Wigan Album
James Catterall
24 CommentsPhoto: Ray
Item #: 31976
known far and wide as Jemmy Cucker, and was quite a character. It was said locally in Orrell that he used to take his horse upstairs and stand it in the bath and give it a good wash.
His house is still there on Moor Road, just past
where it passes over the M58 Motorway.
What...a Rag N Bone man lived in a mansion!
I vaguely remember him from the late fifties, Ray. But my older brother easily recalls the occasion when Mr Catterall had chased one of his school mates across the playground of what is now The John Eddleston Centre on Main Street, Billinge: My brother's school mate had turned Mr Catterall's head by shouting 'Jem Cuck-o!' at the top of his voice from behind the school wall - the 'o' of Cuck-o having been pronounced hard.
What a great photo Ray. We had a Rag & Bone man just like Mr Catterall at Holland Moor, late 40/50s. I got a goldfish from him, Sammy, he lived a good long while in his bowl. Would not be thought as a good idea today but it taught me how to look after a living creature.
I wonder if this Mr Catterall is one of my distant relatives. My Catteralls started off at Up Holland in the 1700's - trust me to have a rag-n- bone man in my ancestry. Although some of them may still be at the Ancestral home.,some broke away and ended up in Scholes. I can't see any facial resemblance though!
I remember many years ago, my mother, telling me that we had had, a relation that had owned his own company. Then deceased. On questioning her further, it transpired that he had been a ‘Rag & Bone Man’.
Heard the cry of "Ragbone!" very regularly on St Paul's estate when I was a lad.
Great photo Ray, a thing of the past just like us coal men.
We used to see quite a few on our rounds and they were all great characters too.
Still have a horse and cart rag n bone man where I live. These days, it is scrap metal that he seeks, and he no-longer offers anything in exchange for what you contribute.
Veronica, there was often a rag n bone horse and cart in Hiigham Street. I'm almost certain it said Catterall on the back of the cart , he must have been visiting somebody because it was regularly there , it could have been this man or a relative of his . Rgards Tom.
I wish we still had Rag 'n' bone men, they didn't charge to take your old stuff away, plus you got a donkey stone or a couple of dolly blues. Nowadays you have to pay for an old fridge or similar to be taken! And it's not cheap. In those days you wouldn't have seen any fly tipping, old furniture would have been snapped up, or kept for Bonfire night. Rag 'n ' bone men were trusted, unlike the gypsies that come round these days.
Philip, You are right in the way Jemmy Cucker`s name was
shouted, but it is difficult to spell it the way you young
bucks shouted it. Cheers, Ray.
Well he never came to our house Tom, although the Rag 'n' Bone men came around quite regularly didn't they? I don't think they would have got much from us apart from a few rags or old pans with holes in! Not much was thrown away! ;o))
There was a caterall in in pool stock in the sixties used to hire out his horse and cart to the men on the dole ended up quite wealthy
Veronica, he 'parked' his horse n cart between St. Patrick St and Chancery St opposite Sally's Shop. I think he had friend or relative on that block. Regards Tom.
No problem Ray. And thanks for your photo and supporting text. I've told my brother about your photo, and he's made-up by it.
An interesting photo, but I do believe this gentleman took the nickname Jemmy Cucka from an earlier rag and bone man from the Orrell District.
When I was a girl, growing up in the Far Moor area of Orrell in the late 1940s and early 1950s, if anybody was on the thin side, it would often be said of them that 'there was more meyght (meat) on Jem Cucka's horse.'
This was a reference to a rag and bone man who I believe had the surname Ashcroft, and was notorious for the poor condition of the horses he owned at different times.
He lived in an old cottage on Church Street Orrell, all around where the Co-op is now, and was even then, in late middle age.
This photo was clearly taken at a much later time - quite possibly the 1970s (see the street signposts, and the hair and dress of the boy on the cart) or later, and the man driving the cart looks to be in his 50s, which would have made him only a young chap, when the 'original' Jemmy Cucka was knocking about.
I remember one family in the district during the 1940s, had a tendency to be a bit on the stuck up side, and they always hated being reminded that they were related to the 'original' Jemmy Cucka.
I think the name must have passed down in the Orrell area as a generic term for rag bone men, or perhaps the two men were related and it passed down that way.
There was a wide cobbled entry on Chancery St facing Higham St Tom that I remember and somebody had a horse 'n' cart, but I don't know who it was.
Margaret I remember the Jem Cucka you are talking about your right about him living on Church St and about his thin horses. I think your right about him being Ashcroft. I grew up round there during the war and us lads had a rude poem about him. I remember I was with a mate in our backyard once and I told him this poem but my mum heard me and clouted me. My ears are still ringing. The man in the photo is a different man all together.
J. Gaskell, I remember the poem you refer to, "Owd Jem Cucka, once towd me, he'd scabs on his arse like bark on a tree". One of the teachers mentioned him at school once and said his horse's back was so bowed you could wash your hands on it when it rained!
Thanks for your great post, Margaret. And I'd also like mention that it now seems to have been Mr Ashcroft who'd chased my brother's schoolmate across their playground all those years ago. My brother had also told me that the angry rider had chased others as well, while brandishing something which closely resembled a bullwhip for heaven's sake!
And it also seems probable that later riders have sustained Mr Ashcroft's sobriquet - Ray's Mr Catterall being a particularly fine carrier.
Think the donkey jacket he is wearing only came out in the 1960s
Perhaps most Rag & Bone men in the Wigan area were known
as a "Jemmy Cucka". Ray.
I must confess I have never heard Jemmy Cucker only Rag & Bone men. Maybe because I'm from Ince.