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What's the difference between a gong farmer and a night soil man?
"As more modern sewage disposal systems such as pail closets became more widely used, the profession of gong farmer disappeared." The pails still had to be emptied by a night soil man, which is basically the same job, so how did the profession "die out"?
Richerman (
talk)
02:31, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I think a night soil collector was a much cleaner and sanitary method of waste collection, whereas a gong farmer would be basically waist deep in shit and piss, lumping it out with hand tools. Have a read of
pail closetParrotof Doom09:24, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
Yep, I thought of that last night after I wrote this but I think it's more of a development of the role than it dying out altogether. How about something like "the profession of gong farmer was replaced by that of the night soil man"?
Richerman (
talk)
17:49, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I don't think that's entirely correct. Night soil men were essentially employed to undertake an entirely new job. Unless of course, the men who emptied midden closets were also called gong farmers. Parrotof Doom20:04, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I don't really see the connection either. Gong farmers were employed to dig out and clear cess pits. I very much doubt that there's anyone today, or since the days of the gong farmers, who gets into a cesspit with a shovel and starts digging.
MalleusFatuorum20:14, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
Well OK, the original job did die out, but I would expect that, as the method changed, the same people would have become night soil men. After all the easier half of the job - the disposal of the waste - was still the same and I don't expect the gong farmers all gave up and a new breed of night soil men came in. If you have expertise and connections in a trade you put them to good use. However, I don't suppose there will be any record of that so it's a moot point really. Now, it's true no-one gets in a cesspit with a shovel anymore but
Blaster Bates (remember him?) did blow up a septic tank with dynamite. The story was called "A shower of shit over Cheshire" and involved an unfortunate Italian in clogs - but that's another story - well actually you can
hear it here...
Richerman (
talk)
23:51, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I remember Blaster Bates very well. So far as the gong farmers are concerned, what appears to have happened is that they were gradually employed by the growing towns and cities of 17th-century England as "scavengers" or "under-scavengers", to clear the streets generally instead of just shovelling shit. And believe it or not local tradesmen set up in competition to take away the shit from privies ... much still to add to this article.
MalleusFatuorum21:33, 14 June 2011 (UTC)reply
There's an article on the Beeb website today, "10 worst Tudor jobs" or something. It mentions one poor chap who, while engaged in the act of nicturation, apparently fell into a cess pit and drowned. What a way to go. Parrotof Doom21:41, 14 June 2011 (UTC)reply
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sanitation, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
Sanitation on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SanitationWikipedia:WikiProject SanitationTemplate:WikiProject Sanitationsanitation articles
This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Ecology, an effort to create, expand, organize, and improve
ecology-related articles.EcologyWikipedia:WikiProject EcologyTemplate:WikiProject EcologyEcology articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of
England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles
What's the difference between a gong farmer and a night soil man?
"As more modern sewage disposal systems such as pail closets became more widely used, the profession of gong farmer disappeared." The pails still had to be emptied by a night soil man, which is basically the same job, so how did the profession "die out"?
Richerman (
talk)
02:31, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I think a night soil collector was a much cleaner and sanitary method of waste collection, whereas a gong farmer would be basically waist deep in shit and piss, lumping it out with hand tools. Have a read of
pail closetParrotof Doom09:24, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
Yep, I thought of that last night after I wrote this but I think it's more of a development of the role than it dying out altogether. How about something like "the profession of gong farmer was replaced by that of the night soil man"?
Richerman (
talk)
17:49, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I don't think that's entirely correct. Night soil men were essentially employed to undertake an entirely new job. Unless of course, the men who emptied midden closets were also called gong farmers. Parrotof Doom20:04, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I don't really see the connection either. Gong farmers were employed to dig out and clear cess pits. I very much doubt that there's anyone today, or since the days of the gong farmers, who gets into a cesspit with a shovel and starts digging.
MalleusFatuorum20:14, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
Well OK, the original job did die out, but I would expect that, as the method changed, the same people would have become night soil men. After all the easier half of the job - the disposal of the waste - was still the same and I don't expect the gong farmers all gave up and a new breed of night soil men came in. If you have expertise and connections in a trade you put them to good use. However, I don't suppose there will be any record of that so it's a moot point really. Now, it's true no-one gets in a cesspit with a shovel anymore but
Blaster Bates (remember him?) did blow up a septic tank with dynamite. The story was called "A shower of shit over Cheshire" and involved an unfortunate Italian in clogs - but that's another story - well actually you can
hear it here...
Richerman (
talk)
23:51, 1 August 2010 (UTC)reply
I remember Blaster Bates very well. So far as the gong farmers are concerned, what appears to have happened is that they were gradually employed by the growing towns and cities of 17th-century England as "scavengers" or "under-scavengers", to clear the streets generally instead of just shovelling shit. And believe it or not local tradesmen set up in competition to take away the shit from privies ... much still to add to this article.
MalleusFatuorum21:33, 14 June 2011 (UTC)reply
There's an article on the Beeb website today, "10 worst Tudor jobs" or something. It mentions one poor chap who, while engaged in the act of nicturation, apparently fell into a cess pit and drowned. What a way to go. Parrotof Doom21:41, 14 June 2011 (UTC)reply