Sources of the following information include:
Gendocs (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/trades.html)
World Through The Lens (www.worldthroughthelens.com/family-history/old-occupations.php)
Census 1891 (www.census1891.com)
Tablesorter (https://mottie.github.io/tablesorter/docs/index.html)
| Occupation ( filter-match ) | Description |
|---|---|
| abecedarian | A teacher of the alphabet |
| able seaman | An unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. |
| academic | A scholarly person, of a university, etc. |
| academician | A member of an academy, especially of the Royal Academy of Arts. |
| acater | A present day caterer. A person who supplied food provisions to various outlets |
| accipitrary | A falconer. |
| accomptant | An accountant |
| accoucheur | A professional obstetrician. Assisted women in childbirth. A male physician skilled in the art and science of managing obstetrics. pregnancy, labour and the time after delivery |
| accoucheus | A midwife |
| accoucheuse | A woman who assisted women in childbirth - Midwife |
| accountant | A person involved in maintenance and auditing of accounts and financial matters |
| accoutre | A supplier or maker of military clothing or equipment. |
| accoutrement maker | Someone who supplied dress or trappings equipment – e.g. the equipment of a solider other than arms and uniform. |
| accoutrer | See accoutrement maker |
| ackerman | See acreman |
| acreman | A ploughman or oxherder. |
| actor | A theatrical performer. Performed on stage to audiences. |
| actress | A female actor |
| actuary | An account keeper. An officer or a mercantile or insurance company. Skilled in statistics, especially on the expectancy of life and the average proportion of losses by fire and other accidents |
| administrator | Someone who directed the affairs of another e.g. A man who manages an intestate estate. |
| administratrix | A female administrator |
| adventurer | A person who seeks adventures; a mercenary soldier; a commercial speculator; one who lives by his wits. |
| advertisement conveyancer | A sandwich board man. |
| advocate | One who pleads a case for another. To defend. E.g. Solicitor, Barrister. |
| advocate depute | A Scottish law officer who could act as public prosecutor. |
| advocate deputy | A Scottish law officer who could act as public prosecutor. |
| advowee | A person who possessed an Advowson, normally a nobleman, who had the right to present a clergyman to a benefice. |
| aeronaut | A balloonist. In some countries a trapeze artist |
| affeerer | See affeeror |
| affeeror | An official who assesses the monetary penalty due |
| ag lab | see agricultural labourer |
| agent | A person who acted on behalf of a company or another person. |
| agister | A person who affords pasture to the livestock of others for a price. (e.g. cattle, pigs, sheep, ponies, horses) Can also refer to forest pasturage or herbage. |
| agricultural labourer | An unskilled worker on a farm. |
| agriculturist | A person involved with land cultivation or animal husbandry. |
| alabasterer | A person works with alabaster |
| alblastere | A crossbow man. |
| alchemist | A medieval chemist who claimed to be able to turn base metals into gold |
| alderman | A civic dignitary in the local council. Next in rank below the mayor |
| ale conner | An inspector of ale, who tested the quality and measure of ale served in public houses |
| ale draper | A seller of ale |
| ale founder | See ale-conner |
| ale taster | An appointed inspector/quality tester of ale and beer first recorded in London 1377. The forerunner of Weights and Measures Act |
| ale tunner | Someone employed by the brewery to fill ale casks (tuns} with ale |
| ale wife | woman who keeps an alehouse or tavern |
| alehouse keeper | The landlord of a tavern / public house landlord (pub, inn) |
| ale-house-keeper | See alehouse keeper |
| alewife | A woman who keeps an alehouse or tavern. |
| ale-wife | A woman who keeps an alehouse or tavern |
| all spice | A nickname for a grocer. |
| almanac man | An official appointed by the Court of Sewers who warned the inhabitants of the Trent River area of higher than normal tides |
| almoner | The person who distributed alms or charity to the poor on behalf of the parish |
| almsman | A person who received alms or charity. |
| alnagar | See alnager |
| alnager | An officer in England formally appointed to inspect and measure woollen cloth, and fix upon it a seal. |
| amanuensis | A scribe or a person who takes down dictation. Secretary or stenographer or a manual labourer. |
| amber and jet cutter | A person who cuts and polishes amber and jet for jewellery |
| amber cutter | A person who cuts ambergris which is an ash coloured odorous substance used in perfumery. |
| ambler | An officer of the Royal Stable who broke in horses. |
| amen man | A parish clerk. |
| anchor smith | A person who made anchors. |
| anchoress | A female anchoret |
| anchoret | Denotes a person who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic and focused life. As a result, anchorites are usually considered to be a type of religious hermit, although there are distinctions in their historical development and theology. Hermit or religious recluse |
| anchorite | See anchoret |
| anchorsmith | A person who made anchors for boats and ships |
| ancress | See anchoress |
| angle iron smith | A person who made angle iron i.e. flat iron bars bent at an angle |
| anilepman | A sub-tenant on a smallholding |
| animal and bird preserver | A taxidermist. |
| ankle beater | A young person who helped to drive the cattle to market |
| annatto maker | Someone who worked in the manufacture of dyes for paint or printing, using dye from annatto. This is a dye, yellow or orange in colour and was gained from the achiote trees found in Latin American and the Caribbean. |
| annuitant | Not strictly an occupation but something you may come across under the occupation title which indications that the person was able to support themselves financial from their own savings or investments – for example stocks and shares.(See also Fundholder or LOOM) |
| antigropelos maker | A person who made waterproof leggings |
| anvil smith | Someone who made anvils and hammers for blacksmiths |
| apiarian | A beekeeper. |
| apiarist | A Beekeeper |
| apothecary | Someone who prepared and sold medicines or drugs; pharmacist,chemist |
| apotheecary | A chemist, druggist, pharmacist. |
| apparitor | Formerly an officer to execute the order of the magistrate, judge or court. An official who serves the summons and executes the process of the ecclesiastical court. Also the mace bearer or beadle of a university or similarly functionary. |
| appraiser | An evaluator who estimates the value of land |
| apprentice | Someone who was learning a trade by being bound to a skilled worker for a specified time |
| aproneer | Commonly refered to a London shopkeeper - or someone who wore an apron to work. |
| apronman | See Aproneer |
| aquafortist | A person who etches or engraves with aqua-fortis - a solution of nitric acid |
| aquarius (ewar) | A waterman. |
| aquavita seller | Someone who sold unrectified alcohol (popularly ardent spirits like brandy) |
| arbalester | A crossbow man |
| arbiter | A person who judged disputes. |
| archer | A person skilled in using a bow and arrow. |
| archiator | A chief physician or doctor |
| archil maker | Someone who used lichens to make a violet-coloured dye to use in the textile industry. |
| architect | One who designs buildings |
| archivist | A person who kept records of historical value. |
| arkwright | A skilled craftsman who produced wooden chests or coffers (Arks) |
| armiger | Someone entitled to bear heraldic arms. A squire who carried the armour of a knight. |
| armourer | A person who made suits of armour or plates of armour for buildings or ships etc. |
| army clothier | One who made clothes / uniforms for the Army |
| army reserve | A soldier available for call up |
| arpenteur | A land surveyor |
| artificer | A highly respected skilled or artistic worker or craftsman or a skilled mechanic in the armed forces, chiefly British. It may also refer to a person who makes artifacts |
| artificial florist | Made and sold artificial flowers |
| artificial flower hand | See artificial florist |
| artificial flower maker | See artificial florist |
| artificial limb maker | Made and fitted artificial limbs for patients with disabilities |
| artisan | A skilled tradesman. |
| artist | A person who painted pictures etc. |
| artist in fireworks | A person who prepared fireworks displays. |
| ashman | A dustman |
| ashmanshipman | A Sailor who cleaned the ashes from a ships boiler |
| asphalter | A person who worked on laying Asphalt for roads |
| assay master | Determined the amount of gold or silver to go in coins |
| assayer | Determined the proportions of metal in ore |
| assessor | (Affeeror)An official in the manorial courts who assessed monetary penalties (fines). They also collected taxes and dues |
| assistant | Assisted someone else in their trade, often a master |
| assurance agent | Sells life assurance policies |
| asylum attendant | A Type of Nurse, looked after Lunatics in a Lunatic Asylum |
| attendant on sick | Nurse |
| attorney a | A lawyer |
| auctioneer | A dealer. Person who sells goods at auction and is usually paid by commission on the sale. |
| auger maker | Someone who made the carpenters augers (used for boring holes in wood) |
| aulnagar | See alnager |
| aulnager | See alnager |
| aurifaber | A goldsmith. |
| author | Someone who wrote and published books and manuscripts |
| avenator | (Plantifene) A hay and forage merchant. |
| avenator (plantifene) | A hay and forage merchant. |
| avowry | Another term for the lord of the manor. |
| axel tree maker | See axle tree maker |
| axel tree turner | See axle tree maker |
| axeman | One who wields an axe. A woodsman. |
| axle tree maker | Made axles for coaches and wagons |
| axle tree turner | See axle tree maker |
| axman | See axeman |
| baby linen maker | A Person who made linen clothing items for babies. |
| back washer | Employed to clean the wool in the worsted manufacturing industry |
| backmaker | A person who made "backs", vats, tubs, a Cooper. |
| backmann | A baker |
| backster | A baker |
| back'us boy | A kitchen servant from the back of the house |
| badger | A licenced huckster (peddler (pedlar), hawker). A corn miller or dealer or an itinerant food trader. Travelling provisions dealer. Licensed pauper who wore a badge with the letter P on it and could only work in a defined area (the term "Badgering comes from this"). A petty jobber, or trickster. |
| badgy fiddler | A boy trumpeter in the military. |
| bag maker | Someone who made bags |
| bag merchant | A Merchant who dealt in Bags |
| bagman | A travelling salesman |
| bagniokeeper | In charge of a bath house or brothel |
| bailie | See bailiff |
| bailiff | Officer of the sheriff, a land steward acting on behalf of the Landowner or Landlord and in Scotland a magistrate of the burgh, also looked after the fishing rights on certain rivers |
| baillee | See bailiff |
| baillie | See bailiff |
| bairman | A pauper or beggar |
| baizeweaver | See bayweaver |
| baker | baked bread and pastries |
| baking powder maker | Someone who made Baking Powder. |
| bal maiden | A female mine worker who worked on the surface |
| balancer | The person, usually a boy, who operated the balance - a pulley where full tubs were pulled up a slope in a mine and emptied |
| baler | A person who bales hay. In the mills one who bailed wool or cotton goods |
| balister | An archer - most commonly a crossbowman |
| ballad monger | A person who sold printed ballads on the street. |
| ballard master | One in charge of loading the ballast into the hold of empty ships |
| ballast heaver | Person who used to load ballast into the hold of empty ships |
| ballast man | See ballast heaver |
| ballast master | A person in charge of loading the ballast into the holds of empty ships. |
| baller | Person who measured out the balls of clay for the potter |
| baller up | See baller |
| band filer | A metal worker in the gun making industry |
| band sawyer | A Person who used a Band Sawing machine to cut wood. |
| bandster | One who bound the wheat sheaves after harvest |
| bang beggar | An officer of the parish who controlled the length of stay of any stranger to the parish |
| bank manager | Either person in charge of a bank or see Banksman |
| bank note printer, litho | Someone who operates a litho printing machine to print banknotes |
| banker | A person who dug trenches and ditches to allow drainage of the land, placing the surplus earth in banks around the edge |
| banksman | Employed in the mining industry being in charge of the cages at the pit head |
| baptist minister | A Clergyman in the Baptist Church. |
| bar assistant | Someone who assists in running a bar, pub or inn. |
| bar manager | Someone who managed an inn |
| barber | A man who cuts men's hair and shaves beards, a men's hairdresser |
| barber surgeon | A barber who also acted as a surgeon (an Act was passed that limited Barbers to hair-cutting, shaving, dentistry and blood letting in the 18th century) |
| barber's lather boy | A Barber's assistant, one whose duties would include lathering customers ready for shaving. |
| bard | A poet, writer or minstrel |
| bareman | See bairman |
| bareman | A beggar or pauper |
| barge mate | Supervise or coordinate activities of crew aboard ships, boats, barges, or dredges: Naval officer |
| bargee | One who worked on or owned and operated a barge |
| bargeman | See bargee |
| barilla manufacturer | Made barilla, a substance obtained from burning saltworts, the resulting mixture of sodium salts being used in the glass and ceramics industry |
| barkeeper | Another name for a tollkeeper or tavern keeper |
| barker | One who strips bark from trees. Also one who prepared leather with bark, a tanner |
| barkman | Anyone who tanned leather using the bark of trees. |
| barleyman | See bylawman |
| barm brewer | A person who made yeast. |
| barmaid | serves drinks in an inn, public house or tavern |
| barman | serves drinks in an inn, public house or tavern |
| barmaster | The arbiter of disputes in the lead mining industry. They were also in charge of the standard measure for the ore. |
| barometer instrument maker | Someone who made Barometers |
| barrel filer | A person employed in the gun manufacturing industry. |
| barrowman | A person employed in the coal mines to push the barrow from the pit face to the shaft. |
| bartender | Someone who serves drinks in an inn, public house or tavern |
| bartoner | The person in charge of the monastic farm, also known as a barton. |
| basil worker | Workers who used bark to tan the skins of lambs and sheep. The leather was called basil |
| basket maker | made baskets |
| basketman | Made baskets and furniture from wicker, a person employed to empty the basket of coal being off-loaded from the colliery into the barges |
| bass dresser | Employed in dressing fibre or matting |
| bast dresser | See bass dresser |
| bathing machine proprietor | A person who owned and hired the changing huts used at the seaside in the 18c by bathers. |
| batman | Officers servant in the army |
| batt maker | Mattress maker. Made the wadding used in quilt and mattress making |
| batter out | Sliced a short cylinder of clay and threw it onto a mold shaped for the face of a ceramic plate |
| battledore maker | A person who made the (usually cane) beaters used on clothes, carpets etc to remove the dust. Very popular at spring cleaning time. |
| battuere | A person who drives game from cover during a hunt |
| bauer | German for Farmer |
| baven maker | A maker of kindling. A bavin (or baven) is a thin piece of wood or split, with the end wittled and curled with a knife and used for kindling. |
| bavin maker | See pimpmaker |
| baxter | A baker |
| baxter | A baker |
| bayweaver | One who wove bay - a fine woollen fabric also known as baize |
| bead maker | Made beads |
| bead piercer | Employed to drill the holes in beads |
| bead worker | Someone who worked making decorative items out of beads. |
| beadle | Officer of the parish whose principle duty was to keep order. Was also the town crier |
| beadman | Employed to pray for his employer, inhabitant of an almshouse / poorhouse or hospital or tenant employed by the manor for a specific service. Person who carries out prays in accordance to a list. Almsman, Almswoman. |
| beadsman | See Beadman |
| beagle | Officer of the law (Policeman) |
| beamer | Winds the warp on the roller before putting it on the loom in the textile industry |
| bearer | Worked underground carrying the coal to the bottom of the pit shaft and placed it in the containers for uplifting to the surface |
| beater | Cleansed and thickened the cloth by treading it underwater with fullers earth (sedimentary clay rich in minerals). Also a man employed to rouse game. |
| beaver | Made felt used in hat making. |
| beck | A baker |
| becker | A baker |
| bed maker | Someone who made beds and bedding. |
| bedel | See Beadle |
| bedell | See Beadle |
| bedesman | See Beadman |
| bedman | Sexton whose main job in the church was to dig the graves |
| bedral | In Scotland, a minor church official. |
| bedwevere | Made the webbing for bed frames and also one who wove quilts |
| beekeeper | A person who kept bees for their honey. |
| beemaster | See beekeeper |
| beerseller | An off-license |
| beeskeepmaker | Made beehives |
| beeskep maker | A person who made beehives. |
| beetler | Operated a beetling machine, used in the textile trade for embossing fabric |
| belhoste | Tavern keeper |
| bell hanger | Installed bells in churches |
| belleyetere | See bellfounder |
| bellfounder | Made bells |
| bellman | Employed as a watchman or town crier or who worked for the post office and collected letters for the mail coach by walking the streets and ringing a bell |
| bellowfarmer | A person who was responsible for the care and maintenance of the church organ. |
| bellows maker | Made bellows used for organs or blacksmiths fires |
| belly builder | Built and fitted the interiors of a piano. Performs any combination of following tasks to fit and assemble wood soundboard, cast metal plate, and wood bridges to wood frame to fabricate back panel of piano |
| belter | See bellfounder |
| bender | Cut leather |
| besom maker | Made brooms usually from twigs with a centre pole |
| besomer | A person who sweeps with a besom, also possibly used to describe a BESOM MAKER. |
| besswarden | Appointed by the parish to look after its animals |
| bever | Beverage maker |
| bicycle maker | Someone who made bicycles |
| biddy | Female servant usually of Irish stock |
| bill poster | Put up notices, signs and advertisements |
| billboarder | See bill poster |
| billiard marker | A person who attends on players at billiards and records the progress of the game. |
| billiard table maker | Someone who made Billiard Tables |
| billiard-marker | A person who attends on players at billiards and records the progress of the game. |
| billier | See billyman |
| billiter | See bellfounder |
| billyman | Operated a Billy Roller, a machine used in the cotton industry to prepare the cotton for spinning |
| binder | Bound items, e.g., books, hats etc . |
| bird boy | Employed to scare away birds from crops |
| bird catcher | Caught birds for selling |
| birds nest seller | A person who sold birds nest collected from the wild complete with eggs, these were then hatched by domestic birds and sold as pets. |
| birlyman | In Scotland a ground officer or parish arbiter. |
| black borderer | A person who made black edged stationery for funerals. |
| black tray maker | A person who made Japanned trays. |
| blacking maker | Made polish (blacking) for shoes |
| blacksmith | Is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal. They produce objects such as gates, tools, agricultural implements, cooking utensils and weapons. |
| bladesmith | Swordmaker or knife maker |
| blaxter | See bleacher. |
| bleacher | A bleacher of cloth or paper pulp |
| blemmere | A pre 19th Century term for a plumber. A plumber was also called a plumbum man. |
| blentonist | See dowser |
| blindsman | A person employed by the Post Office to deal with incorrectly addressed letters and parcels. |
| block engraver | Engraved the blocks used in the printing trade |
| block maker | A person who engraved the blocks used in the printing trade. |
| block printer | Printer who used engraved wooden blocks for printing |
| blockcutter | Made wooden blocks used in the hat trade or laid down the blocks on which a ships keel was laid. A blockcutter was also a person who made and cut the patterns into wooden blocks for textile printing |
| blocker | See blockcutter |
| bloodletter | See bloodman |
| bloodman | Person who opened veins to let blood out of a persons body. Quite often he would use leeches to do this - believed to be a cure for many ailments |
| bloomer | A worker in a iron forge or puddling furness. A bloomer extracts wrought iron from ore which is worked with a hammer or rolled. (See also Shingler) |
| blower | A glass blower. A person who operated a blowing machine used to clean and separate fibres in the textile trade. A person who operated the bellows at a blacksmiths. One who is employed in melting tin. |
| blowfeeder | Fed the fibres into a blowing machine in the textile industry |
| blue maker | Used or made blue dye for whitening fabrics in manufacture or washing (Dolly blue) |
| bluestocking | A bluestocking is an educated, intellectual woman. A literary woman, usually with the imputation of pedantry. |
| bluffer | Innkeeper or landlord of a pub (slang USA) |
| board liner | [1]A worker who covers cardboard with plain or ornamental paper by hand, using paste and brush, (ii) passes cardboard into a pasting machine. |
| boarder | A person who was provided with accommodation and meals. See LODGER |
| boarding clerk | A clerk in the customs or in a mercantile firm who communicates with the masters of ships on their arrival in port |
| boarding officer | Inspected ships before entering port |
| boardman | [1] A truant officer who checked school attendance. ; [2] A tenant of manorial land who paid rent by maintaining the manor's table. |
| boardwright | A carpenter |
| boastsman | See boatman |
| boatman | A man who lets out boats for hire. Or a person who works or manages a boat, predominately on rivers and canals. Also the name given to a boat repairer |
| boatsman | See boatman |
| boatswain | A ship's officer in charge of riggings and sails. On a war vessel a warant officer in charge of rigging, anchors, cables and cordage. On a merchant ship a superior seaman having similar duties. |
| bobber | [1] A person who polished metals. ; [2] A person who helped to unload fishing boats. |
| bobbin carrier | Worked in spinning and weaving sections of the mills |
| bobbin turner | Made the bobbins used in the spinning and weaving industry |
| bobby | Policeman usually of constable rank |
| bodeys maker | Made bodices for womens garments |
| bodger | One who used a traditional wood turning craft to make chair legs and spars - usually from green (unseasoned) wood. A carpenter. |
| body maker | See bodeys maker |
| boiler maker | A person who worked with metal in any industrial setting. |
| boiler plater | Made rolled iron plate for use with steam boiler engines etc |
| boiler smith | made or repaired boilers |
| boilermaker | A craftsman who worked with metal in any industrial setting. |
| boll | One who looked after power looms in the weaving industry |
| bolter | Oversaw the sifting of meal or floor |
| bondager | A cotter bound to render certain services to a farmer. Or a female worker paid by a cotter to render certain services on his behalf to a farmer. Bonded to the farmer |
| bondman | Peasant bonded to a master for the purpose of learning a skill or trade. Serf, man slave |
| bondsman | A person who stood bond or surety for another where a bond was required by law. |
| bone button turner | Made buttons using a lathe |
| bone lace maker | A person who made pillow lace. Also known as bobbin lace |
| bone mould turner | Made the moulds for button manufacturers |
| bone picker | Collected rags and bones also known as a Rag and Bone Man. They also collected 'pure' (dog dung) for use in the tanning industry. |
| bonesetter | A“surgeon” - non qualified practitioner who sets fractured and dislocated bones |
| boniface | Keeper of an inn |
| bonnet maker | made bonnets |
| book binder | Someone who bound books |
| book finisher | put the finishing touches to books |
| book gilder | Decorated books with gold leaf |
| book keeper | Looked after the accounts for businesses |
| book seller | sold books |
| bookholder | Prompter in the theater |
| bookman | A literary man. A lover of reading. Student. |
| boonmaster | A surveyor of roads with the responsibilities of maintaining and repairing the road. |
| boot catcher | A servant at an inn who pulled off traveller's boots |
| boot clicker | punched eylet holes using a machine that clicked |
| boot closer | Worked in the shoe trade stitching together all the parts of a shoe |
| boot maker | made boots |
| boot polisher | Servant who polished shoes |
| boot repairer | repaired boots |
| boot seller | sold boots |
| bootbinder | Employed to operate the machines which bound footware |
| boothman | A corn merchant |
| borler | A person who made cheap coarse clothing |
| borreler | Made borrel, a woollen cloth with a coarse feel |
| borsholder | A regional name (Kent) for a constable. |
| bosun | See boatswain |
| bo'sun | See boatswain |
| botcher | A mender or a patcher |
| bottiler | A person who made leather containers for holding liquids, e.g. wine flasks or water bottles |
| bottle boy | A pharmacist’s assistant |
| bottler | See bottiler |
| bottom captain | A superintendent in charge of the deepest working parts of a mine |
| bottom knocker | A sagger makers assistant in the pottery industry |
| bottom maker | Moulded the bottoms for saggers in the pottery industry |
| bottomer | Worked down the pits moving the ore to the bottom of the shaft for removal |
| bowdler | Worked with iron ore - a person who expurgates (cleanse, purify or purge) iron ore |
| bower | See bowyer |
| bowermaiden | See burmaiden |
| bowker | A person who bleached yarn. English (chiefly Manchester) occupational name for someone whose job was to steep cotton or linen in lye (a strong alkali) to cleanse it. A local term in some parts of Lancashire for a butcher or slaughterer |
| bowler | Made bowls and dishes and also a term used for those who made the rounded part of spoons before casting |
| bowlman | Dealer in crockery |
| bowlman / bowlwoman | A dealer in crockery. |
| bowlminder | In charge of the vats used for washing raw wool before processing |
| bowlwoman | Female bowlman |
| bowyer | Made, sells or uses a bow. A maker of bows in archery |
| bozzler | A parish constable |
| brabener | A weaver. |
| brachygrapher | A shorthand stenographer. Secretary |
| braider | Made cord by twisting threads or strips of leather. |
| brailler | Made girdles |
| brakeman | Operated the winch at the pit head or operated the braking mechanism on trains and trams |
| brakesman | See brakeman |
| brasiator | A brewer of ale. |
| brasiler | A dyer using the dye obtained from the Brazilian red wood tree |
| brass cutter | A person who made copperplate engravings. |
| brass finisher | A person who polished brass goods. |
| brass fitter | A Person who fitted finished brass items. |
| brass founder | A person who cast brass. |
| bratman | A rough garment maker. |
| brayer | A person who ground things up in a mortar. |
| brazier | Worker with brass |
| breach maker | A person who made the breach for guns. |
| breakman | A bricklayer. |
| brewer | Person who brews beer, ale, etc. |
| brewster | Female brewer |
| brick maker | Made and sold bricks |
| brickburner | A brickmaker who used a kiln to make bricks. |
| brickman | A bricklayer. |
| bridewell keeper | The person in charge of a lock-up or jail. |
| bridgeman | A toll keeper at bridges. |
| bridger | A toll keeper at bridges. |
| brightsmith | A person who works with bright metals such as copper, tin or brass |
| broad cloth weaver | A person who operated a wide loom. |
| broad cooper | A person employed as a go between for the brewery and the innkeepers. |
| broderer | See brotherer |
| brogger | A wool merchant. |
| broiderer | See brotherer |
| broom dasher | A dealer in brooms. |
| broom squire | Broom maker |
| broom-dasher | Dealer in brooms |
| brotherer | An embroiderer |
| brouge maker | A shoemaker. |
| brow girl | Female employed at the pit head |
| browderer | See brotherer |
| brownsmith | Works with copper or brass |
| buck washer | A person who used to wash or soak clothes or cloth in lye (buck) - a bleaching agent. E.g. Cothing manufacturer, laundry. (see also bowker) |
| buckle tongue maker | Made the metal pointed (tongue) part of belt buckles |
| buckler | Made buckles |
| bucklesmith | See buckler |
| buckram maker | Worked with buckram (a coarse linen cloth stiffen ed with glue) used in stiffening materials such as belts, lapels and collars |
| buddleboy | See buddler |
| buddler | Employed to use and maintain the vats used in the lead and tin mines - washes the ore |
| buffalo soldier | A soldier serving in a black regiment in the US Army in the West. |
| builder | built houses and other buildings |
| bullocky | A term for the driver of a bullock team (Australian) |
| bullwhacker | An oxen driver. |
| bumbarge man | See bumboat man |
| bumboat man | A man who used a bumboat and met ships at anchor (in port or off shore) with goods / provisions for passengers and crew to purchase |
| bummaree | Middle man between the wholesaler and the retailer at the fish markets (eg Billingsgate, London) |
| bummer | An army deserter. |
| bunter | Female rag and bone collector |
| bureler | A person who made borel, a woollen cloth with a coarse feel. |
| burgess | Represented a borough at official levels |
| burgomaster | Magistrate or one employed in the goverment of a city e.g. mayor |
| burler | A dresser of cloth. Removes small knots or lumps in cloth or thread. In the process of fulling. |
| burler mender | A skilled finisher of woven fabrics. |
| burleyman | See bylawman |
| burmaiden | A chambermaid or lady-in-waiting |
| burneman | A carrier of barm or water for brewers. |
| burnisher | A person who polishes or makes glossy |
| burye man | A grave digger |
| bus conductor | Someone who collected the fares from passengers on Buses or Omnibuses |
| bus driver | Someone who drove a Bus or Omnibus |
| bushel maker | A cooper. |
| busheler | A tailor's helper. |
| bushelman | A tailor's assistant who repaired or altered clothes |
| bushelwoman | Female bushelman |
| busker | A street entertainer |
| buss maker | A maker of guns. |
| butcher | prepared and sold meat for cooking |
| butler | The chief male servant of a large household |
| butner | A button maker |
| butter carver | Made imprints in butter pats |
| button burnisher | A person who polished buttons. |
| button maker | Someone who made buttons. |
| button-maker | A button maker |
| butty | Middleman who negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labour |
| bylawman | An official of the manorial courts who enforced the courts orders. |
| cab driver | See cabman. |
| cabbie | See cabman. |
| cabinet maker | a highly skilled maker of quality furniture |
| cabman | The driver of a small horse drawn passenger vehicle. |
| cad | A person employed to feed and water horses at coach stops. |
| caddie | See caddy |
| caddy | One who waits about for chances to do odd jobs. Errand boy. Messenger |
| caddy butcher | A butcher that dealt in horse meat. |
| cadger | A market man, peddler or huskster. Beggar |
| cafender | A carpenter. |
| caffler | A rag and bone collector. |
| cainer | See caner |
| caird | Another term for a tinker |
| calciner | Burnt bones to make powdered lime (Reduced by heat) |
| calendarer | A person who complies lists |
| calender | A person who listed documents. |
| calender worker | See calenderer |
| calenderer | Operated a machine (a calender) which pressed cloths or paper between two large rollers in order to makes them smooth and glossy. |
| calenderman | See calenderer |
| calico printer | A person who prints figured patterns on calico |
| calker | See caulker |
| cambist | A banker specialising in exchange rates |
| cambric maker | A maker a fine linen (cambric) |
| camerist | A lady's maid. |
| camister | A minister of the cloth. |
| camlet merchant | Seller of camlet, a costly fabric of satin weave made in Asia of camel's or goat's hair or angora wool |
| campaner | Bell Maker |
| canal bank ranger | Looked after a section and all aspects of the canal waterways eg locks, barges, canal traffic, licences, etc. A towpath warden |
| cancellarius | Chancellor. |
| candle maker | One who made and sold candles |
| candler | One who candles eggs |
| candy man | [1] A slang name for a bailiff. ; [2] A travelling candy salesman. |
| caner | Made walking sticks |
| caner bottomer | Made the seats for chairs out of woven cane |
| cannaller | A canal boat worker. |
| cannoneer | Man who fires a cannon. A solider who serves as a gunner |
| canon | A member of the chapter of a cathedral. One of the bishop's associate council. |
| canoness | Female canon |
| canter | One who uses cant as a beggar. |
| canting caller | Auctioneer |
| canvas climber | A sailor |
| canvas maker | A person who made canvases a course cloth made from hemp. Used for sails, tents, paintings, tapestries. |
| canvaser | A person whose job is to solict peoples opinions, votes or orders |
| cap maker | Made caps usually worn by the working class |
| caper | A cap maker. |
| capillaire maker | Person who made capillaire, which is a clear syrup flavoured with orange flower water. Capillaire is added by confectioners to their products. |
| capitalist | Investor. Person of large property. |
| capper | A person who made caps usually worn by the working class. |
| captain | In charge of a ship or a group of soldiers and also term for an overseer |
| card nailer | Maintained the teeth (nails) on the carding machine used for preparing wool and cotton for weaving |
| card nailora | See card nailer |
| card room worker | See cardroomer |
| carder | Operated or tended machines to prepare industrial or consumer products for storage or shipment. |
| cardmaker | A maker of cards or instruments for combing wool |
| cardroomer | Term for anyone who worked in the carding room of the mills |
| caretaker | Takes care of another's property |
| carman | Drove a vehicle used to transport goods |
| carnifex | Public executioner |
| carpentarius | A carpenter. |
| carpenter | A worker in wood |
| carpet weaver | wove carpets |
| carrier | A person who drove a vehicle used to transport goods. |
| carry-in-boy | Took finished bottled (products) to the tempering oven |
| cart wheeler | A person who made cart wheels. |
| carter | Carries or conveys goods in a cart |
| cartographer | A map maker |
| cartomancer | Fortune teller who used cards (USA) |
| cartwright | Maker of carts and wagons |
| case maker | Maker of ornamental/ jewellery cases. Often worked in shagreen leather (Shagreen - leather prepared from the skin of horses, asses, mules) |
| case maker | Made cases |
| caseman | Amongst printers one who works at the case, or sets up type. A compositor |
| cashier | Someone who looked after the cash and often kept the books for a business. |
| cashmarie | A person who sold fish usually at inland markets. |
| caster | One who casts. One who casts in metal. One who mades small bottles used for sprinkling salt, pepper, sugar etc. One who assigns the parts of a play to the actors. One who calculates fortunes. One who computes. |
| castrator | One who castrated farm animals |
| catagman | A tenant who leased a cottage and plot of land where they grew their own produce and often kept a small amount of livestock. |
| catchpole | A sheriff's officer or sergeant, especially one who makes arrests for debt. A bailiff |
| catchpolla | See catchpole |
| catechist | A teacher of religion. |
| catechista | A teacher of religion |
| cattle jobber | Buys and sells cattle |
| cattle-man | One who tends or raises cattles |
| caulker | Filled up cracks (in ships or windows) or seams to make them watertight |
| causewayer | A person who was involved in road repairs from the term causewaying (Scottish c1800). |
| ceapman | See chapman |
| ceiler | Puts up the ceilings in buildings |
| cellarman | Looked after the beer, wines and spirits in public houses or the warehouse |
| cemmer | A person who hand combed the yarn before weaving. |
| chaff cutter | A person employed to make chaff by cutting straw. |
| chafferer | Negotiator |
| chain maker | made chains |
| chair bodger | Traveling chair repairman |
| chair bottomer | See caner bottomer |
| chair maker | made chairs |
| chaise driver | The driver of a two wheeled light open carriage generally furnished with a hood that may be let down and capable of carrying one or two persons, used for pleasure or local travelling puposes. |
| chaise maker | Made or assembled carts and carriages |
| chaisemaker | Carriage maker |
| chaloner | [1] A person who made blankets. ; [2] A dealer in shalloon, a material made in Chalons. |
| chamber master | A small master who makes up material at home and sells goods to the shops. (e.g. Shoes, clothes, bric-a-brac) |
| chamberlain | A steward to either royalty or nobility, in charge of the household. Or a treasurer. |
| chambermaid | A female servant attending to bedrooms in houses or inns (domestic Service) |
| chandler | A candle seller, grocer, provisioner, usually associated with small wares. Usually associated with ship provisions - SHIPS CHANDLER |
| chanty man | The sailor that led the singing of shanties on board ship. |
| chapel master | Head of a chapel of printers |
| chapeler | Made and sold hats |
| chaperone | A matron who attends a young lady in public places for protection or propriety |
| chapman | A dealer or peddler of goods usually itinerant going from village to village. Often sold fabrics such as wool and cotton. Peddler or hawker |
| charcoal burner | Made charcoal from wood - usually in the woods where the trees were cut |
| charger | One employed in charging or discounting money |
| charley | A night watchman |
| charlie | See charley |
| charman | See carrier. |
| chartmaster | A middleman that negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labour. |
| charwoman | A cleaning woman (domestic service) who usually worked for hourly wages, often on a part-time basis. They usually had several different employers and unike maids, did not 'live-in'. |
| chaser | An engraver. |
| chatelaine | The mistress of a castle or house. |
| chaunter | A street entertainer who sung ballads (Busker) |
| check-taker | A taker of tickets |
| checkweighman | Employed by a group of miners paid piecework (by the ton mined) to check coal weight recorded by the mine management |
| cheese factor | A dealer in cheeses |
| cheese monger | See cheese factor |
| cheeseman | See cheese factor |
| cheesemonger | Dealer in cheese and butter. |
| chef | Someone who cooks food, but more highly skilled and qualified than a Cook. |
| chemist | Someone who was qualified to dispense drugs on prescription from a Doctor; Pharmacist, Apothecary, Druggist, etc. |
| chiffonier | A rag picker / gatherer |
| childbed linen warehouse keeper | Hired bedlinen mostly for childbirth as most children were born at home |
| chimney sweep | A chimney cleaner. In Victorian times, he would usually employ young children to ascend the chimneys |
| chingler | A roofer who used wooden shingles |
| chinglor | A rooftiler who used wooden shingles. |
| chip | See chippy |
| chippers labourer | Assistant to a carpenter |
| chippy | A shipwright or carpenter |
| chiropodist | Treats diseases and conditions of the feet and hands |
| chirugion | An apothecary or surgeon (usually learned by apprenticeship) |
| chirugion | An apothecary or surgeon. |
| chirurgeon | See chirugion |
| chore woman | See charwoman |
| chorister | A singer - usually in a choir |
| chowder | A fish monger. |
| chronologist | Recorded official events of historical importance |
| cigar maker | made cigars |
| cinder wench | Female who collected the cinders from gas works and sold them door to door |
| cissor | See sissor |
| civil servant | Anyone who worked in a Government Department position. |
| claker | A magician or astrologer. |
| clapman | A man who took a person to prison. |
| clark | See clerk |
| classman | A unemployed labourer. |
| claviger | A servant. |
| clay carrier | Assistant to the shot firer in the pits |
| clayman | Worked in the clay pits usually preparing the clay for making bricks and also one who coated the outside of buildings with clay to make them water proof |
| clericus | Clerk or clergyman |
| clerk | Someone who keeps records or accounts, or who does general office work, or a shop assistant or hotel receptionist. Sometimes clergyman or cleric. |
| clerk in holy orders | A Clergyman, cleric or priest. |
| cleyman | See clayman |
| clicker | The servant of a salesman who stands at the door to invite customer in. Worked in the shoe trade cutting out the lowers. One in charge of the final stage of layout before printing |
| clipper | Attached the coal carts to the wire or rope which was used to drag the carts to and from the coal face. Sheep shearer. A person who clips - e.g. Chips edges of coin |
| clipper on | In the mines a person who attached the coal carts to the wire or rope which was used to drag the carts to and from the coal face. |
| clod hopper | Plowman (rustic) A clown |
| clogger | Maker of wooden shoes - clogs |
| cloistress | A nun |
| cloth lapper | Took the cloth from the carding machine readied it for the next process |
| cloth linter | Removed unwanted threads and lint from the finished material |
| cloth picker | See cloth linter |
| clothesman | See clothier |
| clothier | Person who made or sold clothes |
| clothman | See clothier |
| clouter | Made nails and another name for a shoemaker |
| clower | A person who made nails. |
| coach driver | See coachman |
| coach maker | made coaches |
| coacher | See coachman |
| coachman | Drove any coach |
| coach driver | A person who drove any horse-drawn coach. |
| coal backer | Carried the sacks of coal from the coal barge to the coal wagons. A coal porter at ship docks |
| coal burner | A person who made charcoal. |
| coal drawer | Worked in the mines pushing or dragging the coal carts to the bottom of the pit |
| coal fitter | Conducts the sales between the owner of a coal pit and coal merchant |
| coal getter | One employed in digging, or in getting out by digging. Miner who worked at the coal face |
| coal heaver | Unloaded coal |
| coal higgler | See coalman |
| coal merchant | See coalman |
| coal miner | worked in a coal mine |
| coal runner | Attended the coal carts underground |
| coal whipper | Unloaded coal from ships using baskets attached to a simple form of crane |
| coaler | One who makes a business supplying or transporting coal |
| coalman | Sold coal usually from a horse and cart, house to house. |
| coalmeter | One appointed to measure the coal |
| coast surveyor | Customs officer who watched over the off loading of goods on the coast |
| coast waiter | See coast surveyor |
| coastal pilot | A pilot who conducted vessels along the coast |
| coastguard | A body of men employed to prevent smuggling around the coast, now also to provide rescuie services at sea (mainly) |
| cobbler | Shoemaker |
| cobleman | A fisherman who used a flat bottomed boat |
| cockfeeder | A person who looked after fighting cocks. |
| cocus | A cook. |
| cod placer | Put fire proof containers, which held the pottery for firing, into the kiln |
| codder | A gatherer of cods or pease |
| coffin maker | made coffins |
| cohen | A priest |
| coiner | Worked at the mint stamping out coins |
| coleter | See cotiler |
| collar maker | Made either horse collars or male shirt collars |
| collier | Coal miner, a coal merchant or one who worked on the coal barges |
| colonus | Latin for farmer or husbandman. |
| colotier | See cotiler |
| colour man | Preparer and seller of colours. Mixed the dyes in the textile trade and also assistant to a house painter |
| colour sergeant | Chief sergeant of a company |
| colourator | A person who worked with dyes. |
| colporteur | Travelling Bible or religious books and pamphlets salesman |
| colt | A name given to all those who have not served a regular apprenticeship. Especially used to describe women and child workers in the frame-work knitting trade in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire during the Luddite disturbances 1811-12. |
| comb maker | Made combs either for the textile industry for combing wool etc. or the maker of hair combs |
| comber | Combed wool during preparation |
| combere | See comber |
| compositor | Set the type ready for printing |
| conder | Gave steering instructions to the steersman and also gave directions to inshore fisherman of fish movements on shoals (usually from the top of cliffs or rocks) |
| coney | Rabbit catcher |
| coney catcher | A rabbit catcher. |
| confectioner | Sweet / candy maker |
| conner | See conder |
| conner | Inspector or tester |
| contriver | [1] An inventor. ; [2] A schemer or plotter. |
| cony catcher | See coney |
| cook | someone who cooks food |
| cooper | Maker of wooden barrels |
| cooper | One who made barrels |
| copeman | See chapman |
| copeman | Dealer in goods and also dishonest dealer. A marketman. Coper - is also a dealer in horses on a limited scale |
| coper | See copeman |
| copperbeater | Coppersmith |
| copperbeter | See copperbeater |
| coppersmith | Worked with copper. Made household and jewellery items from copper |
| coppersmith | A person who worked with copper. |
| coracle maker | Made coracles, a small round boat used for fishing |
| cordiner | Originally term used for one who worked with Cordovan (a special leather from Spain) but later term used for shoemaker |
| cordwainer | See cordiner |
| cork cutter | A person who worked with cork. |
| cork sock maker | A cutter of inner soles of cork for shoes, helping to keep feet dry and comfortable. |
| corn chandler | A corn merchant. |
| corn cutter | A podiatrist. |
| corn factor | A middleman in corn deals. |
| corn meter | An official who measured and weighed the corn at market. |
| cornet | The fifth commissioned officer in a troop of cavalry, who carried the colours; corresponding to the ensign in infantry. The lowest commissioned rank in a cavalry regiment, equivalent to the present 2nd Lieutenant. |
| corporal | A non-commissioned officer rank |
| correspondent | journalist or writer |
| corver | A person who made baskets used in coal mining known as corves. |
| corveysera | See cordiner. |
| corviner | See cordiner |
| corvisor | See cordiner |
| coster | peddlar, hawker, seller of goods on the street, sometimes fruit, but not always |
| coster wife | Female fruit seller |
| costermonger | Fruit seller |
| cotiler | Maker of Cutlery. Cutler. A knife seller or sharpner |
| cottager | See catagman |
| cottager | A rural labourer |
| cottar | See cotter |
| cotter | In Scotland a peasant occupying a small holding |
| cottier | A peasant cottager |
| cotton feeder | A person employed in the cotton mills to feed the cotton into the loom. |
| coucher | A person employed in the paper making trade. |
| countour | A person who collected rates. |
| couper | A trader in commodities / goods (In Scotland) |
| couple beggar | An itinerant priest who performed marriages without licence or banns. |
| coupler | A man or boy who worked on the haulage system coupling tubs together in mines |
| couranteer | A journalist |
| court factor | A person who bought and sold courts (small carts). |
| court roller | A person in charge of the court rolls and records. |
| court toolmaker | A manufacturer of tools used to produce carts known as courts. |
| courtier | The owner and driver of a horse and cart known as a court. |
| cow leach | See cow leech |
| cow leech | Forerunner of a cattle vet |
| cowherd | A person who looked after cows. |
| cowherder | Cow tender |
| cowkeeper | Kept one or more cows (a common source of livelihood in cities) when a cow was kept in the back yard of a house, providing milk which was sold at the front door or window, forerunner of the local dairy |
| cowman | See cowkeeper. |
| coxswain | See coxwain |
| coxwain | Ship or boat helmsman |
| cratch maker | Made cratches e.g. mangers, cribs, or frames |
| crier | Law court officer, auctioneer, town announcer |
| crimper | Member of army or navy press gang. One who decoys people to a place where they are robbed or pressed into service. |
| crocker | Potter |
| crofter | Tenant of a small piece of land |
| cropper | A tenant who works land in return for a share of the yield. |
| crosier | Bearer of the pastoral staff of a bishop or the bearer of the cross before the archbishop in the church |
| crowner | Coroner |
| crozier | See crosier |
| cuhreur (cunreur) | A currier. |
| culver | A person who kept pigeons |
| cuper | See cooper |
| curer | Cures various foodstuff (eg ham, fish, tobacco) |
| curretter | A broker. |
| currier | A man who dresses and colours leather after it is tanned. |
| customer | A customs tax collector. |
| customs officer | Someone who collected duty on goods |
| cutler | Knife seller or sharpener |
| daguerreotype artist | An early name for a photographer (from the Daguerreotype method). |
| daguerreotypist | Early name for a photographer using silver plate (from the Daguerreotype method) |
| dairyman | Worker or owner of a dairy farm or seller of dairy products |
| damster | Builder of dams for logging purposes |
| danter | Female overseer in the winding rooms of a silk mill |
| dataller | See day man. |
| dateler | See day man. |
| day laborer | A person who was hired and paid on a day-by-day basis. |
| day man | Casual worker, usually employed by the day |
| daytaleman | See day man. |
| deathsman | Executioner |
| decimer | A person elected by the householders in a street to act as their representative at the borough's Court Leet. |
| decoyman | Employed to decoy the wild fowl, animals etc into a trap or within shooting range |
| decretist | A person knowledgeable in decrees, decretals. |
| deemer | See deemster |
| deemster | A judge, usually in the Channel Isles or Isle of Man. |
| delver | Someone who used a spade . E.g. Dug ditches |
| dempster | See deemster |
| demster | See deemster |
| dentist | fixed teeth |
| departer | A refiner of precious metals. |
| deputy | Safety officer for the pit crew in the mining industry |
| derrickman | Worked on an oil well handling the tubes and rods used in drilling |
| devil | A printer's errand boy. |
| deviller | Operated the devil, a machine that tore rags used in the textile industry |
| dexter | A dyer. |
| dey wife | Female dairy worker |
| digger | [1] A person who worked at the coal face. ; [2] A day labourer in a stone or slate quarry. |
| dikeman | Hedger or ditcher. Digger of dykes and drainage ditches |
| dipper | One who worked in the pottery trade and was responsible for the glazing of items |
| dish thrower | A person who made bowls and dishes from clay. |
| dish turner | One who made wooden bowls or dishes |
| disher | See dish thrower. |
| distiller | Brewer of alcoholic beverages |
| distributor | A parish official attached to the workhouse or poorhouse who looked after the secular needs of the poor. |
| diviner | See dowser |
| dock master | Person in charge of a dockyard |
| dock walloper | See docker |
| docker | A dock worker, longshoreman |
| doctor's man | Person who went from house to house collecting owed doctor's fees |
| doffer | Unloaded full bobbins from a spinning machine |
| dog breaker | A person who trained dogs. |
| dog killer | A person employed by the parish to kill any dogs found wandering around loose. |
| dog leech | Veterinarian |
| dog whipper | When foxes were hunted for bounty the tail of the fox was nailed to the church door as proof of capture. The Dog Whipper was employed to deal with the dogs which disrupted the church service, attracted by the tails. |
| dog-whipper | Drove dogs away in a village (modern day dog catcher) |
| domesman | Judge or umpire |
| domestic | Household servant |
| door keeper | Guard, janitor, or porter |
| dorcas | A seamstress. |
| doubler | Operated a machine used to twist together strands of fibre (cotton, wool etc) |
| dowser | Water diviner. Finds water using a rod or wooden witching stick |
| dowser | Water finder |
| dozener | See decimer. |
| dragman | A fisherman who used a dragnet. A net that is dragged along the bottom of the sea. |
| dragoman | A person who acted as interpreter or guide in Turkish or Arabic. |
| dragoon | A mounted soldier who carried an infantry weapon such as a `dragon` or short musket, |
| dragsman | The driver of a drag or coach. A thief who follows carriages to cut away luggage from behind. One engaged in dragging a a river, lake, pond, harbor, or the like, in search of something. |
| drainer | A person who made drains. |
| draper | Dealer in fabrics and sewing needs |
| drapery painter | A person whose painting skills were not of the highest level, they usually finished paintings for the artists by painting on the clothes of the subject, hence Drapery Painter. |
| draughtsman | drew technical drawings |
| drawboy | Weavers assistant in the shawl making mills , they sat atop the looms and lifted the heavy warps. |
| drawer | The person who was employed by the collier (mines) to take full tubs from the workplace to the haulage and bring back empty tubs |
| drayman | A person who drove a dray (a heavy four wheeled cart used to transport beer kegs). |
| drayman: | Cart driver |
| dredger | See dredgerman |
| dredgerman | One engaged in dredging. (To clean out by means of a dredge net) |
| dresser | One who dresses another. A surgeon's assistant. Also one who operated a machine which prepared threads in the textile industry |
| dressing machine maker | A person who made sewing machines. |
| dressmaker | A person who made clothing. |
| drift maker | Made drift nets, used in the fishing industry |
| dripping man | Dealer in dripping - the fat collected during the cooking of meats. Often used to roast potatoes or spread on bread with salt to make a 'dripping butty'. |
| driver | Slave overseer |
| drover | Sheep or cattle driver |
| drowner | A man who understood irrigation. He was appointed to control the watering of the common water meadows, especially in Dorset, Wiltshire, Avon and Hampshire. |
| drugger | A pharmacist. |
| drum battledore maker | A person who made galvanised metal drums fitted with paddles used as mechanical agitators in washing machines (battledore is the name of the bat shaped paddles). |
| drummer | Traveling salesman - as in 'to drum up sales' |
| dry salter | A dealer in salted or dried meats, pickles, sauces, etc. Or a dealer in dyestuffs, chemical products / preparations. Drysalters usually sold a number of saline substances and miscellaneous drugs. |
| dry stane dyker | A Scottish term for a Dry Stone Waller. |
| dry stone waller | Built stone walls. (Mostly farmers wanting to restrict their livestock) No cement or mortar was used just stones of varying sizes that they fitted together to make a substantial wall. |
| drysalter | See salter |
| dubbere | A cloth dubber - , one who raises the nap of cloth |
| duffer | Peddler or hawker of cheap goods. Especially one who takes orders for dress goods by samples. Also one who sells spurious or flashy articles represented as stolen or smuggled. |
| dustbin man | See dustman |
| dustman | A collecter/remover of domestic refuse, ashes etc. |
| dyer | Employed in the textile mills to colour fabric prior to weaving |
| dykeman | See dikeman |
| dyker | A Scottish term for a stonemason. |
| ealdorman | An official of the shire courts who acted as the King's deputy taking payment from the profits of the court. |
| earer | A ploughman or tiller |
| earth stopper | One who plugs up animal holes e.g. rabbits, badgers, foxes |
| east india man | A person employed by the East India Company, on a commercial or military basis. |
| ebonite turner | One who worked with ebonite or vulcanite, making combs or ornaments etc |
| edge tool maker | Blacksmith who made knives and agricultural implements such as scythes. |
| egg factor | One who gathers, or deals in, eggs. Egg or poultry dealer |
| eggler | See egg factor |
| electrician | did electical work |
| elephants teeth dealer | One who dealt in ivory ornaments etc |
| ellerman | A person who sold oil used for lamps. Also known as an oilman. |
| elliman | A person who sold oil used for lamps. Also known as an oilman. |
| elymaker | An oilmaker. |
| embosser | A person who moulded or carved designs that were raised above the surface of the material |
| empresario | See impresario |
| engine driver | Train driver |
| engine man | Employed at a mine to be in charge of the machinery used to crush the ore |
| engine tenter | Someone who is in charge of machinery, usually in a factory. The word is closely related to the word "tend" so he is someone who "tends, or looks after” the engine. |
| engine turner | A craftsman or engraver who produced overlaping geometric pattens similar to those produced by 'Spirograph' toys. Engine turning was commonly seen on ladies powder compacts, and has often been used under transparent enamels. |
| engineer | A person who designed roads, bridges, or machinery. Also a person who drove or serviced any machinery e.g. engine drivers. |
| engineman | A person employed at a mine to be in charge of the engine house which operated the winding engine and was usually instructed by the BANKMAN. |
| engraver | A person who cuts or carves designs or lettering in metal or stone etc. |
| ensign | A naval commissioned officer |
| enumerator | One who collected the information for the census from the householder and recorded it |
| equerry | Officer of the royal household usually responsible for the royal horses |
| eremite | See hermit |
| erite | An heretic. |
| errand boy | A boy who ran errands |
| errand girl | A girl who ran errands |
| esquire | A man of standing in society. (Originaly one who attended a knight) |
| estafette | See expressman |
| etcher | A person who cuts or carves designs or lettering in metal or stone etc. A person who made the plates for printing patterns on cloth or printing paper money. |
| ewe herd | Shepherd |
| ewer | Water carrier. Man who came round with water. |
| exchequer | Revenue collector |
| exciseman | Excise tax collector |
| expressman | Express courier - usually military. A special messenger who delivered goods quickly. |
| eyer | Maker of eyes in sewing needles |
| faber | A skilled workman - carpenter, wheelwright, shipwright (Quite often working with wood). Skilled artisan |
| fabricator | A maker of a product - to fabricate something e.g. metalworker, woodworker, ironworker |
| factor | A person who acts for another, notably a mercantile and/or colonial agent. Also a Scottish term for an estate steward responsible for collecting land rents. |
| fagetter | Made up faggots into bundles, seller of firewood |
| fagot | A man formerly hired to fill a vacancy in a military company on a muster day. |
| faker | A person who dressed up black and white photographs by a hand in colour before colour film was available. Photographic assistant |
| falconer | Trainer / handler of falcons - birds used for hunting. A person skilled in the art of falconry |
| fancy man | A pimp. An agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings for services rendered. |
| fancy pearl worker | Made fancy goods in mother-of-pearl |
| fancy woman | A prostitute. Offering sexual favours for money |
| fancy-pearl worker | A worker using mother-of-pearl making buttons or fancy goods. |
| fanner | See grain winnower |
| fanwright | A maker and repairer of fans or winnowing baskets |
| farandman | A stranger or traveller, especially a travelling merchant. |
| farmer | Farmers work the land, either arigulturaly or with livestock. In the past they were usually descendants of gentry and noble classes. Besides farm workers they often having servants. |
| farrier | Horse shoer - often referred to as a blacksmith |
| faulkner | A Falconer. |
| fawkner | See falconer |
| fear nothing maker | A weaver of special kind of strong thick woollen cloth known as fearnought (or dreadnought) - a heavy overcoating that is made of wool often mixed with shoddy. Used as protective clothing, also as lining for portholes, walls, and doors of powder magazines on board ships. |
| fear-nothing maker | A weaver of special kind of thick woollen cloth known as fear-nought, used for protective clothing and lining portholes, walls, and doors of powder magazines on board ships. |
| feather beater | Cleaner of feathers |
| feather dresser | One who prepared feathers for sale |
| feather driver | See feather beater |
| feather-beater | A cleanser of feathers. Also feather driver. |
| feather-dresser | A person who cleaned and prepared feathers for sale. |
| featherman | Agent who dealt in feathers |
| feather-wife | Woman who prepared feathers for use. |
| feeder | A herdsman. |
| fell monger | A dealer in fells or hide. Someone who sells or works with animal hides and skins. A dealer in fells or sheepskins, who separates the wool from the pelts |
| feller | Woodcutter |
| felter | Worker in the hatting industry |
| feroner | See Ironmonger |
| ferreter | A manufacturer or trader dealing in ferret - a narrow piece of tape used to bind or edge fabric. Or a ferret keeper/dealer |
| ferrour | See farrier |
| ferur (ferator) | A farrier or blacksmith. |
| festitian | Mis-spelling for physician. |
| fettler | Someone who keeps things in good order (fettle), neat and tidy. Applied to several occupations such as; one who cleaned the machinery in woollen mills, removing accumulated fibres, grease, etc. One who sharpened the fustian cutters knives or needlemaker who filed the needle to a point. One who grinds and sands ceramic products (eg tiles) to remove defects or rough spots. This could be done using wire or stiff brush or power grinder. Smooths (fettles) edges and surface of product, using sandpaper or handstone. Discards broken or poorly pressed tile. Stacks ceramic tile or clay slates in specified pattern on boards, plates, trays, or in saggers. May measure dimensions of tile for conformance to specifications, using gauge. May tend machine that automatically fettles tile. |
| feuterer | See fewterer |
| fever | A blacksmith. |
| fewster | A worker in wood, and specifically one who made the wooden framework of the saddle-tree - the wooden frame part of the horse saddle before being covered with stretched leather |
| fewterer | A keeper of hounds, for hunting or coursing |
| feydur beater | Feather beater. |
| fiddler | A person who used a small knife (fiddle) to remove the flashing from cast clay forms such as bowl, creamers, cups or pitchers. Pottery occupation |
| field master | see hayward. |
| file cutter | A maker of files, which also involved the cutting of grooves on the file surface |
| filibuster | A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter. |
| filler | Person who filled bobbins in mills |
| fine drawer | Invisible mending. A person employed in tailoring to repair tears in the cloth. |
| finisher | Operated machine giving final touches to a manufactured article in various trades |
| firebeater | Looked after the boilers that powered the cotton mill machinery |
| fireman | Inspected for, and removed explosive gasses underground in mining or stoked the boilers on ships and locomotives |
| first hand | Silk weaver who had his own loom. An outworker. |
| fiscere | A fisherman (Anglo-Saxon). |
| fish fag | A female fish monger |
| fish monger | sold fish from a shop |
| fishdryver | See fisher |
| fisher | A provider of fish (especially dried fish) |
| fisher (fishdryver) | A victualler. |
| fishmonger | A seller of fish - usually via a shop |
| fitter | One who fits or adjusts. Eg clothing, machinery, gas etc |
| flasher | Specialist process worker in the glass industry |
| flatman | Person who navigated a flat, a broad flat-bottomed boat used for transport, especially in shallow waters |
| flauner | A confectioner. |
| flaxdresser | Prepared flax prior to spinning |
| flesher | See fleshmonger |
| fleshewer | Butcher |
| fleshmonger | Butcher or a person who worked in a tannery |
| fletcher | Arrowsmith (from French fleche) |
| fletcher | A person who attaches the fletching, e.g. feathers, to arrows |
| floater | A person who irrigates or floods land to regulate its water content - eg marshes, fields, watermeadows |
| floatman | See flatman |
| flogger | Door to door salesman, peddler |
| florist | sold flowers from a shop |
| flower | An archer (Flo-arrow). |
| flower girl | Female who sold flowers on the street |
| flower woman | See flower girl |
| flusherman | A person who cleaned out water mains |
| flycoachman | A driver of one-horse carriage hired by the day |
| flying stationer | A street broadsheet seller |
| flyman | One who drives a fly (a single horse carriage). One who works the ropes in the flies of a theater |
| fogger | [1] Petty chapman, carrying wares from village to village. ; [2] Middleman in nail and chain trade. ; [3] Agricultural worker responsible for feeding the cattle. ; [4] Low class lawyer (Pettifogger). |
| fogler | See fowler |
| foister(er) | A Joiner. |
| foot maiden | Female servant |
| foot man | A servant who ran errands. |
| foot pad | A thief who preys on pedestrians. A highywayman who robs on foot. |
| foot post | Messenger who travelled on foot delivering letters |
| foot straightener | Watchmaking industry. One who straightens timepiece dial, holding feet by using holding device and gauge |
| footman | Servant who ran errands |
| foot-post | A letter carrier or messenger who travelled on foot. |
| forester | Game warden or forest ranger |
| forgeman | Blacksmith or assistant |
| forger | Blacksmith, worker at a forge |
| forkner | A Falconer, (mis-spelling). |
| fossetmaker | Man who made faucets for ale-casks, etc |
| fower | One who cleans (fows); as in cooking utensils or house maintenance or street cleaner |
| fowler | Keeper or catcher of birds |
| frame spinner | Loom worker |
| framer | A person who made frames for houses. |
| framework knitter | An operator of a machine which made hosiery. Originally a hand loom was used. Often abbreviated to FWK. |
| frameworker knitter | An operator of hosiery machinery. (Associated occupations within the hosiery industry; Frame Maker, Frame Smith and Frame Mender) |
| freedman | A person released from slavery. |
| freeholder | one who holds land by fee simple. In colonial times, a free-holder had the right to vote and hold public office. |
| freeman | one who held the full rights of citizenship, such as voting and engaging in business (as opposed to an indentured servant). a man who was free of trade taxes and who shared in the profits of the borough in which he lived and traded, a tenant who was free of feudal service and a man who had served his apprenticeship and who could then work at his trade in his own right. In the city of London nearly all freemen became so by virtue of being freemen of a City Guild. On attaining company freedom, a man would automatically apply for the freedom of the City. He was entitled to call himself ‘Citizen’. |
| freemason | A stonecutter. |
| french polisher | polished quality wooden furniture using French polish, wax or special lacquer |
| freser | A maker of frieze, a rough plaster. |
| freshwater man | Boatman who plied his trade via fresh water (rivers) |
| fringemaker | A person who made fringes, ornamental borders of cloth. |
| fripperer | A buyer and seller of old clothes. |
| friseur | A hairdresser |
| frobisher | see furbisher. |
| fruiterer | Fruit seller |
| fruitestere | Female fruit seller |
| fugler | See fowler |
| fulker | A pawnbroker. |
| fuller | Fabric worker who shrinks, beats and presses the cloth (also see WALKER) |
| funambulist | A tightrope walker |
| fundholder | Not strictly an occupation but something you may come across under the occupation title which indications that the person was able to support themselves financial from their own savings or investments – for example stocks and shares.(See also Annuitant or LOOM) |
| furbisher | One who or that which furbishes, or makes bright by rubbing; one who or that which cleans or polishes. E.g. sword cutler, who finishes sword blades and similar weapons. A polisher. |
| furner | A baker. |
| furrier | A worker, seller or producer of furs |
| fustian weaver | A maker of corduroy. |
| fuyster | See foister. |
| gabeler | Tax collector. A collector of gabels or taxes. |
| gaffer | Foreman of a work crew. Or in glass factory, one who smoothed, reheated the neck of and formed lip on a bottle |
| gaffer | Foreman |
| gaffman | A bailiff. |
| gager | An exciseman. Collector of liquor taxes. One who gages (gauges); specifically, an officer whose business is to ascertain the contents of casks and other hollow vessels. |
| galvaniser | Iron worker who handled process of coating metal with zinc, to inhibit formation of rust |
| game keeper | A person who worked on an estate and protected the game and livestock from the intrusion of poachers. The role was not unlike that of the ancient foresters, who protected the stocks of the King's game. |
| gamekeeper | looked after the grounds and protected the game against poachers on a country estate |
| gamester | Gambler or prostitute |
| ganger | Overseer or foreman |
| gangsman | Foreman |
| ganneker | A tavern keeper. |
| gaoler | A jailer, prison officer |
| gardener | looked after gardens |
| garlekmonger | See garlicmonger |
| garlicmonger | Dealer in garlic |
| garthman | The proprietor of an open weir for taking fish. Owner or worker of a fish trap. |
| gas manager | Mining occupation: Forman in charge of checking for poisonous gas in coal mine shafts |
| gater | Watchman, Security |
| gatherer | Glassworker who inserted the blow iron into the molten glass ready for the blower |
| gatherers boy | Held a shovel to shield the gatherer's face from the heat |
| gatward | A goat keeper. |
| gauger | Customs duty officer who measured the capacity of imported barrels of liquor in order to calculate the payable duty |
| gaunter | Maker of gloves |
| gavelkinder | See gaveller |
| gaveller | Someone who pays gavel for rented land. In coal-mining, the agent of the crown having the power to grant gales to the free miners. A harvest worker, usually female. |
| gavelman | See gaveller |
| gelder | See castrator |
| gelder | Castrator of animals, especially horses |
| general labourer | general labourer, usually lifting and carrying etc |
| general servant | general servant, usually domestic |
| gentleman | a member of the gentry, a descendant from an aristocratic family whose income came from the rental of his land. |
| gentry | remaining families of hereditary rank. In the English system, the baronets and the knights. |
| geometer | Trained in geometry |
| gerund grinder | Latin instructor (nickname). |
| gilder | Applies gold leaf to objects such as books, ornaments, jewellery, pottery etc, |
| gimler | A machinist involved in making a gimp, a kind of card. |
| ginour | An engineer. |
| girdler | Maker of leather belts and girdles, mostly for the forces |
| girthoxter | See Girthweaver. |
| glass coachman | See Jobmaster. Driver of two-horse carriage hired out for the day. |
| glassman | A seller of glassware. |
| glasswright | A glassmaker and mender of glassware |
| glazier | A glass cutter or window glassman |
| glover | Someone who makes or sells gloves |
| goat carriage man | A driver of small passenger carriage. |
| gold beater | Beats gold into a specific shape |
| goldsmith | A person who makes gold articles. Or a banker |
| goodman | a solid member of the community who ranked above a free-man but below a gentleman on the social scale. |
| goose herd | One who looks after geese |
| gorzeman | A seller of gorse or broom |
| grace wife | A midwife. |
| grace-wife | Midwife - nurse who delivers babies |
| graffer | Notary or scrivener (legal document writer / lawyer) |
| grain winnower | An agricultural worker who separated the grain from chaff. The method of winnowning was also used to remove weevils or other pests from stored grain. |
| grainer | Painted grain on wood to make it look good |
| granger | Farmer |
| graver | Engraver, carver, sculptor. Or a dockside worker who burned and tarred the underneath of ships to clean them |
| grazier | A rancher who grazes cattle or sheep for market |
| greave | See greeve |
| green grocer | A fruit and vegetable seller, usually with stalls set up outside the shop |
| green smith | Someone who works with copper and latten |
| greensmith | Worker in copper or latten ( a kind of brass type alloy hammered into thin sheets) |
| greenwich barber | A retailer of sand collected from the Greenwich pits. |
| greeve | An overseer, steward, bailiff, foreman, sheriff |
| grieve | See greeve |
| griffin | A European newly arrived in India, and unaccustomed to Indian ways; a novice, a newcomer, a greenhorn. |
| grimbribber | Lawyer |
| grinder | [1] A person who operated grinding machine. Found in various trades, metal works, knife sharpening, cutlery in general, also glass and toolmaking. ; [2] Worker who maintained a carding machine (textile industry). ; [3] A private tutor (slang). |
| groom | looked after horses |
| groover | A miner |
| groundsel and chickweed seller | A street seller of common weeds, used to feed pet song-birds. |
| guardian | an appointee of the court who cares for the property and rights of a minor or someone incapable of handling his or her own affairs. |
| guinea pig | (Slang) A person rendering services more or less for a nominal fee of a guinea e.g. company director, juryman, deputy clergyman, officer on special duty |
| gummer | A workman whose business it is to use the gummer in widening the spaces between the teeth of a saw. A person who improved old saws by deepening the cuts. |
| gunpowder maker | Made gunpowder in a gunpowder mill |
| gutta-percha manufacturer | Makes a white to brown substance resemblimg rubber but containing more resin (Latex). Often used in dentistry and insulation. |
| gyp | A college servant especially one attending undergraduates. |
| haberdasher | Dealer in small wares; tapes, pins needles, thread, linen.(Formerly also hats) |
| hack | A person who hires himself out for any sort of literary work |
| hacker | A man who lets out horses |
| hackle | One who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a hackle, an instrument with teeth in the linen industry |
| hackler | A worker in the linen industry. A person who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a hackle, an instrument with teeth. |
| hackman | See hackle |
| hackney man | See hacker |
| hair dresser | cut and styled hair |
| hair seating and curled hair merchant | A dealer in horse-hair stuffing used in upholstery. |
| hair seating merchant | Dealer in horse-hair stuffing used in upholstery |
| hairman | See Hairweaver. |
| hairweaver | A weaver of cloth composed wholly or partly of horsehair. |
| halbert carrier | A soldier or halberdier, armed with a halberd, a combination spear and battleaxe (a ceremonial officer) |
| hammerman | Hammerer, a blacksmith or whitesmith |
| hand | assistant |
| hand flowerer | Ladies living mainly in rural locations who embroidered flowers or similar designs on muslin or cambric |
| handle sticker | Put handles on cast ceramic cups, pitchers, etc |
| handseller | Person who sold their wares in the street. Street vendor |
| handwoman | A handmaid. Female attendant |
| hanger-on | Mining industry. Hung corves (originally baskets) on rope at the pit-bottom |
| hankyman | A travelling magician in Victorian/Edwardian England |
| hansard | weapon maker or seller |
| harbour pilot | A person who directs or steers ships into the harbour. |
| harlot | A vagabond, beggar, rogue. |
| harmer beck | A parish constable or beadle |
| harness maker | made horses harnesses |
| harper | Harp player |
| hatchler | A person who combed out or carded flax |
| hatter | A maker or dealer in hats |
| hawker | See peddler |
| hay collectors | Collected hay ready for sale to stables dairies, horses and cows. Often transported by canal |
| haybinders | Bound hay ready for collection |
| haymonger | A dealer in hay |
| hayward | A parish or town officer in charge of fences, enclosuers, commons etc, and who is responsible for the impounding of stray cattle etc. |
| headsman | One who cuts off heads. Executioner. A labourer who conveys coal from the work face to the horseway. Also pertaining to whaling and is the man who takes charge of the boat after the whale has been struck. |
| headswoman | A midwife. |
| heald knitter | An operator of a machine which produced a jersey type of fabric as opposed to woven fabric. (Textile Industry). |
| heck maker | A maker of a part of a spinning machine by which the yarn is guided to the reels |
| heckler | See hackle |
| hedge looker | Supervised repairs of fence and enclosures |
| hedger | Hedge cutter/ trimmer |
| heelmaker | Made shoe heels |
| hellier | A roofer; a tiler or slater. |
| helper-up | A young boy employed in Durham pits to help other workers. |
| hemp heckler | A flax dresser. See hackler. |
| henchman | A squire, a page, a servant, a groom, a footman or an attendant. |
| hender | See henter |
| hensman | See henchman |
| henter | A person who seizes or gets possession of something. Eg baliff, or thief |
| hermit | A person who chooses to live a solitary life |
| hewer | A mine face worker who cut coal |
| higgler | A person who haggles or bargains or an itinerant dealer, similar to a cadger |
| high sheriff | the highest-ranking sheriff, as opposed to deputy sheriffs. The term was popular in England and Colonial America. |
| highwayman | Robber, thief, who preys on public roads |
| hillard | See hellier |
| hillier | See hellier |
| hind | Farm servant. Agricultural worker. One in charge of two horses and alloted a house on a farm. A rustic, a peasant, a boor, a menial |
| hinxman | See Henchman. |
| hired man | A person who hires themselves out - e.g. gardener, farmhand, or labourer |
| hobbler | A person who was employed to tow a boat on the rivers or canals. |
| hod | A bricklayer's labourer. |
| hodcarrier | See hodsman |
| hodsman | A labourer who carried bricks or mortar in a hob |
| hoggard | Pig drover |
| holer | See eyer |
| holloware worker | [1] Pottery worker who made ornaments, teapots, etc. as opposed to flatware such as plates, dishes, ; [2] One involved in the production of tin trunks, boxes, etc. or the painting and graining of them. HOLLOWARE was also a trade name for hollow articles of iron, as pots and kettles. |
| honey dipper | (slang) A person who collects household sewage. A person who extracted raw sewage from catch basins and out-houses |
| hoofer | A professional dancer, especially a tap dancer. |
| hooker | A worker that hooks or uses hooks e.g. In woolen, cotton industry |
| hooker-on | See hanger-on |
| hooper | Makes hoops for casks |
| horner | Worker using horn to make items such as spoons, combs, or musical horns |
| horse coper | A horse dealer. |
| horse courser | Race horse owner |
| horse keeper | Kept horses |
| horse knave | Groom |
| horse leech | Veterinarian, farrier |
| horse marine | Man-handling barges on canals where horses can't be used, e.g. Long tunnels |
| horse-capper | A dealer who sells worthless horses for good prices. |
| horse-hair curler | Dressed horse hair which was used extensively in the upholstery trade. |
| hosier | Retailer of stockings, socks, gloves, nightcaps |
| hosteller | Innkeeper |
| hostler | Cares for horses, stableman, groom, repairer or railway engines |
| hotpresser | A worker in paper or textile industries where product was pressed between glazed boards and hot metal plates to obtain a smooth and shiny surface |
| hourglass maker | The hourglass (time piece - also called a sand glass or sand clock) was made by using two globes of glass connected by a narrow funnel so that the sand flowed from the upper globe to the lower over the course of an hour. A frame usually enclosed the globes to allow inversion of the hourglass to start the flow of sand again. |
| house joiner | House framer |
| house maid | A domestic servant |
| house wright | A house builder. |
| housekeeper | A domestic servant |
| housewright | House builder |
| howdie | See howdy |
| howdy | A midwife (chiefly used in Scotland) |
| howdy wife | A midwife. |
| hoyman | A person who carries goods and passengers by water on a hoy (type of boat) |
| huckster | See peddler |
| huckster | Seller of small wares |
| huissher | An usher. A door attendant. |
| hurdleman | A man in charge of a hurdle (fence) or fold; specifically, a keeper of new-born lambs |
| hurrier | One who draws a corf or wagon in a coal-mine. A young boy or girl employed in a coal mine to drag baskets or small wagons full of coal from the coal face where it was mined, up to the surface. |
| hurriers | In coal mining, term applied to the girls aged 5-18 who were employed as coal-drawers (q.v.). |
| husbandman | A tenant farmer |
| hush shop keeper | Person who brewed and sold beer without a license (usually as a side line) |
| iceman | A seller or deliverer of ice |
| idleman | A gentleman of leisure. |
| idleman: | A gentleman of leisure |
| impresario | (Former USA) Land broker, settlement scheme promoter, ( Latter UK) showman, organiser of concerts / festivals, Entrepreneur |
| indentured servant | one who was voluntarily or involuntarily committed to working for someone for a fixed number of years (usually 4 to 7) in exchange for passage to America or some other financial advantage. The lowest person on the totem pole, an indentured servant had few, if any, rights, but people without skills or money accepted this position in order to emigrate. After the period of work was over, the servant usually became a freeman. |
| infirmarian | Person in charge of an infirmary |
| innkeeper | one who runs an inn |
| intelligencer | A spy. |
| intendent | Director of a public or government business |
| interfactor | Murderer |
| iron founder | A person who made iron castings. |
| iron industry | Supported among others the following occupations: Brazier, Broker, Caster, Founder, Galvaniser, Moulder, Monger, Shearer, Platemaker, Worker. |
| iron master | The owner or manager of a foundry. |
| iron monger | Dealer in hardware made of iron |
| iron smith | A worker in iron, a blacksmith. |
| iron turner | An iron turner was a metal machinist. The lathes were driven by a belt attached to a pulley wheel on a line shaft up at ceiling level which was driven by an engine. The 'Turners' turned (machined) cast iron, brass and bronze castings. |
| ironmonger | dealer in hardware made of iron and other products |
| ivory workers | Makers of combs, boxes, billard balls, buttons, and keys for pianofortes in ivory |
| jack | Lumberjack, young male assistant, sailor |
| jack-frame tenter | A cotton industry worker who operated a jack-frame, used for twisting thread |
| jack-smith | A maker of lifting machinery and contrivances |
| jagger | A carrier, carter, pedlar or hawker of fish; 19th century, young boy in charge of 'jags'or train of trucks in coal mine; man in charge of pack horse carrying iron ore to be smelted |
| jakes-farmer | One who emptied cesspools or cesspits. One who contracted to clean out privies; a scavenger. |
| jam maker | Someone who makes jam. |
| japanner | One who applies a hard brilliant coat of any of several varnishes to objects |
| jerquer | A customhouse officer who searches ships for unentered goods. |
| jersey comber | A worker in woollen manufacture (Jersey: wool which has been combed but not spun into yarn) |
| jeweller | made jewelry |
| jiggerman | Operated a spinning wheel (Jigger) to form the foot (back side) of a ceramic plate |
| job coachman | See jobmaster. Driver of coach hired out for long periods to nobility or gentry. |
| jobber | One that buys merchandise from manufacturers and sells it to retailers. One that works by the piece (piecework)or at odd jobs. A middleman in the exchange of stocks and securities among brokers. One who does small jobs or chance work. |
| jobbing gardener | One employed on a casual basis. |
| jobling gardener | One employed on a casual basis. Also Jobbing. |
| jobmaster | A person who supplied horses and carriages and drivers for hire |
| joiner | Carpenter |
| jongleur | A wandering minstrel, poet, or entertainer, who went from place to place singing songs, generally of his own composition and to his own accompaniment |
| jorman | See journeyman |
| journeyman | A master craftsman. One who served his apprenticeship and mastered his craft; properly, one who no longer is bound to serve for years but is hired day to day (Often self employed) |
| jouster | A female hawker of fish who usually travelled on foot for town to town. A fish monger |
| joyner | Carpenter |
| justiciar | The head of the royal judicial system and the king's viceroy when absent from the country. |
| kamlet merchant | See camlet merchant |
| kedger | Fisherman |
| keeker | A colliery official who checked quantity and quality of coal output |
| keeler | A bargeman (from keel, a flat bottomed boat) |
| keelman | See keeler |
| keeper | An attendant, a guard, a warden,or gamekeeper. A person who of anything. E.g. One who keeps control of the quantities of ore and fuel, regulated the blast and tapped the molten metal from the furnace. |
| kempster | Wool comber |
| kiddier | Skinner or dealer in young goats |
| kilner | Limeburner, in charge of a kiln |
| kisser | A person who made cuishes and high armour |
| knacker | A harness maker, buyer of old horses and dead animals. 'Knacker's Yard' |
| knappers | A person who dressed and shaped flints into required shape and size |
| kneller | A chimney sweep who solicited custom by knocking on doors. |
| knight | The retainer of a feudal lord who owes military service for his fief, usually the service of one fully equipped, mounted warrior. The ideals to which a knight may aspire are notably prowess, loyalty, generosity and courtesy. |
| knocker-up | Person paid to wake up northern mill and factory workers on early shifts |
| knocker-upper | See knocker-up |
| knockknobbler | A dog catcher. |
| knoller | Toller of bells |
| knuller | See kneller |
| labourer | general labourer, usually lifting and carrying etc. Not usually agricultural, which was ag. lab. |
| lace drawer | A child employed in lace work, drawing out threads |
| lace master | A man who employed workers in factories or in their homes for the production of lace |
| lace mistress | A woman who employed workers in factories or in their homes for the production of lace |
| lace runner | A young worker who embroidered patterns on lace |
| laceman | A dealer in lace, who collected it from the makers, usually only those who had bought his thread, and sold it in the lace markets |
| lacewoman | A lady's maid. |
| lagger | Sailor. One who installs lagging. |
| lagraetman | A local constable (Law-Rightman). |
| lamplighter | A man who would put out or turn on, the gas street-lights. |
| land proprietor | Manages land. |
| land waiter | A customs officer whose duty was to wait or attend on landed goods. |
| landsman | A seaman on first voyage. |
| landwaiter | Customs officer who checked landed goods |
| lapidary | A person who cuts, polishes or engraves precious stones. |
| lardner | Keeper of the cupboard / larder |
| laster | One who worked or shaped shoes on a last (the mould of the human foot made of wood and used to shape footwear). |
| lath render | A person who split wood into lath. These thin strips of wood would often be used for lath and plaster walls, to form lattice-work, or for blinds or shutters. |
| lath render(er) | A person who puts the first coat of plaster onto laths on floor and ceiling. (a plaster's assistant). |
| lattener | Brass worker. A worker in latten |
| launderer | Washer of clothes |
| launderess | A washerwoman, a person who washed linen. |
| lavender | A washer; a washerwoman; a laundress. |
| layer | A worker in paper mill responsible for a particular stage in paper-making process |
| lead miner | Worked in lead mine |
| leavelooker | A municipal inspector of markets in an English town (as in Lancashire) - an examiner of food on sale at market |
| lederer | A leather maker. |
| leech | Physician, doctor |
| legerdemainist | A person who practices or performs sleight of hand. Magician |
| legger | A man employed by the owners of a canal to push boats through narrow canal tunnels. The legger would lie on his back on a piece of wood on the boat with his feet reaching to the tunnel wall, and walk it along. This could be done by the boat's crew, but the canals employed men specifically for the task because they could do it faster and prevent a tunnel becoming a bottleneck for traffic |
| leightonward | A gardener |
| lengthsman | See milesman |
| letter carrier | 18c. Forerunner of local postman. The Post Office appointed a large number of letter carriers in 1722 to make house to house deliveries within a town. |
| licenced victualer | A seller of alcoholic beverages. |
| lighterman | Someone who operates a flat bottomed boat used in loading or unloading ships. |
| limner | One who limns; an artist or delineator; more especially, one who paints portraits or miniatures. |
| linener | A dealer in linen; a linen draper. A shirtmaker. |
| liner | One that makes or puts in linings. |
| linkerboy | See linkerman |
| linkerman | One who carried a link or torch to guide people through city streets at night for a small fee. |
| lister | A preaching friar; a lector. A person that creates or maintains lists. |
| litster | See lister |
| litter bearer | The carriers of an enclosed or curtained couch mounted on shafts and used to carry a single passenger. |
| litterman | A groom (of horses). |
| loadsman | A ship's pilot |
| loblolly boy | See loblolly man |
| loblolly man | In 18th and 19th century warships, a non-professional assistant to the ship's surgeon, or errand boy |
| lock keeper | An overseer of canal locks |
| lodger | A person who was provide with accommodation but was not supplied with meals. See BOARDER |
| log wood grinder | Preparer of a dye made from logwood, used in textile industry. |
| long song seller | A street seller who sold popular songsheets printed on paper |
| longshoreman | A stevedore |
| loom | Although not an occupation you may come across this in the occupation column with is short for 'Living Off Own Means' Which meant they could financial support themselves, usually due to savings, investment or inheritance. (See also Annuitant and Fundholder) |
| lorimer | A maker of small iron work - e.g. horse gear; bits, spurs, stirrup-irons and other horse equipment |
| loriner | See lorimer |
| lormer | See LORIMER. |
| lotseller | A street seller. |
| lum swooper | (SCT) A chimney sweep. |
| lumper | A laborer employed to load and unload vessels in port; a dock-hand; a longshoreman; a stevedore. |
| lungs | An alchemist's servant whose duty was to fan the fire. |
| luthier | A maker and repairer of stringed musical instruments |
| lyner | See liner |
| machine breaker | Members of the English labouring class who in the early 19th century revolted and broke threshing machines, spinning machines, and other forms of mechanisation. |
| machinist | A machine operator |
| maderer | A person who gathered and sold garlic. |
| maid | A female domestic servant |
| mail guard | An armed guard, frequently an ex-soldier, employed on the mail coach service, inaugurated in 178; [4] Later Post Office guards were officially appointed. |
| maise maker | A person who made measures for weighing herring catch. |
| maker-up | [1] Garment assembler, A person who prepared or 'made up' material to customers requirements. ; [2] Chemist or druggist. ; [3] Agent for paraffin. |
| malemaker | A maker of 'Males' or travelling bags. Term was adopted by the Royal Mail from the bags in which the letters were carried. |
| malender | A Farmer. |
| maler | See Malemaker. |
| malster | A brewer, maker or seller of malts |
| manchester man | also Shrewsbury, Sheffield, etc. Late 18c. A wholesale travelling merchant trading between factory and shopkeeper with goods on packhorses. Sometimes independent, sometimes employed by the manufacturer. |
| manciple | A steward or purchaser of provisions, as for a monastery or college, or inn or court |
| mangle keeper | A woman who offered use of the mangle for a fee |
| mangler | Works a mangle for pressing water out of clothes (Wringer) |
| mango | A slave dealer. |
| mantle forewoman | A highly skilled dressmaker. |
| mantua maker | A Dressmaker. (Mantua = a woman's loose gown). |
| marbler | One who stained paper or other material, veined in imitation of marble |
| marine store dealer | A licensed broker (N. England and Scotland) (i) buys and sells used cordgae, bunting, rags, timber, metal and other general waste materials; usually sorts waste, when purchased, by kind, grade, etc; repairs and mends sacks, etc., or employs workers for these purposes; (ii) in Scotland, a Ship Candler. |
| mariner | A person who obtained a living on the sea in whatever rank, equivalent to the R.N. rank of Able Seaman. |
| marshall | A military officer of the highest rank in some countries. |
| marshman | A person paid by various landowners to look after marshlands and tend the animals put to graze there for the season |
| mashmaker | Brewing industry. A maker of the mash-vats or mashels used for mixing malt |
| mason | A stonecutter |
| master | One of three grades of skill recognised by the Guild of Crafts |
| master coach painter | A person who painted the inside and outside of railway coaches. Usually highly skilled decorative work, sometimes including artwork gilding. |
| master lumper | A contractor of labourers at cheap rate of pay. Generally a publican who only hired and paid customers who frequented their public houses. |
| master mariner | A ship's captain |
| matchet forger | A knifemaker (Machete = heavy axe-like knife used as a chopping tool). |
| mather | See mawer |
| mawer | A mower. |
| mealman | A dealer in meal or flour |
| mechanic | [1] Manual labourer, working at a trade. ; [2] Operator of a machine (less skilled than an engineer). ; [3] A person who uses machinery to produce goods, e.g. frame-work knitter, spinner, weaver, etc. |
| melder | A corn miller |
| mercator | A merchant |
| mercer | A cloth seller |
| merchant | Someone who sells things |
| messenger | Someone who carries messages. |
| metalman | A man employed to service the tunnels and rails in the haulage system of the mine. |
| meterer | One who writes in metre; a poet. |
| midwife | An experienced nurse specialising in child birth |
| milesman | A railway worker who had a set length of railway track to keep in good order |
| miller | A corn miller, cloth miller, saw miller |
| milleress | Female miller |
| millers carman | One who drove carrier to deliver the flour or seed to the customers |
| milliner | A maker of hats |
| millpeck | A sharpener of mill stones. |
| millwright | A designer and builder of mills or mill machinery |
| milstone inspector | A vagrant, a gentleman of the road. |
| miner | A worker in mines (most commonly refers to coal pit). Coal miner. Collier. |
| mintmaker | An issuer of local currency |
| mintmaster | See mintmaker |
| mixer | A bartender. |
| mocado weaver | A weaver of woollen cloth used for making clothes 16-17c. Sometimes called mock velvet. |
| molitor | A miller. |
| mondayman | See Cottager. A person who worked for landowner on Mondays in lieu of rent. |
| monger | A dealer |
| monthly nurse | Someone who assisted women during the first month after giving birth |
| mould boy | One who held the mould for glassblower, also weighed the bottles |
| moulder | A maker of molds or castings, brickmaker |
| moulder runner | A pottery moulder's assistant, a young boy who ran between master and drying oven, carrying full moulds and returning with empty ones. |
| mountebank | A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks. A quack doctor. A charlatan |
| mudlark | A sewer cleaner or riverbank scavenger - one who scavenges in river mud for items of value, especially in London during the Industrial Revolution. |
| muffin maker | A baker who made muffins (barmcakes, oven bottoms) |
| muffin man | An itinerant seller of muffins |
| muggler | See pigman. |
| mugseller | A seller of cups, mugs |
| mule minder | A minder of the spinning mules in the cotton mills |
| muleskinner | A teamster. |
| muleteer | A mule driver |
| multurer | A person who has grain ground at a certain mill. Multurers are or were of two kinds — first, such as were thirled (thralled) to a certain mill by the conditions on which they occupied their land; and, second, those who used the mill without being bound by the tenure to do so. The former were termed insucken multurers, the latter outsucken multurers.(German) MUSTARDER or MUSTARDMAN One who made and dealt in mustard |
| music teacher | Teaches music |
| musicker | A musician. |
| mustarder | see mustardman |
| mustardman | A dealer in mustard. |
| nagsman | A person who schools horses, usually for his employer NARROW WEAVER A weaver of ribbons, tapes, etc |
| nail manufacturer | The owner of a nail making shop or factory. |
| nailor | See card nailer. |
| naperer | A Royal servant in charge of the table linen. |
| napier | A person in charge of the table linen in the Manor House. See NAPERER. |
| narrow weaver | A weaver of ribbons, tapes, etc. |
| navigator | A person who navigates e.g waterways, seas and oceans |
| navigor | See navigator. |
| navvy | A labourer building canals, roads or railways |
| neatherd | A person who has the care of cattle; a cow-keeper. |
| neatherd(er) | A cowherder. |
| necessary woman | A servant responsible for emptying and cleaning chamber pots |
| necker | A worker responsible for the feeding of cardboard into the machine the makes boxes. |
| nedeller | A needle maker |
| needle pointer | [1] In needlemaking a filer or fettler. ; [2] A person engaged in the craft of needlepoint. |
| netter | A net maker |
| newsagent | Ashop that sold newspapers. |
| night soilman | One who emptied cesspits, ashpits and backyard toilets |
| night watchman | A caretaker, or watchman. |
| nightman | See night soilman |
| nightwalker | A watchman or bellman |
| nimgimmer | A doctor. |
| nipper | A lorry boy, a young person employed by the carter or wagoner to assist with the collection and delivery of goods |
| nob thatcher | A wig maker |
| noon tender | A person who guarded the goods on the quay while the officers were a lunch. |
| notary | a person officially authorised to draw up or attest to contracts, wills, deeds, or similar documents, to protest bills of exchange. |
| noterer | A notary |
| nurse | Tended the sick. |
| nursemaid | Nurses children |
| oat huller | A person who removed the hull (the dry outer covering of a fruit, seed, or nut; a husk, a shell) from oats. This could be done by grinding the oats between two stones (older method- miller) or by heating the oats and then spinning them in a container to remove the hulls (newer method 1900s). Either could be on census. The latter method could be done at home. (Huller - a person who removes the hulls) |
| occupier | A tradesman. |
| office boy | An office junior |
| oilman | One who deals in oils; one who is engaged in the business of producing or of selling oil. One who sold oil specifically used for lamps. A retailer who sells vegetable oils, and food preserved in oil. A person who sold the oil for lamps |
| olitor | A kitchen gardener. From Olitory (a kitchen garden). |
| onsetter | See hanger-on |
| optician | Someone who examines eyes and precribes glasses. |
| orderly | A soldier who functioned as a servant for an officer |
| ordinary keeper | An innkeeper. |
| orrery maker | A person who made a mechanical apparatus for showing the movements of the planets. Named after the Earl of Orrery the inventor. |
| orrice weaver | A designer of lace patterns to be woven with silk thread and silk |
| osier peeler | Person who removed bark from willow rods or osiers which were used in basket weaving, usually women and children |
| ostiary | A monastery door keeper. |
| ostler | See hostler |
| ostler | Originally applied to an innkeeper/taverner or one who received guests especially in an monastery (13th century) but later on it came to mean stableboy or a person who looked after horses, coming from the old French 'hostelier' |
| out crier | An auctioneer |
| outworker | A worker who carried on their occupation at home, e.g., cotton or woollen weavers but it applies to many occupations |
| overlooker | A superintendent or overseer, especially in the textile mills |
| overman | An official below Undermanager but above Deputy in mining who checked the miners work and the quality of the mined coal |
| owler | A sheep or wool smuggler |
| oyster dredger | A member of the crew on board an oyster fishing boat |
| pack thread spinner | Operator of the machine which made thread or twine |
| packer | A packer of goods such as pickles or herring |
| packman | A person who travels with a pack, especially a travelling salesman. |
| pad maker | A person who made small baskets used for measuring. |
| paint stainer | A person who hand-printed wallpaper and usually offered a paper-hanging service as well. |
| painter | A person who painted things e.g. houses wooden goods, etc or an Artist. |
| paintress | A woman employed in the pottery industry to hand paint the finished articles |
| palingman | A seller of eels, a fishmonger. |
| palister | A Park Keeper, a person who ensured the parks were safe and well kept. |
| palmer | A person who had been, or pretended to have been, to the Holy Land. |
| pannier | A robed waiter |
| pannier man | A fishmonger. |
| pannifex | Somebody who worked in the cloth trade. |
| pansmith | A person who made pans i.e. a metal worker. |
| panter | Keeper of the pantry |
| pantler | The servant in charge of the bread and the pantry in a great house |
| papaya man | A person who was involved in trade with New Guinea, from Papua New Guinea. |
| paper ironer | A servant responsible for ironing the daily newspaper |
| paper maker | See Vatman, Coucher, Layer, Sizer. |
| paper ruler | Operated a machine in the 19th century printing industry who was a skilled worker/operator who set up several inking pens in a machine,by the same name, designed to draw or ink lines on paper |
| paper stainer | General term for workers engaged in colouring paper by hand or machine. |
| paperer | One whose occupation is decorating walls with wallpaper. |
| paperhanger | An interior decorator who put up wallpaper. |
| pardoner | A seller of indulgences. |
| parfumier | A manufacturer and purveyor of scents such as perfumes, colognes and even incense |
| pargeter | One who pargets; a plasterer - walls, ornamental reliefs, chimneys |
| paritor | A church officer who attended the magistrates and justices at court for the pupose of executing their orders |
| parker | The person in charge of a park usually a hunting or game park. |
| passage keeper | A person who kept passages and alleys clean |
| pasteler | A pastry chef |
| pastor | The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation |
| patten maker | A clog or shoemaker. |
| paver | A person who laid paving stones |
| paviour | See paver |
| pavyler | A person who put up pavilions or tents etc. |
| pawnbroker | A person who loaned money with interest against items of value left for security. |
| pedascule | A schoolmaster. One who educates, guides, or instructs |
| peddler | A person who sold things house to house or on the road. A person who bought and sold goods for cash. |
| pedlar | See peddler |
| peeler | The first policemen in London |
| peever | A pepper seller. |
| pelterer | A person who worked with animal skins |
| perambulator | A surveyor. |
| perchemear | A person who made parchment. |
| peregrinator | Itinerant wanderer or worker. |
| perfumer | See parfumier |
| periwig maker | A person who made wigs. |
| peruke maker | A person who made wigs. |
| peruker | A wigmaker. |
| pessoner | A fisherman or fishmonger |
| peter man | A fisherman. |
| pettifogger | A low class lawyer. |
| petty chapman | See chapman |
| pew opener | A person hired to open the doors to private pews in church. |
| pewterer | Someone who made pewter utensils |
| philosophical instrument maker | A craftsman who made scientific instruments. |
| phlebotomist | A person who practices the opening of a vein for letting blood. (see bloodletter) |
| phrenologist | A diviner of a person's character based on the bumps on a person's head |
| picker | A person who cast the shuttle on a loom. Made the "Pickers" — strong, leather attachments fitted to each side of a weaving loom, to drive the shuttle across the loom. |
| picker maker | See picker |
| piece broker | A person who sold material remnants. |
| piece worker | A worker who was paid for the number or pieces produced rather than by the hour. People who worked from home were usually pieceworkers. However in more recent times sewing machine operators employed to make part of the garment and still worked in the mill were paid for piecework. |
| piecemaster | The middleman between employer and employee who passed out the piecework. |
| piecener | Someone who worked in a spinning mill, employed to piece together any threads which broke (usually a child or woman) |
| piecer | See piecener |
| pigmaker | A person who made pig or cast iron, also a pottery worker. |
| pigman | A farm worker who looks after pigs. One who sold crockery |
| pikelet maker | A baker who specialised in making pikelets (a small teacake or crumpet) |
| pikeman | A miner who works with a pike or crowbar. A keeper of a turnpike gate. A solider armed with a pike. |
| piker | A cautious gambler. A tramp or vagrant |
| pill box bottomer | A person responsible for making the bottoms of pill boxes in the pottery trade. |
| pill box lidder | A person responsible for making the lids of pill boxes in the pottery trade. |
| piller | A robber. |
| pilot | A ship steersman |
| pimp | An agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings |
| pimpmaker | A man who made up bundles of waste wood in coppices or forests to be sold for use as fuel. (Bundles of Kindling or firewood.) |
| pinder | An officer appointed by a parish to impound stray beasts - e.g. dogs, cattle. |
| piner | A labourer. |
| pinner | A pin maker |
| pinner up | A dressmakers assistant. A person who sold broadsheets or ballads in the streets. |
| piper | One who plays upon a pipe - especially a strolling player, or the bagpipes. |
| pirn winder | Someone who wound the yarn onto large wheel like bobbins which were then ready to feed the looms in a cotton mill |
| pistor | A baker. |
| pit brow lass | See bal maiden |
| pit brow lass | A female worker who worked on the surface of the mine sorting coal |
| pitman | A coal miner |
| plaicher | See pleacher |
| plain worker | One who performed plain sewing or needlework as opposed to an embroiderer |
| plaisterer | A plasterer. |
| plaiter | A person that plaits or braids; especially, an implement for producing plaits of regular size, as in cloth. A maker of straw plaits used in the making hats etc |
| planker | One who planks or kneads the body of the hat during felting |
| planter | Someone who plants - specifically a pioneer colonist. Or an owner of a plantation |
| plasher | See pleacher |
| plasterer | One who worked with plaster |
| platcher | See pleacher |
| platelayer | A railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway installation. |
| playderer | A person who made plaid. |
| pleacher | To plait or interlace (branches or vines, for example), especially in making a hedge or an arbor. A hedge layer |
| pleacher /plaicher /platcher / plasher | A hedge layer. |
| ploughman | A farmer or farm worker |
| ploughwright | A maker or repairer of plows |
| plowman | See ploughman |
| plowwright | See ploughwright |
| plumassie | A person who makes ornamental feathers |
| plumassier | A person who made or sold plumes, ornamental feathers. |
| plumber | A person who worked with lead. However as lead was the main metal used in pipes for water, gas, etc, it became the term used for a tradesman who installed or repaired pipes and drains of all types. |
| plumbum worker | A plumber |
| plumer | See plumassie |
| podiatrist | A Chiropodist. |
| pointer | A person who sharpened needles or pins or lace maker |
| pointmaker | Someone who made the tips of laces |
| pointman | See pointmaker |
| pointsman | A railway worker who operated the points (and / or signals), that changed the line on which the train was travelling |
| poldave worker | A person who made poldave, a coarse fabric. |
| poldave worker: | One who made poldave, a coarse fabric |
| pole lathe turner | A craftsman in woodwork. |
| poleman | A surveyor's assistant |
| polentier | A poulterer. |
| polle | See powler |
| poller | A barber. |
| ponderator | An inspector of weights and measures. |
| pony driver | A person (usually a boy) in charge of a pony which pulled coal tubs along the haulage roads. |
| portable soup maker | A person who converted soup into a dry form for transporting from place to place. |
| porter | A door or gatekeeper |
| portmanteau maker | A maker of leather trunks for clothes, etc., opening into two equal parts. |
| post boy | A person who carried mail from town to town, guard who travelled on the mail coach or outrider who travelled with the stagecoach as a postillion |
| poster | One that posts bills or notices. |
| postillion | One who rides the near horse of the leaders when four or more horses are used in a carriage or post-chaise, or who rides the near horse when one pair only is used and there is no driver on the box. |
| postman | A letter carrier. |
| pot boy | See pot man |
| pot burner | A person who placed the pot in a furnace to be fired. |
| pot man | One who worked in public houses collecting and washing dirty pots also did other menial tasks |
| potato badger | A seller of potatoes |
| potter | A maker or seller of pottery |
| potter carrier | A chemist or pharmacist. |
| potter presser | A potter who used a mould. |
| potter thrower | A potter who used a wheel and therefore had to throw the clay |
| pouch maker | A person who made pouches or purses. |
| poulter | A seller of poultry |
| poulterer | A dealer who bought and sold poultry. |
| power loom tuner | One who maintained the loom in mills |
| powler | One who shaves persons or cuts their hair; a barber; a hair-dresser. |
| poynter | A lace maker. |
| preceptress | A female instructor or teacher |
| prentis | An apprentice |
| prick louise | A tailor. |
| pricker | [1] A pattern maker. ; [2] A horseman. ; [3] A witch hunter. |
| prig napper | A horse thief. |
| printer | A person who prints. |
| printer's devil | Printer's errand boy. A printer's devil was an apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type |
| proctor | A supervisor especially of an examination or dormitory in a school. |
| prop bobby | A person who worked in mines checking the pit props |
| propman | Carpenter / Joiner who cut and fixed the props in the mine to shore up the roof and sides of the pit. |
| prostitute | A person (usually a woman) offering sexual favours for money |
| protestant dissenting minister | Non conformist church minister |
| prothonary | A law clerk. |
| publican | An innkeeper |
| puddler | An iron foundry worker. Or a man who worked clay into 'puddle', to make things water tight e.g. canal walls |
| puerfinder | See purefinder |
| pug mill operator | Man who operated a machine for mixing clay and water which then produced a pug of clay |
| puggard | A thief. |
| pugger | A person employed by brick manufacturers to produce clay paste by treading like grapes, usually women and children. |
| pulley maker | A person who made pulleys for hoists. |
| pumbum worker | A plumber. |
| pump maker | A person who made mechanical pumps. |
| pumpmaker | Denotes a maker of canal locks |
| punky | A chimney sweep. |
| pure gatherer | See purefinder |
| purefinder | Old women and young girls who collected dog droppings from the streets for use in the tanning industry. In tanning, an infusion of the dung of dogs, fowls, or pigeons, used to soften the skins after liming and preparatory to tanning. Also known as bate. The soaking in such an infusion is called puering or bating. |
| purser | A ship's officer in charge of provisions and accounts |
| putter | A person employed in the coal mine to haul the mine tubs. |
| putter in | A person who was employed to put things in to some form of mechanised process. |
| quarrel picker | A glazier |
| quarrier | A quarry worker |
| quarryman | See quarrier |
| quiller | A person who operated a machine that wound yarn onto spools. |
| quiller: | One who operated a machine that wound yarn onto spools |
| quilter | One who makes quilted items |
| quiltress | See quilter |
| quister | A person who bleached things. |
| qwylwryghte | A wheelwright. |
| rack maiden | A girl employed in the tin mines of Cornwall to dress the ore |
| raff merchant | A seller of fibre used to make raffia bags etc |
| raffman | One who dealt in raff (saleable rubbish) |
| rafter | One who is employed in rafting timber, or transporting it in rafts, as from a ship to the shore. |
| rag and bone man | One who went from street to street with a cart collecting any old rubbish, usually in exchange for a small item, e.g. a block of soapstone (also known as donkey stone) which women used to put on their frontdoor step |
| rag cutter | One who cut up rags into small pieces to be used for making paper etc |
| rag gatherers | Employed to clear the rags from the machinery in the mills (usually children) |
| rag man | One who went from street to street collecting and selling old clothes and rags |
| rag picker | Someone who sorted through the left over rags to find re usable ones |
| rag trotter | See rag and bone man |
| raker | A street-cleaner or scavenger. |
| ratoner | A ratter or rat-catcher. |
| rattener | See ratoner |
| rattlewatch | A town watchman. |
| rectifier | One who distilled alcoholic spirits |
| redar | An interpreter of dreams. |
| reddsman | See redsman |
| redesman | See redsman |
| redsman | Person who was employed in maintaining mine haulage ways |
| redsmith | See coppersmith |
| reeder | One who worked with reeds for hedging or thatching |
| reedmaker | One who made the pipe for a musical instrument or made a weavers implement (a reed) or reed cloth or the comb used in tapestry |
| reeler | One who operated the machine that wound the yarn onto the bobbin |
| reeve | A royal official, or a manor official appointed by the lord or elected by the peasants. A church warden. |
| reever | One who was a clerk or scribe. |
| registrar | An official who registered events such as land purchases, births, deaths, marriages etc |
| relieving officer | These were officials of the Workhouse who were responsible for assessing the poor of their districts for eligibility for assistance. |
| renovator | One who repaired clothing |
| rent man | Collector of rents for landlord |
| revenue officer | A taxman who enforces tax laws |
| revenuer | See revenue officer |
| rickmaster | A Captain of Horse. |
| riddler | A wool stapler. |
| riftere | A reaper. |
| rigger | A hoist tackle worker; works on a ship's rigging |
| ripper | One who brings fish inland from the coast to market |
| riverman | A worker on a river boat |
| rockgetter | A rocksalt miner. |
| rockman | A person who worked in a quarry usually placing the charges on the rockface |
| rodman | A surveyor's assistant |
| roll turner | A carder of wool, cotton etc into rolls prior to spinning |
| roller coverer | One who covered the rollers for the spinning process |
| rolleyway man | One who maintained the underground road in the mines |
| roman cementer | One who worked with roman cement used in stuccoing |
| roofer | Someone who made roofs |
| rope maker | Someone who makes rope. |
| roper | A maker of rope or nets |
| rover | An archer or operator of a machine used in cotton mills which prepared the carded fibre into rolls |
| rubbisher | A person who sorted the small stones in the quarries. |
| rubbler | A person who sorted the small stones in the quarries |
| rugmaker | One who makes rugs |
| rugman | A dealer in rugs |
| runner | A smuggler. Messenger and ironically one who worked for the magistrate best remembered as Bow Street Runners |
| rustler | A livestock thief. E.g. Cattle, sheep etc. |
| sack maker | Someone who made sacks. |
| saddle tree maker | A person who makes the wooden frames for the horse saddle before being covered with leather. |
| saddler | One who makes, repairs or sells saddle or other furnishings for horses; harnesses, horse collars, bridles etc. |
| saggar maker | See sagger maker |
| saggar maker's bottom knocker | The saggar maker's assistant who tapped the bottom off the pots |
| sagger maker | One who made the fireclay containers in which the stoneware was placed ready for firing |
| sailor | Someone who worked on a ship at sea. |
| salesman | A person who sold things. |
| saloonist | A saloon keeper. |
| salt boiler | One who obtained salt by boiling sea water |
| salter | One who made or dealt in salt |
| sandesman | An ambassador or messenger |
| sandhog | A laborer who works inside a caisson, as in the construction of tunnels underwater. |
| sandwichman | A person who wears a sandwich billboard for advertising. |
| sandwichman: | A person who wears a sandwich billboard for advertising |
| sarcinet weaver | A silk weaver |
| saucer | See salter |
| saw doctor | Made, repaired, maintained and sharpened a wide range of cutting tools and saw blades and also maintained and aligned mechanical parts of a range of production machines |
| sawbones | Physician, doctor |
| sawyer | A person who saws timber |
| say weaver | One who made Say, material used for table cloths or bedding |
| scagiola maker | One who made imitation marble |
| scaleraker / scavenger | A person employed by the parish to clean the streets. |
| scappler | A person who roughly shaped the stone prior to being finished by the stonemason. |
| scavelman | A person employed to keep the waterways and ditches clear. |
| scavengerboat man | See bumboat man |
| school master | A schoolteacher. |
| school mistress | A schoolteacher. |
| schrimpschonger | An artisan who carves in bone, ivory, or wood |
| schumacker | A shoemaker |
| scotch draper | A person who sold goods door to door with payment to be made by instalments. |
| scotchman | A person who sold goods door to door with payment to be made by instalments. |
| screener | One who screened the ore at the mines surface |
| scribbler | Employed in a scribbling mill where the wool was roughly carded before spinning |
| scribe | A clerk |
| scriber | A person employed at the docks to mark the cotton bales with the approximate weight ready for selling by the brokers. |
| scribler | A minor or worthless author. |
| scrimer | One practised in the use of the sword; a skilful fencer. |
| scripture reader | Employed by the local clergy to go from house to house reading parts of the bible to try and encourage people to attend church, also read scriptures during some services |
| scrivener | A clerk, notary, wrote out legal documents |
| scrutineer | One who scrutinizes; specifically, one who acts as an examiner of votes, as at an election, etc., to see if they are valid |
| scullery maid | Female servant who performed all the menial tasks |
| scullion | See scullery maid |
| sculptor | Someone who made sculptures. |
| scutcher | A person that beat flax to soften the straw in the bundles |
| seal presser | A person employed in the glass industry to seal the bath against air intake which could spoil the finished surface. |
| seaman | A sailor. |
| seamstress | Someone who sewed seams. |
| searcher | Customs officer whose business it is to search ships, baggage, goods, etc., for prohibited or undeclared articles liable for duty, etc. |
| sedgeman | The skilled workman who applied sedge (type of grass) which was used as an early roofing material |
| seedsman | Sower of seeds |
| self acting minder | One in charge of the automatic spinning mule in the mills |
| semi lorer | A person who made leather thongs. |
| sempster | A man or woman (sempstress) employed in sewing: in early use applied to those who sewed leather as well as cloth. |
| sempstress | A seamstress. |
| seneschal | A senior steward at the Manor. |
| sewer hunter | A scavenger who concentrated on the sewers trying to find valuable objects |
| sewer rat | A bricklayer who specialised in making and repairing sewers and tunnels. |
| sewing clerk | A collector of clothing piecework. |
| sewster | See sempster |
| sexton | An employee or officer of a church who cared and upkept church property and sometimes rang bells and dug graves |
| shagreen case maker | Worked with shagreen leather (the skin of a shark, ray etc) or, a granular leather made from horse's or ass's hide. |
| shambler | A butcher. Slaughterman. (A shamble is a butcher's abattoir) |
| shank maker | Made shanks of wool |
| shanty man | A lumberman. |
| share cropper | See cropper |
| sharecropper | A tenant farmer who would be paid with part of the crop. |
| shearer | Removed the fleece from sheep. A shearer (cutter) of cloth or metal. A barber |
| sheargrinder | Person who sharpened shears, scissors |
| shearman | See shearer |
| sheath maker | One who made scabbards for swords |
| sheepman | Sheep herder, shepherd |
| sheet metal worker | A person who fabricates products from all types of sheet metal in a workshop. (Skilled man - a time served apprentice) |
| shepster | [1] A sheep shearer. ; [2] A dressmaker. |
| sherman | See shearer |
| shifter | Miner paid day rate per shift, usually on repair work |
| shingler | See chingler |
| shingler | An occupation in the iron foundries. Shingling was the process of hammering puddled iron and as with many iron-making terms it is derived from the French language in this case the word - cinglage. Can also refer to ' Tin Plate Works' And can also be a roof tiler (roofer) who used wooden tiles (shingles). See Bloomer also. |
| ship husband | A repairer of ships while in harbor |
| ship master | Owner and / or captain of a ship |
| shipwright | A constructor or repairer or ships |
| shoe finder | A seller of shoe maker's tools. |
| shoe maker | Made shoes |
| shoe wipe | See boot polisher |
| shoe wiper | A servant who polished shoes. |
| shoemaker | A person who made shoes. |
| shoesmith | One who shoed horses |
| shot firer | One in charge of blasting in mines or quarries |
| shrager | A person who trimmed and pruned trees. |
| shrieve | A Sheriff. |
| shriever | A sheriff. |
| shuffler | A yardman on the farms. |
| shunter | One who moved rolling stock around the railway yards |
| shuttle maker | One who made the shuttles for the weaving mills |
| sickleman | A reaper |
| sidesman | A churchman |
| signalman | See pointsman |
| silk dresser | One who prepared the silk for weaving |
| silk engine turner | A person who turned the wheel on the automatic silk weaving looms. |
| silk mercer | One who sold cloth and other items made from silk |
| silk thrower | A worker in the silk industry |
| silk twister | A silk spinner |
| silker | A person that sewed the ends of the fabric to prvent the layers from separating |
| silversmith | A person who worked with silver |
| simpler | One who collects simples, or medicinal plants; a herbalist; a simplist. |
| sinker | A skilled person who contracted to sink new shafts for coal mining. |
| sinker (pit sinker) | A skilled man who was contracted to sink new shafts in mines. |
| sissor | Tailor |
| sizer | A persion that applied size to cloth or worked in a paper mill |
| skeiner | A worker who winds unfinished cloth into skein form for boiling off |
| skelper | See skepper |
| skepper | A person who makes and sells woven beehives |
| skeppern | See skepper |
| skepperne | See skepper |
| skinker | One who draws or pours out. A server of drink; the landlord of an alehouse or tavern. (incidently 'Schenken' in Dutch translates as 'Pour Out' and is pronounced skenken) |
| skinner | A dealer in hides |
| skipmaker | A person who made the skips used in mining and quarrying for moving men or materials to the surface. |
| skipmaker: | One who made the skips used in mining and quarrying for moving men or materials to the surface |
| skipper | A master of a ship |
| slaper | See slapper |
| slapper | One who worked in a pottery preparing the clay for the potter |
| slater | Roofer |
| slaymaker | A maker of slay's - The reed of a weavers' loom |
| slop seller | A person who sold baskets. A seller of ready made clothes. |
| slopseller | A dealer in cheap ready-made clothing |
| slubber | Operated the machine used to prepare cotton for spinning |
| slubber doffer | Removed the bobbins from the spindles in the mills |
| smackman | One worked on a sailing ship (a smack, as a sloop or cutter, that was used chiefly in coasting and fishing |
| smallware maker | Made smallware, e.g. tapes, braids etc |
| smelter | Worker in a metal smelter, smelt fisherman |
| smiddy | Dialectal variant of smithy - A smith |
| smith | Metal worker |
| smugsmith | A smuggler. |
| snapper | Worker in glass factory who placed molded bottle (by neck) into furnace hole |
| snob | A shoemaker; a journeyman shoemaker |
| snobscat | A shoe repairer. |
| snuffer maker | Made the candle snuffer |
| soap boiler (soper) | Soap maker |
| sojourner | A person who was staying in a place or position temporary, i.e. passing through. |
| sojourner clothier | A travelling clothes salesman |
| solicitor | Lawyer |
| sortor | Tailor |
| souter | Shoe maker or cobbler in Scotland |
| spalder | See spallier |
| spallier | Tin worker who performs chiefly menial tasks |
| sperviter | A keeper of sparrows. |
| spicer | Grocer or dealer in spices |
| spinner | Spins yarn |
| spinster | [1] A woman who spins; ; An unmarried woman. |
| splitter | Operated a splitting machine or one who split things by hand, e.g. stone, timber etc |
| spooner | Made spoons |
| spring maker | Maker of springs for coaches etc. |
| spurrer | A maker of spurs |
| spurrier | See spurrer |
| squire | Practitioner of a profession, a gentleman |
| stabler | Ostler |
| stainer | A person who coloured glass or wood. |
| staithman | A man employed in weighing and shipping at a staith (a landing place: an elevated staging upon a wharf, bank, shore). |
| stallman | Keeper of a market stall |
| stamper | A person who operated a stamping machine. |
| stampman | A worker of an ore crushing machine. |
| stationary engine driver | A person who operated a steam engine which was used for pumping water or sewage, or driving machinery in an industrial environment such as a factory, mill or mine. |
| stationary engineer | A caretaker of machinery such as pumping engines or lifts/hoists. Also used later for a person who looked after the electrical and plumbing installations in an apartment block or office block. aka Janitor. |
| stationer | Bookseller, seller of paper and writing implements |
| statist | A statesman; a politician; one skilled in government. A statistician |
| stay maker | A corset maker |
| steeplejack | One who climbs steeples (churches) etc to do repairs etc. Also commonly employed in the north of England to repair the tall chimneys attached to cotton mills |
| steersman | A ship's helmsman |
| stenterer | One who operated the cloth finishing machine |
| step boy | Employed to help passengers to enter or leave the coach |
| stevedore | A labourer who unloads and loads ships' cargoes |
| steward | Manager of property, purveyor of supplies or someone who attended passengers on conveyance |
| sticher | A person who does decorative stitching. |
| stockinger | A knitter, weaver, or dealer in stockings |
| stoker | One who tends the fire of an steam engine boiler originally |
| stone getter | Worked in quarry |
| stone picker | A man employed to remove the stones from the farmers fields before planting |
| stone workers | A person who worked with stone eg masons, quarriers etc |
| stoneman | A Surveyor of Highways. |
| stonewarden | A Surveyor of Highways. |
| storeman | A person responsible for stored goods |
| stove grate pattern maker | Manufactured and installed stove grates. In 1901 there were many stove grate works. |
| stowyer | A person who stowed the nets away on fishing boats. |
| stravaiger | A vagrant. |
| straw joiner | One who thatched roofs |
| straw plaiter | One who made straw braids for the hat industry |
| streaker | A person who prepared the body for burial. |
| street orderly | Street cleaner |
| street seller | See handseller |
| stretcher | A person stretched fabrics in the textile trade, sometimes called a tenter. |
| striker | A blacksmiths helper. The person who harpooned the whale. |
| stringer | One who strings. One who makes or furnishes strings for a bow |
| stripper | A person employed in the woollen trade to remove the rubbish from the carding machines. |
| stuff gowsman | A junior barrister. |
| stuff weaver | Wove stuff (the coarse part of flax) |
| sucksmith | A person who made ploughshares. |
| sumner | A summoner or apparitor. |
| sumpter | The driver of a pack horse |
| surface man | A person who worked on the surface of a mine. |
| sutler | An army camp follower who peddled provisions to the soldiers |
| swailer | A miller or dealer in grain. A corn miller. |
| swain | Herdsman |
| sweep | Chimneysweep |
| sweeper out | A person employed in the mills to keep the floor clean. |
| swell maker | A person who made shallow baskets. |
| swineherder | See swineyard |
| swineyard | Pig keeper |
| swineyard /swineherder | A pig keeper. |
| swingler | One who beats flax to remove woody parts |
| sword cutler | A sword maker |
| tabler | One who keeps boarders. |
| tackler | An overlooker of power loom weavers |
| tacksman | A middleman who leased a large piece of land from the owner and sublet it in small lots |
| tailor | One who made or repaired clothes |
| tailoress | A female tailor |
| tallier | See tallyman |
| tallow chandler | One who made or sold candles |
| tally clerk | One who kept count of goods arriving or departing from warehouses, docks etc |
| tallyman | One who sells by sample goods to be delivered afterward, or who takes orders for such goods. One who keeps a tally-shop, selling goods on short credit, the accounts of which are kept by a system of tallies, without regular book-accounts |
| tan bark stripper | One who collected the bark that was used in the tanning process |
| tanner | Tanned (cured) animal hides for leather making |
| tanney | A leather worker |
| tape weaver | Person who weaves cotton tape - up to a couple of inches wide |
| taper weaver | One who made the wicks for candles |
| tapicer | See tapiter |
| tapiter | One who weaves worsted cloth |
| tapley | One who puts the tap in an ale cask. |
| tapster | One who puts the tap in an ale cask |
| tarrier | A person in charge of a pack of terriers used for hunting. |
| tasker | A thresher or reaper. |
| tasseler | A person who made tassels used in furnishings. A nobleman. |
| taverner | An innkeeper |
| tawer | One who taws (bleaches) skins; a maker of white leather. |
| tawyer | See tawer |
| teacher | someone who teaches. |
| teamer | See TEAMSTER. |
| teamer man | See TEAMSTER. |
| teamster | A person in charge of a team of horses. |
| teemer | [1] A person who emptied grain from the cart. ; [2] A person who poured the molten steel into the moulds. |
| teinter | See tinter |
| tenter | See engine tenter |
| terrier | A person in charge of a pack of terriers used for hunting. |
| textor | A weaver. |
| thacker | A roof thatcher. |
| thatcher | One who covered roofs with straw or reeds. |
| thirdborough | An under-constable. |
| third-borough | A constable, or an under-constable. |
| thresher | A person who separated the grain from the husks and straw. |
| throwster | A person in the textile trade who twisted the strands of fibre together into yarn. |
| tide gauger | Person who monitored the state of the tide |
| tide surveyor | See tide gauger |
| tide waiter | See tidesman |
| tide waiter | A customs officer who waited on the tide to collect duty on goods brought in |
| tidesman | A customs official |
| tiemaker | One who made wooden railway ties |
| tiger | A liveried groom attending a person in a light vehicle |
| tiler | A person who put tiles in place either on the roof or floor. |
| tiler: | One who put tiles in place either on the roof or floor |
| tiller | A farmer |
| tillman | A ploughman |
| tiltmaker | A person who made canvas awnings or canopies. |
| timekeeper | A person responsible for making sure things happened on time e.g. worker arriving or departing, trains, coaches, omnibuses, etc. |
| times ironer | See paper ironer |
| tin basher | Slang for a Sheet Metal Worker. |
| tin dresser | (or copper dresser) Women and younger girls who dressed the ore brought up from underground. It was hard, physical work and a dirty job which took knowledge and considerable concentration. |
| tin miner | Someone who mined tin ore. |
| tinctor | A dyer |
| tinker | A travelling repairman or salesman (not well respected) |
| tinman | A tinsmith or tinker |
| tinner | Tin miner, tinsmith |
| tinsmith | A person who worked with tin. |
| tinter | Artists who performs tinting |
| tipper | One who put the metal tips on arrows etc |
| tippler | A person who kept an ale house. |
| tipstaff | An officer who bears a staff tipped with metal; a constable. |
| tirewoman | A woman employed to dress, or to attend to the dressing or dresses of, others; a lady's-maid; a female dresser in a theater; a tiring-woman |
| tixtor | A weaver. |
| tobacco moulder | Moulded tobacco leaves |
| tobacco spinner | Maker of cigars |
| tobacconist | Worker at shop selling tobacco products |
| tobbaco packer | Packed tobacco leaves |
| todhunter | A person employed by the parish to hunt foxes. |
| toe rag | A person who worked at the docks as a corn porter. |
| toilinet manufacturer | A person who made toilinet (a kind of quilting). |
| toller | See tollgate keeper |
| tollgate keeper | Worker at the toll gate to collect fees for use of the road |
| tollie | See tollgate keeper |
| tollman | A person who collected tolls. |
| tolman | See tollgate keeper |
| tonsor | Latin for barber. |
| tool helver | Made tool handles |
| top sawyer | Upper man in a saw pit |
| topman | Sailor who works in the ship's rigging |
| topsman | The head cattle drover. |
| tosher | Was someone who scavenged in the sewers, especially in London during the Victorian era |
| touch holer | One who worked in the gun manufacturing industry |
| tow card maker | One who made tow cards, used in the textile industry |
| town chaberlain | A person who looked after the towns affairs. |
| town chamberlain | One who looked after the towns affairs |
| town crier | One who made public announcments in the streets |
| town husband | A person employed by the parish to collect the money from the fathers of illegitimate children for their upkeep. |
| towns waiter | Customs man |
| townswaiter | A customs man. |
| toy maker | Someone who made toys. |
| tozer | Worked in the wool mills employed to tose or tease the cloth |
| tradesman | A shopkeeper or skilled craftsman. |
| trammer | A young person who worked in the mines. |
| trampler | A lawyer. |
| tranqueter | A person who made hoops. |
| tranter | A peddler. |
| trapper | Employed in the mines to open and shut the doors for the miners |
| travers | A collector of fees at a toll bridge. |
| treen maker | A person who made domestic articles from wood. |
| treenail maker | One who made the long wooden pins used in shipbuilding |
| trenchermaker | A person who made wooden boards or platters for serving food from or cutting and slicing food on. |
| trencherman | A cook. |
| trepanger | A person who used a circular saw to cut timber. |
| trimmer | A person who trims a ship by re-arranging its cargo to distribute the weight properly |
| tripe dresser | A butcher . One who prepares tripe for sale. (The lining of the stomach of a ruminant (especially a bovine) used as food) |
| troacher | A pedlar. |
| trolley carter | A person who operated the tubs in the mines. |
| troner | A weighing official at the markets |
| trotter | A messenger |
| trover | A smuggler. |
| truchman | An interpreter. |
| trugger | A person who made long shallow baskets. |
| trusser | A person who bundled and tied hay, aka Hay Baler. |
| tubber | One who made tubs |
| tubedrawer | A person who made tubes. |
| tubman | A barrister in the Court of Exchequer in England who had a precedence in motions. |
| tucker | A cleaner of cloth goods. See Fuller. |
| tucker in | A maid who attended the bedroom and "tucked in the bedclothes" |
| tunist | A person who tuned musical instruments. |
| turner | A lathe worker |
| turning boy | A person who assisted the weaver by turning the bar on the loom. |
| turnkey | A prison warden or jail keeper |
| turnpike keeper | See tollgate keeper |
| turnspit | One who operated the spit handle |
| tweenie | A servant who works between two others, or assists both. A between-maid, or maidservant who helps the cook as well as the housemai. A maid who worked "between the stairs" she assisted the cooks and the housemaids |
| tweeny | See tweenie |
| twist hand | A person who operated a lace machine. |
| twister | A person who joined the ends of a fresh beam of threads onto the warp already on the loom. A sitting-down job, sometimes done by people who were crippled. |
| twisterer | See twister |
| ulnager | One appointed to examine the quality of woollen goods to be sold |
| undertaker | Arranged funerals |
| underviewer | A junior official in charge of mine in 'viewer's' absence |
| unfortunate | prostitute |
| unholsterer | See upholder |
| upholder | Furniture seller - mainly chairs and couches |
| upholsterer | A person who finished furniture by putting on the padding and cloth. |
| upright worker | A chimney sweep. |
| usher | See apparitor |
| valet | A male servant that attended a nobleman or gentleman |
| valuator | One who valued objects |
| vassal | A servant of the lowest order |
| vatman | One who put the paper pulp into the moulds in paper-making industry or worked with vats e.g. in beer and wine making |
| venator | A huntsman |
| venator (venur) | A huntsman. |
| venur | See venator |
| verderer | An official in charge of the royal forest. |
| verge maker | A person who made the spindles used in clocks and watches. |
| verger | Church official, acting as usher or pew opener |
| vermin destroyer | Rat catcher. Pest controller |
| verrier | A glazier. |
| vestment maker | A person who made the gowns worn by priests. |
| victualer | See victualler |
| victualler | A seller of food/drink - Usually refers to an Innkeeper |
| viewer | A person who worked at the mines in a managerial capacity. |
| villein | A person who paid dues to the lord of the manor in return for use of the land. |
| vintager | A harvester of grapes |
| vinter | See vintner |
| vintner | A wine merchant |
| virginal player | A person who played a musical instrument similar to a harpsichord. |
| vulcan | A blacksmith |
| wabster | A weaver |
| wad man | A person who supplied wadding for packing, stuffing, padding |
| waggoner | A person who drove a wagon, a carrier. |
| wagoner | Wagon or cart driver |
| wailer | A person employed in the mines to remove the impurities from the coal. |
| wain house proprietor | Owner of a building where wagons could be parked for a fee |
| wainwright | Builder or repairer of wagons |
| waiter | See tide waiter |
| waitman | Night watchman who guarded the gates of a city, usually marking the hours with the ringing of a small bell |
| waker | Person whose job was to wake workers in time for early morning work |
| walker | A cloth worker who cleaned and thickened the cloth by wetting it then walking over it. |
| walking-stick filer | One who made walking sticks |
| waller | One who built walls either brick or dry stone - also a person who worked making coarse salt |
| wantcatcher | A person employed to catch moles. |
| wanter | A mole catcher. |
| warder | Person in charge of prisoners |
| warehouse man | Someone in charge of or employee in a warehouse. |
| warehouseman | A person in charge of a warehouse |
| warp beame | See warper |
| warp dresser | Warping-mill operator. Operated a machine to wind yarn from packages onto reel and from reel onto loom beams to prepare multiple colored warps for weaving |
| warper | A textile worker who arranged the individual yarns which created the "warp" of the fabric upon a large cylinder called a beam. A beamer. A person who set the warp thread on the looms or employed to move boats by hauling on the warps (the ropes attached to the boats) |
| warrener | In charge of a portion of land used for breeding rabbits and other small game |
| washman | A tin coater. |
| wasteman | Checked the old workings for gas and maintaining them in the mines or employed to remove waste |
| watch finisher | Assembled watches and clocks |
| watchman | See waitman |
| watchman | Town official who guarded the streets at night |
| water bailiff | Official in charge of the fishing rights on a stretch of water |
| water carrier | Carted and sold fresh water |
| water gilder | A person who trapped water fowl. |
| water leader | A person who transported and sold fresh drinking water |
| water leder | See water leader |
| water loder | See water leader |
| waterguard | A customs officer |
| waterman | Worked with or on boats usually on rivers, but sometimes alternative name for drowner, a man who understood irrigation. He was appointed to control the watering of the common water meadows, especially in Dorset, Wiltshire, Avon and Hampshire. |
| wattle hurdle maker | Made a type of fence / enclosures from wattle to keep sheep in |
| waulkmiller | See walker |
| waver | A weaver. |
| way man | A surveyor of roads. |
| way-maker | One employed to make roads. One who makes a way; a pioneer; a pathfinder. |
| weatherspy | An astrologer. |
| weaver | A person who runs one or more looms to weave cloth. The more looms, the more money. Weaving is a very noisy operation, leaving many weavers deaf. Whether deaf or not, most weavers will have learned to lip-read since this is the only way to hold a conversation in the weaving shed. |
| webber | A weaver. |
| webster | Weaver (originally a female weaver) |
| weeder | A person employed to remove the weeds from the gardens of the rich. |
| weigher | Worked on the docks to weigh the cargo as it was unloaded |
| weighman | See keeker |
| well sinker | Someone who dug wells |
| well wright | Made the winding equipment used to raise the bucket in the well |
| wellmaster | One in charge of the local well with the responsibility of ensuring clean water for the village |
| wet glover | Leather glove maker |
| wet nurse | Woman employed to suckle tthe child of another (common practice with the rich) |
| wetter | Dampens paper during the printing process or in the glass industry who detached the glass by wetting |
| whacker | A horse or oxen team driver. |
| wharfanger | The owner of a wharf. |
| wharfinger | One who owns or manages a wharf. |
| wheeler | A wheel maker, a person in the textile industry that attended to the spinning wheel, a person who led the pit ponies that pulled the tubs underground in the mines. |
| wheelwright | A maker of wheels for carts |
| wheeryman | A person in charge of a wheery, a small light rowing boat. |
| whey cutter | Worker in the cheese industry. |
| whiffler | A herald or usher; a person who leads the way, or prepares the way, for another: probably so called because the pipers usually led the procession. |
| whig | A horse driver (Scottish term). |
| whipcord maker | See whipmaker |
| whipmaker | One who made whips |
| whipperin | A person who managed the hounds in a hunt. |
| whit cooper | A person who made barrels etc from tin. |
| white cooper | One who makes barrels from tin or other light metals |
| white limer | A person who plastered walls using lime and water plaster |
| white smith | See whitesmith |
| whitear | A person who cleaned hides. |
| whitener | One who bleached cloth |
| whitening roll maker | A person who made the whitening used in whitening walls of cottages. |
| whitesmith | A person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals such as tin and pewter. Their majority of their work is with cold metal |
| whitester | See whitener |
| whitewasher | Whitewashed the walls of cottages |
| whitewing | A streetsweeper. |
| whitster | See whitener |
| whittawer | [1] A person who made saddles and harnesses. ; [2] A preparer of white leather. |
| willeyer | A person who throws handfulls of wool or hair, hemp or flax tow, etc., on to brattice or other feed apparatus of willeying machine, which separates fibres, and breaks up their natural matted state, and shakes out dirt and foreign matter therefrom, in preparation for carding; sometimes also blends materials together in process of willeying. |
| willow plaiter | See willow weaver |
| willow weaver | One who made baskets etc |
| winder | Either a Beamer, or someone who winds thread onto the spindles used in shuttles |
| window cleaner | Someone who cleaned windows. |
| windster | Silk winder |
| wine and spirit merchant | A dealer in wine and spirits. |
| wire drawer | A person who made wire from metal by drawing the metal through various size holes in a template. |
| withy peeler | See osier peeler |
| wood carver | Someone who carves in wood. |
| woodbreaker | A person who made wooden water casks. |
| woodranger | A person in charge of the forest or woods. |
| woodreeve | A person in charge of the forest or woods. |
| woodward | A person in charge of the forest or woods. |
| woodworker | Someone who works with wood. |
| wool driver | One who brought the wool to market |
| wool factor | Wool merchants agent |
| wool grower | A sheep farmer. |
| wool man | See wool sorter |
| wool sorter | One who sorted the wool into different grades |
| wool stapler | See wool sorter |
| wool winder | One who made up balls of wool for selling |
| woolcomber | Operated machinery that separates the fibres ready for spinning in woollen industry |
| woolen billy piecer | Worked in the woollen mills to piece together the broken yarns |
| woolsorter | A person who sorted the wool into different grades. |
| woolsted man | From worsted man, a seller of woollen cloth. |
| woontcatcher | A mole catcher (North Staffs dialect "oont" or "woont", meaning mole) |
| worsted manufacturer | A person who made worsted cloth. |
| worsted shearman | A person who made worsted cloth. |
| wright | See wheelwright |
| wright | Builder or repairer. A skilled worker in various trades |
| writer | A person employed to write. A scribe. A clerk etc. |
| wyrtha | A labourer. |
| xylographer | One who used and made wooden blocks used in printing illustrations |
| yardman | A rail, road or yard worker |
| yatman | A gate keeper. |
| yearman | One contracted to work for a year |
| yeoman | A farmer who owns his own land |
| zincographer | A designer who etched in relief a pattern on zinc plates used for printing |
| zitherist | A player of a simple, flat many-stringed instrument. |
| zoetrope maker | A craftsman who made zoetropes, an optical toy in the form of a cylinder with a series of pictures painted on the inner surface which gave the impression of continuous motion when viewed through slits in the rotating cylinder. |
| zoographer | One who classifies species of animals |
| zumologist | One who is skilled in the fermentation of liquors |
| zythepsarist | A brewer |