Here are a few examples below of different trades through different years in time. I will be adding more eventually. The trade of your ancestor can be a huge part of the person they were and the lifestyle they led. So when you research your ancestors find out more about the trade and the area where they were living.
|
Occupation
|
Trade Reference
|
Description
|
Year
|
| Backsmann / Backster |
Baker
|
Baker | |
| Back- Overman |
Mining
|
This was the man who had the immediate inspection of the workings and workmen during the back-shift |
1849
|
|
Mining
|
The back-overman superintends the management of the pit from the time the overman leaves until four o’clock in the evening, when the pit is said to “loose” or stop work |
1892
|
|
|
Mining
|
Foreman of the pit during the “back shift,” or afternoon shift, in the absence of the overman
|
1894
|
|
| Badger | Lincesed Pauper | ||
| Bagman | Salesman that travelled around | ||
| Bagniokeeper | Owner of a brothel or bathhouse | ||
| Bailiff |
Mining
|
Foreman or overman
|
1894
|
| Baler | Someone who worked either in a mill or they baled hay | ||
| Ballad Monger | Sold ballad sheets on the streets | ||
| Ballast Heaver | Loaded ballast in ships – commonly stone. | ||
| Bandsman |
Mining
|
Labourer (loader) working with a band of men |
1894
|
| Bang Beggar | This persons role was to control how long strangers were allowed to stay in a parish | ||
| Banksmen |
Mining
|
At the bank or top of the pit, the banksmen would unhook and empty the laden corves into the carts or waggons, from a frame or stage |
1825
|
|
Mining
|
a man who draws the full tubs from the cages at the surface, when wound up by the engine, and replaces them with empty ones ; he also puts the full tubs to the weighing machine, and thence to the skreens, upon which he teems the coals. It is also his duty to keep an account of the quantity of coals and stones drawn each day.
|
1849
|
|
| Barber |
Hair
|
The role of a barber was to cut hair, give shaves and trim hair. Their role also consisted of dentistry and surgery in previous times | |
| Barm Brewer | Cultivated the brewers yeast | ||
| Barilla Manufacturer | Made Banilla | ||
| Baxter |
Baker
|
Baker | |
| Beadle | Town Cryer and officer in the parish | ||
| Biddy | A Servant many were Irish | ||
| Black Borderer | Made funerary stationery | ||
| Blacksmith | is a person who creates objects from iron or steel | ||
| Blentonist | Water diviner | ||
| Bluffer | Innkeeper | ||
| Boonmaster | Repaired roads and maintained them | ||
| Bottomer |
Mining
|
This mans job was to attend the bottom at the shaft |
1894
|
| Brakeman |
Mining
|
To work on the machinery which included machines that raised the coal from the mind |
1825
|
| Brailler | Person who made girdles | ||
| Brakeman or Brakesman | Operated the brakes on the winch at the pit head or on trains or trams | ||
| Brasiator | Someone who brewed ale | ||
| Brasiler | A dyer | ||
| Brass Cutter | A person who made copperplate engravings | ||
| Brass Finisher | Someone who polished brass goods. | ||
| Bratman | A rough garment maker. | ||
| Brazier | Someone who repaired brass household items | ||
| Breach Maker | Someone who made breches for guns | ||
| Brusher |
Mining
|
This person was employed to blast the roof or floor of a roadway to give more height or to bring down the mineral |
1894
|
| Buttocker |
Mining
|
Miner who gets coal off at a “long-wall” face |
1894
|
| Bye Workman |
Mining
|
Underground labourer
|
1894
|
| Chargeman |
Mining
|
The chargeman was the man that was in charge |
1894
|
| Chargeman Tunneller |
Mining
|
This man was in charge of all the other tunnellers |
1894
|
| Charter Master |
Mining
|
Contracted to working on a pit or near one |
1894
|
| Check Viewer |
Mining
|
Safety Inspector |
1849
|
| Check Weigher |
Mining
|
||
| Clay Puddler | The Clay Puddlers role is to make the clay lining in cannals and dams and this would be done with thir feet till the clay becomes soft and smoothe | ||
|
Clayman/ cleyman
|
Prepared the clay for making bricks | ||
| Clerk | A medieval clergyman | ||
| Coiner | Someone who makes coins | ||
| Clearer |
Mining
|
||
|
Clod Hopper
|
Ploughman
|
Ploughman
|
|
| Clogger |
Shoe Maker
|
A person who made shoes “cloggs” in England | |
| Cloth Dreser / Cropper |
Clothes
|
Worked in a Mill or in a wool factory | |
| Cloth Lapper |
Clothes
|
Removed the Yarn from the machines so that the Yarn process would continue | |
| Clothier /Clothesman |
Clothes
|
This person was in the clothing industry they either sold clothes or made them | |
| Club Collecter | This person usually visited people once a week asking for money and payments for clothing or buriels | ||
| Coal Backer |
Mining
|
These people carried the coal on their backs from the barges | |
| Coal Burner | Makes Charcoal | ||
| Coal Dealer | Someone who goes around selling coal | ||
| Cobbler |
Shoe Maker
|
Repairs and Makes Shoes | |
| Cobbleman | A fisherman who uses cobble | ||
|
Cocus
|
Cook
|
Cook (Latin)
|
|
|
Cohen
|
Priest
|
Priest
|
|
| Cordiner or Cordwainer | A shoemaker. Also a person who worked with Cordovan, a special soft leather from Spain. | ||
| Correspondent | journalist or writer | ||
| Corset Maker, Bone | Someone who made corsets | ||
| Corporal |
Mining
|
||
| Corvers |
Mining
|
||
| Countour | A person who collected rates. | ||
| Coupler |
Mining
|
||
| Craneman |
Mining
|
||
| Crocker | Potter | ||
| Crutter |
Mining
|
||
| Dataler |
Mining
|
||
| Deputies |
Mining
|
||
| Dook Runnner |
Mining
|
||
| Drawer |
Mining
|
||
| Drifter |
Mining
|
||
| Drivers |
Mining
|
||
| Earer | Ploughman | ||
| Earth stopper | Stopped up animal burrows | ||
| East India Man | Someone who owned a company in India | ||
| Elymaker | Oil maker | ||
| Engine Tenter |
Mining
|
||
| Flat Lad |
Mining
|
||
| Foal |
Mining
|
||
| Force -Overman |
Mining
|
||
| Furnaceman |
Mining
|
||
| Gabeler | Tax Collecter | ||
| Gaffman | Bailiff | ||
| Gang Rider |
Mining
|
||
| Ganneker | Inkeeper | ||
| Gaoler | Jailer | ||
| Gater | Watchman | ||
| Gatherer |
Glass Worker
|
Glassworker | |
| Gatward | Someone who keeps Goats | ||
| Gaunter |
Clothing
|
Glove Maker | |
| Gelder | Castrates Animals | ||
| Gentleman | Aristocrat | ||
| Ginerr | A joiner |
1891
|
|
| Gin Drivers |
Mining
|
||
| Ginour |
Engineer
|
Engineer | |
| Goldsmith | Someone who worked with gold or someone who worked in a bank | ||
| Grieve / Greave | Bailiff, Sheriff, Foreman | ||
| Granger |
Farmer
|
Farmer | |
| Greaser |
Mining
|
||
| Hand Putter |
Mining
|
||
| Hardground Man |
Mining
|
||
| Headsman |
Mining
|
||
| Helper-Up |
Mining
|
||
| Hewers |
Mining
|
||
| Hitcher |
Mining
|
||
| Hood Boy |
Mining
|
||
| Hooker – On |
Mining
|
||
| Incline Man |
Mining
|
||
| Inspector |
Mining
|
||
| Jigger |
Mining
|
||
| Keeper |
Mining
|
||
| Kedger |
Fishing
|
fisherman | |
| Keeker |
Mining
|
Colliery official who checked quantity and quality of coal output. A weighman. | |
| Keeler |
Fishing
|
bargeman who sailed a flat bottomed boat known as a keel | |
| Keller | Someone who kept salt | ||
| Kellogg | Slaughterman | ||
| Kempster | A wool comber | ||
| Kepegest | Innkeeper | ||
| Kisser | Someone who made high armour | ||
| Kneller | Chimney Sweep | ||
| Knocker-Up | person employed to wake up workers in northern mills and factorys on early shifts | ||
| Knoller | The toller of bells | ||
| Labourer | General Labourer | ||
| Lace Drawer | A child employed in lace work, drawing out threads. | ||
| Laceman | Someone who deals within lace | ||
| Lace Master or Mistress | A person employed workers in factories or in their homes for the production of lace | ||
| Lace Runner | Someone who did embroidered patterns on lace. | ||
| Lagger | Sailor | ||
| Lagraetmen | Constable | ||
| Lamplighter / Leerie | Employed by the local council to go around the streets and light the (gas) street lamps, using a pole | ||
| Laster |
Shoe Maker
|
Shoe Maker | |
| Lamp Keeper |
Mining
|
||
| Lighterman | Works (still) on lighters – flat bottomed barges | ||
| Lowerer |
Mining
|
||
| Marrow |
Mining
|
||
| Master Shifter |
Mining
|
||
| Master Wasteman |
Mining
|
||
| Metal Man |
Mining
|
||
| Occupier | Tradesman | ||
| Oil Colour Man | Paint Mixing Trade | ||
| Oilman | Oil Lamp Seller | ||
| Olitor | Kitchen Gardener | ||
| Oncostman |
Mining
|
||
| Osler | Bird Catcher | ||
| Onsetters |
Mining
|
||
| Outworker | This is a person who works from home maybe weaving | ||
| Overman |
Mining
|
||
| Packer |
Mining
|
||
| Pikeman |
Mining
|
||
| Quarantine | Officers of customs and quarantine, they were responsible for ensuring that anyone arriving on a vessel with a foul bill (i.e. coming from a country where plague existed), did not come ashore until they had spent a period of quarantine to make sure that symptoms of plague did not develop. This practice started in England with an act of parliament in 1710, although the origins of the word quarantine dates from 1377 in Dubrovnik. The last vestige of the British quarantine law was removed by the Public Health Act of 1896, which repealed the Quarantine Act of 1825. | ||
| Quarrier | A Quarry Worker | ||
| Quilter | Someone who quilted material. | ||
| Rack Maiden | Someone employed in the tin mines of Cornwall to dress the ore, often a girl. | ||
| Raff Merchant | A person who sold fibre | ||
| Rag and Bone Man | Collected old rubbish from door to door | ||
| Ridder |
Mining
|
||
| Rockman |
Mining
|
||
| Runner |
Mining
|
||
| Sack Maker | Someone who makes sacks for a living | ||
| Saddler or Harness Maker | A person who sells saddles or other furnishings for horses | ||
| Safernman | A grower of saffron. | ||
| Saloonist | A saloon keeper. | ||
| Sawbones | A surgeon or physician. | ||
| Schrimpschonger | An artisan who carves in bone, ivory, or wood. | ||
| Schumacker |
Shoe Maker
|
Shoe Maker | |
| Screeners |
Mining
|
||
| Scribe | Clerk | ||
| Scribler | A minor or worthless author | ||
| Scrutineer | An election judge | ||
| Scullery Maid | A type of female servant | ||
| Scullion | A type of male servant | ||
| Scutcher | A person who who beats the flax to soften the straw | ||
| Seal Mantle Maker | Someone who made gas mantles | ||
| Seal Presser | A person who works with glass | ||
| Sexton | employee or officer of a church who cared and upkept church property | ||
| Shackler |
Mining
|
||
| Shaftsman |
Mining
|
||
| Shifters |
Mining
|
||
| Small Leader |
Mining
|
||
| Smasher |
Mining
|
||
| Smith | A metal worker | ||
| Smugsmith | A smuggler | ||
| Souter | A shoemaker. | ||
| Sperviter | Someone who keeps sparrows. | ||
| Spittleman | A hospital attendant. | ||
| Squarewright | A cabinet maker. | ||
| Stallman |
Mining
|
||
| Stoneman |
Mining
|
||
| Switch Keeper |
Mining
|
||
| Taker Off |
Mining
|
||
| Timber Drawer |
Mining
|
||
| Trams |
Mining
|
||
| Trappers |
Mining
|
||
| Trimmer |
Mining
|
||
| Under Viewer |
Mining
|
||
| Viewer |
Mining
|
||
| Wailers |
Mining
|
||
| Wasteman |
Mining
|
||
| Water Leader |
Mining
|
||
| Way Cleaner |
Mining
|
||
| Wood Leader |
Mining
|
||
| Zincographer | Designer | designer who etched in relief a pattern on zinc plates used for printing |