THE RAG AND BONE MEN- BRITAIN'S FORGOTTEN WORKERS

eh don't forget about the song at the end My story of Britain’s rag and bone men — from horse and carts to the decline of the scrap trade. Let's go back through the history of the rag and bone trade in the UK, starting from the days when “rag and bone” literally meant collecting old rags for recycling and bones that could be made into products such as soap and fertilisers. Long before modern recycling centres existed, rag and bone men were recycling Britain’s waste and surviving from whatever they could buy, sell, repair, or trade. My father was a rag and bone man during the 1970s, and this video shares the real story of what life was like in the trade. We explore how generations of families searched the streets with horses and carts, collecting scrap metal, household waste, bottles, rags, and anything of any value no matter how small. Many would give balloons or even goldfish to children in exchange for scrap, trying to earn a living on tiny profits just to keep food on the table and keep their heads above water I'll go through the trade through the decades — from the hard-working street traders of the early 1900s, through the boom years of scrap collecting, and into the decline during the 1960s and 1970s. As council waste collections improved and Britain’s factories and heavy industry disappeared, there was less scrap to collect and less money to be made. By the late 1970s, many rag and bone men had swapped horse and carts for old vans and trucks, but the trade slowly faded away. We also talk about the dangers of the work, the places scrap had to be found, and the stigma attached to the trade, which caused many younger people to leave it behind. Today, only a handful of traditional scrap men remain compared to years gone by. This is a look back at a forgotten part of British working-class history — tough, honest, and often misunderstood by many. #RagAndBoneMan #BritishHistory #ScrapTrade #WorkingClassHistory #UKHistory #ScrapMetal #HorseAndCart #VintageBritain #1970sBritain #IndustrialBritain