The cry of ‘Battery! Boiler! Bike Frame! Lumber! Rag, Bone!’

PHOTOGRAPHER REVISITS RAG AND BONE MAN 40 YEARS LATER

IN 1983, student photographer Russell Boyce met up with 19-year-old George Norris to capture an insight into the Rag and Bone scrap trade.

George Norris Senior, 81, has been a rag and bone man for 68 years, and once he passes, the cry of “Battery! Boiler! Bike Frame! Lumber! Rag, Bone!” that has echoed through the streets of Hull for generations will soon fall silent. Almost 40 years ago, Boyce took pictures of a 19-year-old George helping out his dad and recently, he decided to revisit the pair in Hull.

Russell said: “In 1983, I attended Hull Art College and lived just off Hessle Road. I met George Norris and decided to shadow him for some days so that I could photograph his work in the scrap trade.

“He was the best person to photograph because he completely ignored me, which always makes the best pictures. Years later, I got a call at my work and it was George, who asked if I remembered him. Ever since we’ve been friends, and he is now a photographer himself.”

After making the decision to recreate pictures of George and his dad George Senior, Russell wanted to document how things have changed in the business 40 years on. George Norris Junior told Russell: “My dad will never retire. When my dad goes that will be the last of the original scrap dealers in Hull.”

George Senior started a part-time business collecting scrap cardboard and paper with just an old pram at the age of 13. He told Boyce: “At 16 I’d managed to rake up enough money to buy a pony and cart.

“Once I had that, I started collecting scrap iron and rags, anything that earned me a bit of cash. In those days I could earn up to £3 a week, much more than working in the dairy.”

Nowadays, George Senior has ditched the horse and cart for a modern truck instead but he “misses” the old-fashioned style scrap collecting. Trucks have more mileage and aren’t as high maintenance as horses, but despite these changes, his famous cry remains the same.

■■Russell Boyce has written a blog about his decision to take on this photo story, visit http:// cropperboyce.blogspot. com/2022/06/the-danger-oflooking-back-and-getting.html

19-year-old Rag and Bone man George Norris leads his horse Sally along Woodcock Street in Hull after a day’s work collecting scrap in Hull 1983. Left, nearly 40 years later George Norris calls ‘Scrap Iron, Rag Bone!’ as he walks down Collin Avenue looking for scrap May 12, 2022 in Hull