Ten Fascinating Forgotten Professions

Before alarm clocks, these professionals used sticks, poles, or pea shooters to knock on windows and wake people up for work.

Before electric streetlights, lamplighters would manually ignite, extinguish, and maintain gas lamps.

These laborers harvested blocks of ice from frozen lakes and rivers for use in homes and businesses before modern refrigeration.

Essential in controlling rat populations in urban areas, particularly during times of plague, rat catchers used traps, poisons, and even trained animals.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, these individuals illegally exhumed corpses to supply cadavers for medical research and education.

Before digital machines, human "computers" performed complex calculations for engineering, astronomy, and wartime cryptography.

Small children or skilled adults cleaned chimneys to prevent fires, a profession that dwindled with modern heating systems.

Hired by factory workers, particularly in cigar factories, lectors read newspapers, novels, and political texts to entertain and educate workers during shifts.

Employed by royalty and the wealthy, herb strewers scattered fragrant herbs on floors or in rooms to mask unpleasant smells in an era before plumbing.

Before automated bowling alleys, pin setters manually reset the bowling pins and returned balls to players.

These professions, while obsolete, offer a glimpse into how societies adapted to their needs before modern conveniences.