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James Catterall

24 Comments

James Catterall
James Catterall
Photo: Ray
Views: 4,303
Item #: 31976
This is James Catterall, who lived at Moor Road in Orrell. He was a "Rag & Bone Man". He was
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.




Comment by: Alan on 5th March 2020 at 12:07

What...a Rag N Bone man lived in a mansion!

Comment by: Philiip G. on 5th March 2020 at 12:38

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.

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 5th March 2020 at 12:40

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.

Comment by: Veronica on 5th March 2020 at 14:09

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!

Comment by: Albert.S. on 5th March 2020 at 14:51

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’.

Comment by: John Brown on 5th March 2020 at 15:06

Heard the cry of "Ragbone!" very regularly on St Paul's estate when I was a lad.

Comment by: Garry on 5th March 2020 at 16:25

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.

Comment by: priscus on 5th March 2020 at 17:15

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.

Comment by: Thomas(Tom)Walsh. on 5th March 2020 at 17:36

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.

Comment by: Veronica on 5th March 2020 at 18:01

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.

Comment by: Ray on 5th March 2020 at 18:01

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.

Comment by: Veronica on 5th March 2020 at 18:42

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))

Comment by: Tom on 5th March 2020 at 20:53

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

Comment by: Thomas (Tom)Walsh. on 5th March 2020 at 21:48

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.

Comment by: Philip G. on 5th March 2020 at 23:29

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.

Comment by: Margaret on 6th March 2020 at 06:54

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.

Comment by: Veronica on 6th March 2020 at 08:04

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.

Comment by: JGaskell on 6th March 2020 at 09:39

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.

Comment by: A.W. on 6th March 2020 at 12:41

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!

Comment by: Philip G. on 6th March 2020 at 12:41

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.

Comment by: Tom on 6th March 2020 at 13:34

Think the donkey jacket he is wearing only came out in the 1960s

Comment by: ray on 6th March 2020 at 16:15

Perhaps most Rag & Bone men in the Wigan area were known
as a "Jemmy Cucka". Ray.

Comment by: Garry on 6th March 2020 at 19:39

I must confess I have never heard Jemmy Cucker only Rag & Bone men. Maybe because I'm from Ince.

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