The working world is hard but our ancestors had it even harder. Many even put their health at risk for their employers.
We’ve found some of the strangest jobs from history that you probably never knew about. Some of these weird roles will make you really glad to be working in the 21st century!
Witch hunter
Witch hunters were bad news. They tortured and tricked suspects into confession leading to witchcraft trials and death.
Popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, witch finding became part of some people’s job descriptions. In the 15th century, German monk Heinrich Kramer was formally tasked by his employer, the Catholic Church, to question heretics, including many suspected witches.
Witch hunting was one of the few “professional” roles that women could do. Women were employed as searchers who inspected female suspects for physical evidence of witchcraft.
In the UK the self-appointed, witch-finder general Matthew Hopkins (recently portrayed by Reece Shearsmith in The Witchfinder) saw more than 200 people hanged across seven English counties in just two years.
Chimney sweep
Working as a chimney sweep was far from the “jolly holiday” portrayed in Mary Poppins. Young children were bought from impoverished families to climb into chimneys to sweep out the dust and ash.
It was a dangerous job with chimney sweeps often suffocating inside the chimneys, falling, or being injured by burns. If they survived to adolescence, these children often suffered and died from “Chimney Sweep Cancer”.
Image: Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in a scene from the 1964 film Mary Poppins
A knocker-up
Before alarm clocks, people employed a knocker-up to tap or shoot peas at their windows at a set time.
This was a job that started and lasted well into the Industrial Revolution, dying out in the 1940s and 1950s as alarm clocks became more readily available.
Molly Moore claims to be the last knocker-up working into the early 1970s using a pea-shooter to rouse her clients.
Groom of the Stool
Not a job for those with a sensitive stomach.
The Groom of the Stool served the English monarch and was responsible for assisting the king with his toileting needs. The role was responsible for supplying water and washcloths and for monitoring the king’s diet and bowel movements (reporting any changes to the Royal Doctor).
Due to the personal nature of this role, many went on to gain much of the king’s confidence and form a close relationship with the monarch.
Recorded as early as the mid-15th century, the last serving Groom of the Stool served until 1901!
Fuller
Fullers were the washing machines of ancient history. Dating back to Mesopotamia (8000 – 2000 BC), fullers were responsible for laundering clothes. Using urine as a detergent, they would stand in tubs of water and urine to wash the clothes before rinsing and drying them.
In Ancient Rome, fullers were particularly popular, as wealthy Romans felt that clean clothes (for them and their slaves and servants) showed their status.
Although fullers had an unsavoury job, evidence suggests they were well paid enough to donate to civic life and even set up their own guild.
Rat catcher
It’s pretty easy to guess what these guys did. Rat catchers trapped and caught disease-carrying rodents and proved especially popular during outbreaks of the bubonic plague.
Believe it or not, some rat catchers became notable enough that they caught the attention of royalty. Jack Black was named “rat-catcher and mole-destroyer” by Queen Victoria.
Computer
Nope, not your laptop or PC! Computers were people who “computed” data and mathematics with the first human computers employed as early as the 17th century.
Teams of people were used to undertake long and tedious calculations, and from the 19th century onwards, computers tended to be female.
In the 2016 film Hidden Figures, three African-American computers make a significant impact on the space race.
Rag and bone man
A rag and bone man would go from street to street buying rags from residents that he would hope to turn into something more valuable.
It’s a service that could be incredibly beneficial today as only 1% of clothes are recycled meaning that a clothing pile the size of Everest is sent to landfill every 7 minutes. The rag and bone man would be revolutionary in 2023!
Leech collector
Medicinal leeches were long considered medical miracles as they were thought to suck diseases and toxins from the body.
Leech collectors had the rather awkward task of supplying leeches to the medical profession. Old animals were sometimes used to attract leeches, but more often than not the collectors used their own legs.
It was seasonal work, as leeches weren’t active in colder months and incredibly perilous. Many leech collectors experienced dangerous levels of blood loss and were susceptible to infections spread by leeches.
By the mid-19th century, the leech population was in decline and by the turn of the century leeches were declared extinct in the British Isles. This was partly due to over collection as well as their declining habitats. With this, the profession went extinct too.
Necessary woman
Necessary women had the rather unpleasant job of emptying bedpans and chamber pots. This was a role employed by the very wealthy, such as the royal family.
One such necessary woman, Bridget Holmes was even the subject of a grand portrait that was commissioned by James II. Living to the age of 100, she was buried in Westminster Abbey with a monument noting the monarchs she served. Clearly her role was very necessary indeed!
Phrenologist
Phrenology is a pseudo science that involves the measurement of the shape of the skull to predict certain mental traits. The belief was that the brain was made up of different muscles, and the more those muscles were exercised, the larger they were. This led to people having different shaped skulls.
Developed in Vienna in the late 1700s, phrenology became a popular activity during the Victorian era.
As scientific understanding developed, phrenologists began to be phased out, making way for more advanced brain science.
Resurrectionist
Resurrectionists never claimed to bring people back from the dead, quite the opposite!
In the 18th and 19th centuries medical students needed bodies to practice on, so resurrectionists would dig up dead corpses and sell them to medical schools for money.
In Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare took advantage of a scarcity of cadavers by actually murdering victims and selling them to a Scottish anatomist, Robert Knox. Over a period of 10 months the pair murdered sixteen victims.
Ornatrice
There are many similarities between ornatrices and modern day hairdressers.
Ornatrices were responsible for creating wigs, dying hair, and styling it. However, unlike hairdressers now, ornatrices were actually enslaved by their owners in the Roman period to ensure they kept their owners’ appearances perfect, each and every day.
With treatments and dyes not commercially available, ornatrices had to make their own concoctions from things like crushed insects, squid ink, and even rotten leeches.
It was a skillful and tough job, with no financial reward at all!
Whipping boy
Whipping boys had an awful job. They were tasked with befriending young princes and when the young prince broke rules, it was the whipping boy who was punished. It was against the rules to physically punish royal blood.
Apparently, this tactic actually worked, and many whipping boys were rewarded with riches and palaces once the prince was older.
However, there isn’t any contemporary evidence to suggest whipping boys existed, and some historians regard them as completely fictitious. They could be a complete myth!
Flatulist
Can you guess what this might be from the name? It’s a professional farter! Gross right?
These individuals made careers out of entertaining people with their gas. They’d find unusual ways to do it, such as to a tune, to attract big laughs.
It was a career that was popular for hundreds of years, with some flatulists reaching celebrity status. “Roland the Farter” who performed annually for Henry II was eventually rewarded by the king with 30 acres of land and a giant manor. Fame clearly pays!
Feeling glad to be working in the modern day? We’re not surprised!
If you’re looking for a job in the here and now, then we’ve always got thousands of jobs advertised across the UK. Start your job hunt here today.
Read more: The UK’s 10 coolest offices of 2023