Rat catchers and knocker-uppers: fascinating photos of British jobs that no longer exist - As habits change and technology develops, some careers fall by the wayside. Take a look at these fascinating images of jobs that aren't often seen anymore.

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Knocker-upper - From the Industrial Revolution until as late as the 1950s, knocker-uppers would wake workers by tapping on their windows with a long stick.

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Knocker-upper - The job was common in industrial areas like Manchester, where mill workers and miners lived in factory houses.

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Chimney sweep - Burning coal or wood creates a build-up of soot inside chimneys.

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Chimney sweep - During the Industrial Revolution most buildings had at least one chimney, making chimney sweep a common occupation.

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Chimney sweep - Chimney sweeping was a difficult, hazardous, and low-paying job.

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Chimney sweep - Young boys worked as sweeps, climbing into narrow, hot spaces.

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Chimney sweep - They could get jammed in the flue, suffocate, or burn to death.

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Chimney sweep - Sweeps constantly inhaled carcinogenic soot and some even slept under their sacks.

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Chimney sweep - The job led to carcinoma and early death for many.

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Chimney sweep - Chimney sweeps still exist today but in much lower numbers and with much greater health and safety precautions.

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Chimney sweep - A young Margaret Thatcher talks to a chimney sweep while campaigning.

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Blacksmith - Blacksmiths create objects from wrought iron or steel. They forge the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut it into railings, fixtures, furniture, and tools.

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Blacksmith - Blacksmiths and other metal workers have been around for as long as humankind has manipulated metal.

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Blacksmith - But the profession was hugely popular in the Western world during the Industrial Revolution.

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Blacksmith - War, growing populations, and developments in technology all increased the demand for capable blacksmiths.

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Blacksmith - Factories and mass-production reduced the demand for handmade tools and hardware.

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Blacksmith - Today, traditional blacksmiths still exist but the professional is regarded as more of an art than an industrial pursuit.

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Blacksmith - Contemporary metal production is heavily mechanised and does not require the same human effort.

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Lamplighter - Lamplighters were employed to light and maintain candle and, later, gas street lights.

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Lamplighter - In the new cities of the industrial world, the lamplighter was tasked with lighting the lamps each evening, generally by means of a wick on a long pole.

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Lamplighter - At dawn, they would return to put them out using a small hook on the same pole.

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Lamplighter - Early street lights included candles or oil. The lamplighter would carry a ladder and renew burned-out candles, oil, or gas mantles.

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Lamplighter - Early gas lights required lamplighters, but eventually systems were developed with automatic lighting and the occupation was snuffed out.

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Town crier - In the days before widespread literacy and access to printed news, town criers were responsible for making public announcements of news and information as required by the courts.

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Town crier - In medieval England, the crier also escorted the destitute to the workhouse, placed criminals in the stocks, and administered floggings. It is also reported that during public hangings, the town crier would read out why the person was being hanged, and helped to cut them from the gallows.

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Town crier - The role was largely erased with the invention of moveable type and widespread literacy, but some ceremonial town criers still function today.

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Town crier - By tradition, a copy of the Royal Proclamation about the dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is read out by the Common Crier of the City on the steps of the Royal Exchange in the heart of the City of London.

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Lift operator - Lift operators controlled manual elevators, often by use of a large lever.

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Lift operator - The operator had to regulate the lift's speed, which required a good sense of timing to stop parallel to the floor.

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Lift operator - With the advent of automatic lifts, the job has largely died out, though some lift operators continue in symbolic roles in high-end buildings.

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Milkman - Before refrigeration, milk was delivered to houses daily to avoid spoiling.

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Milkman - Before milk was bottled, milkmen took churns and filled the customers' jugs from them.

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Milkman - Even after refrigeration became a household staple, milk was delivered to many homes in the UK and elsewhere.

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Milkman - In Britain, the electric milk float largely replaced the horse-drawn cart in the 1950s.

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Milkman - The Telegraph reports that as recently as 1980, 89% of all milk consumed by British households arrived in a glass bottle on the doorstep.

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Milkman - But the increased use of supermarkets and their cheaper prices saw the decline of the milkman.

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Milkman - But there is some hope for the profession.

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Milkman - The role has recently been revitalised as a luxury or specialist service with the milkman catering to consumers who want locally produced or organic milk.

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Switchboard operator - Long before the days of mobile phones and VOIP, we relied on switchboard operators to communicate.

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Switchboard operator - From the 19th century until the 1960s, switchboard operators manually connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks.

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Switchboard operator - Callers spoke to an operator, who then connected a cord to the proper circuit in order to complete the call. 

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Switchboard operator - The operator was able to listen in on the calls and private conversations. 

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Switchboard operator - Automatic systems were developed in the 1920s. As phone systems became more sophisticated, less direct intervention by the operator was necessary and calls became more private.

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Switchboard operator - With the development of computerized telephone dialing systems, calls could be placed automatically and the operator's role disappeared.

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Rat catcher - Of course, rodents haven't gone extinct but before the days of pesticides, rat catching was a more common occupation. In the crowded urban environments of the 19th century, the pests thrived.

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Rat catcher - The rat population was controlled to prevent the spread of diseases and to prevent damage to food supplies.

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Rat catcher - After the 17th century outbreak of the plague, the public was aware of the link between rats and the Black Death.

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Rat catcher - Like chimney sweeps, rat catchers were often children. The role was also dangerous, with a risk of contracting disease, but was reportedly more lucrative.

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Rat catcher - Payment came from property owners and was usually made on a per-rat basis.

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Rat catcher - Rat catchers would often use trained terriers and ferrets to hunt rats. They also devised traps and baited food with arsenic.

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Telegraph operator - Developed in the 1840s by Samuel Morse and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionised the way we communicate.

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Telegraph operator - Long before text messages and tweets, the telegraph allowed people to send a short message in a code of dots and dashes via telegraph lines.

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Telegraph operator - In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. By 1866, a telegraph line had been laid across the Atlantic to Europe.

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Telegraph operator - Telegrams and cables allowed news to be communicated faster than ever before. 

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Telegraph operator -

Operators used a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code. The occupation was  one of the first "high-technology" professions of the modern era and was regarded as a respectable job.

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Telegraph operator - Delivery people would take the message to recipients on motorbikes or bicycles. In the UK, these were often teenage boys.

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Telegraph operator -

During its heyday in the 1930s, the Post Office delivered an average of 65 million telegrams per year. Technology led to a decrease in the use of telegrams and the service was finally taken out of service on 30 September 1982, after 139 years in the UK.

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Projectionist - Professional projectionists emerged in the late 19th century, when films began to be shown commercially.

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Projectionist - Projectionists became increasingly professionalised after fires broke out from the use of nitrate film.

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Projectionist - Safety precautions required film prints to be shipped in reels of a specific length. In order show a feature-length film without interruption, two projectors focused on the same screen were used, with the projectionist changing from one to the other at the end of each reel.

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Projectionist - The replacement of nitrate films with modern alternatives meant that projection could be more automated in the mid-20th century but the role remained.

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Projectionist - But digital technology has brought a different set of skills to the industry and the projectionist is more likely a videographer today.

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