exist

1. Castrato: castrating young boys

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Now here's a job from the past that was both illegal and completely and utterly inhume. Women were banned in the 16th century from acting or working at the theatre. So, to create the female voice a castrater would take a boy before puberty and castrate him, to create a higher pitched and stronger sound.

2. Physiognomist: finding criminals because of how they look

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In the 1990s there was a practice called physiognomy in which people thought that you could tell about a person's character from the way they looked. For example, whether somebody was a criminal, or a good person etc.. In reality, it was based purely on prejudice and Western European racial ideals.

3. Grave diggers: collecting human bodies

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It's shocking to think that in the past grave digging was a job. Bodies were in great need due to up and coming medical research and new investigations into medical practices etc.. So, research centres and universities needed bodies to research so they would hire a grave digger to go and dig them up a body!

4. Moirologist: the professional griever

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In ancient Egypt as well as some Mediterranean cultures, a woman was sometimes  hired by a family experiencing loss to grieve for the loved one, and instruct them through the death process - essentially she was a professional griever. She may also have acted as guard the body of the deceased.

5. Leech collector: jobs that sucked

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Surely one of the most unpleasant and skin-crawling jobs you could possibly imagine. But as we know in the past leeches were used super commonly in medicine, they were thought to suck out the bad blood and make people better. So in the mid-1800s there were leech collectors who would gather leeches for medical use.

6. Rat catcher: clearing rats from the streets

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The rat catcher - a highly unusual and unpleasant job. It first started back in Victorian London when rats were a huge problem in the town. The job would often be done by young children who would prefer it to more dangerous jobs such as chimney sweeping. They would then either sell rats ad household pets or kill them.

7. Knocker upper: a personal alarm clock

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If you've ever wondered what people did before electronic alarm clocks, here's your answer. In medieval times there were human alarm clocks, people who would go around towns/ cities/ villages knowing on people's doors and windows to get them up at the right time in the morning.

8. The town crier: all the town updates

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In the past, many people were illiterate and so they couldn't read the news. In replace of this, there would be a town crier. They would shout in the villages and towns to announce the news and tell people what was going on. This would be people's way to stay in touch with things that were going on.

9. Linkboys: lighting the way home

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Linkboys were young boys who would wait outside taverns for example, to help guide people home - for a fee of course. They would bring lights and take people to their doors. Sometimes  linkboys lead them to robbers who would be hidden around a dark corner, for a larger sum of money.

10. Gong farmer: collecting the town's feces

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Gong farmers were responsible for collecting and clearing feces from people's privy. If there was a job that you didn't want, it was this one. They were also exposed to diseases and had to work in the night. They also often had to stay away from their families to work.

11. The human computers: female brains only

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Before computers, we relied on human brains. These people employed were known as human computers. They would make calculations and help at research facilities such as at NASA or other big companies. In 1942 Macie Roberts employed only females as she believed them to be more reliable.

12. Billy boy: the professional tea maker

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There's always that person n the office at work who you think of as the tea maker because they make the best cups of tea, and they always seem to be doing the tea round. But back in the day, this was the real job of a billy boy. They would provide tea to the workmen working at sites.

13. Deer culler: killing deer for work

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In the 1930s the government became concerned with the overpopulation of deer. Can you ever imagine killing one of the most graceful creatures ever? This was the job of a deer culler. They would hunt and kill thousands of deer to reduce the population.

14. Ice cutters: freezing and dangerous

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Before freezers and fridges were around, there were ice cutters who would have to cut the ice from huge frozen lakes and ship them to be used to keep things cool. It was a very dangerous job and it could cause frostbite. And there was a strong possibility that the human and horses could fall in the lake.

15. Food tester: testing for poison!

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Possibly one of the worst jobs of all, the poison tester. This is a person who would test the food of somebody else to check that it hadn't been poisoned. So, it was royal people, or people of high status and wealth who would employ a sin eater to see if they fell ill or died, to know whether it was safe to eat.

16. Sin eater: eating the sins of the dead

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In the past, in some cultures, there was a practice where a 'sin eater' would eat a meal over a deceased body. The reason for this was to absorb all of that person's sins and therefore free them from their guilt so that their soul can enter the afterlife with freedom.

17. Cigarette girl: the old version of a 'shot girl'

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In the 1930s a cigarette girl became a kind of cultural icon. They would carry a box and walk around clubs or sporting events selling cigarettes to people. They were very much the image of the glamourous woman handing out cigarettes, very much as we imagine 'shot girls' in clubs today

18. Phrenologist: directing someone's life on the shape of their head

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A phrenologist was essentially a kind of fortune teller - but rather than using a crystal ball they would look at the characteristics of somebody's head. This job of course, was discredited in the future and no longer exists. It was based purely on bias and phrenologists would tell someone their life path, or whether their husband was faithful and much, much more.

19. Pinsetter: rearranging the bowling pins

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A pinsetter was in charge of putting the pins in the bowling alley all in a row. This was long before machines did this job before us. So, after each hit or strike, a pin setter would be there waiting to rearrange the pins and collect them from the floor.

20. Herb strewer: to make things smell good

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In the past, a herb strewer was someone who would use herbs to make places smell good, whether indoors or outdoors. Of course, ordinary families didn't hire herb strewers, they were mainly hired by royal families who wanted their homes and surroundings to smell nice.

21. Toad doctors

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Between 1600-1900 toads were considered to be a very special creature, they were thought to have healing properties which could be used in medicine. This belief came from superstitions, toads have been linked with witchcraft throughout history. So a toad doctor would experiment on the uses of toads.

22. Lamplighter

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Can you imagine, someone really had to light all of the street lights manually before street lights were electric. They had to climb up the ladders, and light the gas lamps to light the streets. Of course, this job was redundant once the street lights were made electric.

23. Switchboard operator

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Imagine time before automatic switchboards...you've probably never visualised before someone having to switch all of the cables around every time someone rings. Butt that was exactly what the job of a switch boarder does. They had to change the wires and cables to connect. Often women were employed for this job as they were considered to have more etiquette.

24. The Groom of the stool: all the King's toilet needs

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The groom of the stool was another very displeasing job of the past. They were literally in charge of all of the royal family or the king's toilet needs. They would clear and clean his toilet as well as help him in the bathroom. This was before you could simply flush the toilet...

25. Barber surgeon: Hair, dentistry AND surgery...

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Not only did you go to the barber for a haircut, you could also have you teeth seen to...and surgery done here. Now this is a worrying thought because there was no specialisation here. So surgery wasn't safe. But a barber surgeon would basically do everything in one place.

26. Powder monkey: the name given to boys who carried gunpowder to canons

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In the past children had many dangerous and hard jobs. One of these jobs was carrying gunpowder to fill up the cannons, they would go back and forth carrying loads until the cannons were full.. The boys who had this role were known as 'powder monkeys'.

27. Whipping boy: taking the brunt of a prince

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Medieval times had many jobs which now would be completely unacceptable. In the past, a whipping boy would take the place of of a Prince. When a had done something naughty, he wasn't allowed to be whipped due to his royalty. Instead of whipping him the whipping boy sadly took his place.

28. Mudlark: finding items in the river

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A mudlark was someone who would collect things from rivers, they might find coins or jewels or pots and items from the home. This was their job, and they would either keep their findings or try to sell them to other people. It was very common in London in the past, a mudlark would search the river Thames.

29. Dog whipper: the cruellest job of all

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Yes, a dog whipper was a real and very cruel job in the past. They were employed to keep dogs who had been left on the streets as strays away from the public areas of the town. They were also in charge of keeping them away from farm animals so that the dogs didn't cause damage to the livestock.

30. Candlewick trimmer: trimming wicks one by one

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Now candle wicks are mainly trimmed using a machine. In the past however, somebody had to manually do this. And it was a job in itself. Candles were the only source of light, so everybody bought them. A candlewick trimmer would trim the candle wicks one by one to the correct length.