A Glossary of Trades and Professions

In the nineteenth century the number of historical trades and professions were myriad and many terms are unfamiliar to modern day census readers. A late-Victorian dictionary, instigated by the General Register Office, contained up to 12,000 entries. Here is an A-Z selection to aid interpretation of difficult to read words and understand their meaning.

A
Accoucheuse - A midwife
Acreman/Akerman - A bonded ploughman on another person's land
Amanuensis - Someone who writes from dictation for the illiterate or semi-illiterate
Anilpman - A small-holder or sub-tenant of a manor
Ankle beater - Someone who helps drive cattle to market
Annuitant - Someone who receives an annuity
Apiarist - Beekeeper
Arkwright - A skilled maker of chests or coffers (strongboxes)
Ashman - A dustman

B
Bagnio keeper - A brothel keeper
Bailie - A local government civic officer. The Scottish equivalent to an alderman or magistrate
Bal maiden - A female mine worker. Of Cornish origin.
Barkman - A worker who tanned leather using tree bark
Batt maker - A maker of wool wadding used in mattresses
Beadle - A minor town or lay official with the power of punishing petty offenders
Boatswain/Bo'sun - Ship's officer in charge of rigging or sails
Bottomer - Someone employed at the bottom of a mine, often overseeing the loading of cages
Bowker - A bleacher of yarn
Bowyer - A maker of bows
Brachygrapher - An early term for a shorthand stenographer
Burler - Someone who removes threads, knots, lumps and other imperfections from cloth

C
Capper - Another term for a hat maker
Chandler - The head of the chandlery (wax, candles and soap) in households and ships
Charwoman - Cleaner or worker, usually employed by the hour.
Cod placer - Someone who supervised the placing of pottery in kilns or ovens
Cordwainer - A shoe maker
Cottager - Another name for a rural labourer
Cotter - The Scottish term for a peasant farmer
Crofter - A tenant or worker of a small-holding known as a croft
Crutter - Someone who drills and prepares a blasting charge in a mine
Culver - A keeper of pigeons

D
Daguerreotypist - An early photographer, particularly during the 1850s and 1860s
Doffer - Someone who removes full 'doffs', namely bobbins or spindles of spun cotton or wool from a spinning machine

E
Edge tool maker - A specialist blacksmith who made specialist tools for other craftsmen
Eyer - The maker of needle eyes

F
Fear-nothing maker/Fear-naught maker - A weaver of thick heavy cloth used for overcoats.
Fettler - A cleaner and sharpener of machinery in woolen mills
Fish-fag - Another name for a fishwife or fishlass - a woman who sells fish
Fleshewer - An early term for a slaughter-man or butcher. In Scotland, a flesher.
Flycoachman - One-horse carriage driver

G
Girdler - Maker of leather belts and girdles
Greensmith - A metalworker specialising in copper and copper alloys

H
Hoggard - A pig drover
Hot presser - A worker who operated the hot press in either textile or paper production

K
Knapper - A worker of flint

L
Lamplighter - One employed to turn on gas street lights
Leavelooker - A municipal inspector of markets in English towns
Legger - Men employed by canal owners to push boats through narrow tunnels
Lighterman - The operator of a lighter, flat-bottomed barge
Loblolly boy - An assistant to a warship's surgeon.
LOOM - Living Off Own Means
Lorimer - A maker of small iron objects for horses' bridles

M
Mangler - Someone who works a mangle for pressing water out of clothes

N
Navvy - From 'navigator'. A labourer involved in the building of canals, roads and railways.
Nob thatcher - A wig maker

P
Peeler - The first slang term for London policemen
Poldave worker - A maker of poldave - a type of coarse fabric
Potato badger - A potato seller. Badger was used for a range of sellers and tradesmen
Printer's devil - Boy serving as a printer's apprentice

R
Rag cutter - Someone who cut up rags for paper making

S
Scrivener - A clerk who wrote or copied legal documents
Shepster - An early term for a seamstress
Straw plaiter - A maker of straw braids for hats

T
Tapster -An early term for someone who sells beer/ale
Teaser - Someone who opens up matted wool for carding
Tool helper - A maker of tool handles

V
Victualler - Someone licensed to sell alcohol

W
Watermen - Water-borne porters
Whey cutter - Cheese worker
Windster - A winder of silk