Old Trades & Professions
 

1 Accomptant - accountant
2 Accoucheur - man who acts as a midwife
3 Accoucheuse - midwife (female)
4 Administatrix - female administrator
5 Ag Lab (abrev) - agricultural labourer
6 Aledraper - keeper of an ale-house
7 Almoner - giver of charity (alms) to the needy
8 Alnager - examiner of wool cloth for quality and measurement
9 Amanuensis - secretary or assistant
10 Ankle Beater - youth employed to assist drover to herd cattle
11 Aquarius ewer - waterman
12 Arkwright - chest, box or coffer maker
13 Artificer - maker or fixer of intricate objects; soldier mechanic who does repairs
14 Ashburner - person who kibbled or burned lime for use on fields or ironmaking (Cumbria)
15 Aurifaber - goldsmith
16 Avenator plantifene - hay and forage merchant
17 Bailie - bailiff
18 Bailiee - bailiff
19 Bandster - sheaf binder
20 Banker - digger of drainage ditches, dykes, flood defences etc.
21 Banksman - gives instruction or assistance to a driver; overseer at a mine or pit (often in charge of the cage or lift)
22 Barker - tanner
23 Baxter - baker
24 Belhoste - tavern keeper
25 Blacksmith - one who shoes horses, forges / works metal
26 Bluestocking - female writer
27 Bobber - carries fish / unloads fish from ship
28 Bodger - turned wooden furniture legs and also maker of furniture in green wood (Cumbria)
29 Bolter - sifted meal
30 Bondager - a female worker who worked in the fields as part of a tenancy agreement. Term usually applied in Northumberland and Scotland
31 Boniface - innkeeper
32 Boot/Shoe Clicker - this was one of the skilled and best paid jobs in the shoe industry. A clicker cut out the leather for the different parts that made up the shoe. The term comes from the sound made when carrying out the job.
33 Botcher - a tailor or cobbler who mends and repairs
34 Bottom-Sawyer and top sawyer - refers to old sawing pits where timber was cut with long saws. The trunk was placed across the pit with one man standing above and the other man standing below
35 Bowyer - bowmaker
36 Brazier - brass worker
37 Brewster brewer - beer maker
38 Brightsmith metal worker - often tin or polished iron work
39 Broom Squires/Squarers - makers of brooms and besoms
40 Brownsmith - copper or brass smith

41 Burnisher - metal polisher
42 Campaner - bell maker
43 Cardmaker - maker of cards (instruments for combing wool)
44 Carner - granary keeper
45 Carnifex - butcher
46 Carpentarius - carpenter
47 Carter - maker or driver carts
48 Caulker - filler of cracks (in ships or windows) to make them watertight
49 Chaisemaker - carriage maker
50 Chandler - maker or seller of candles; retailer of groceries; dealer or trader
51 Chapman - traders who bought and sold, usually buying in towns and selling to country folk
52 Cheapjack - a travelling hawker who offered bargain tools, cutlery and utensils
53 Chesterman - guard
54 Chiffonier - wigmaker
55 Clark - clerk
56 Clericus - clerk
57 Cobbler - shoe maker/repairer
58 Colporteur - peddler of books
59 Combere - woolcomber
60 Conveyor - grantor or seller
61 Cooper - maker or repairer of vessels made of staves & hoops ie. barrels, casks and tubs.
62 Coppice keeper - one who takes care of small wood
63 Cordwainer - shoemaker, originally any leather worker using Cordovan leather
64 Costermonger - peddler of fruits and vegetables, and sometimes fish, in the street, sometimes an apple seller
65 Cozier - tailor
66 Crocker - potter; maker of crockery
67 Crowner - coroner
68 Culler - gelder of male animals
69 Currier - tanner of leather; user of curry comb on horses
70 Cutler - one who makes or sells knives etc.
71 Daunsel - gentleman in waiting; groom; squire
72 Delver - one who digs ditches
73 Devil - printer's errand boy
74 Dexter - dyer
75 Diviner/Dowser - one who finds water (or other substances) under the ground
76 Drayman - "driver of a dray: a long strong cart without fixed sides, for carrying heavy loads" (later a brewery delivery team)
77 Dresser - surgeon's assistant in a hospital
78 Drover - driver of animals to market; dealer in cattle. The animals would rest at stances and be collected at trysts which sometimes developed into markets
79 Dubbere - cloth dubber ie. one who raises the nap of cloth
80 Dyer - one who dyes cloth
81 Enumerator - census taker
82 F.S. female servant; UK 1841 census etc
83 Factor - agent, commission merchant; one who acts or transacts business for another; scottish steward or bailiff of an estate
84 Falkner - keeper / trainer of falcons
85 Farrier - horse doctor, one in charge of horses; blacksmith;
makes / fits horseshoes
86 Fell Monger - one who removes hair or wool from hides in preparation for leather making
87 Feroner - ironmonger
88 Flax Dresser - one who works with flax fibres
89 Fletcher - maker of bows and arrows; arrowmaker
90 Fuller - fuller of cloth; shrinker and thickener of woollen cloth by washing, heating and pressing; a felter;one who trampled cloth, see also walker, cleaner and thickener of cloth;
91 Gatherer - glassworker who gathered molten glass from the furnace on the end of a blowpipe (blowiron) for the glass blower
92 Glasswright - maker and mender of glassware
93 Glover - dealer or maker of gloves
94 Guilderer - maker of gold or silver coins
95 Hacker - hoe maker
96 Hatcheler - one who combed out or "carded" flax
97 Hawker - peddler
98 Haymonger - dealer in hay
99 Hayward - keeper of fences
100 Hetheleder - provider of heather for fuel
101 Higgler - itinerant peddler or one who bought dairy and poultry produce from country folk and either exchanged them for small goods or sold them at market on behalf of the producer
102 Hillard / Hiller - one who covers houses with slate; tiler
103 Hillier - roof tiler, slater
104 Hooker - reaper
105 Hooper - maker of hoops for casks, barrels, tubs etc.
106 Horsler hostler or ostler - (stableman or groom), horse servant at an inn
107 Hosteler - innkeeper
108 Huckster - seller of small articles/wares
109 Hurdler - the maker of hazel, ash or willow fencing used for sheepfolds
110 Husbandman - a tenant farmer; (not a land owner) animal husbandry
111 Indentured servant - one who has committed to working for someone
112 Jagger - fish peddler or one who transported ore to smelter {18th C} also a hawker
113 Journeyman - craftsman who had served his apprenticeship to a master for a fixed number of years; often works on a day to day basis
114 Keeler - bargeman
115 Kempster - wool comber
116 Knocker-Up - person employed to wake up factory / mill workers by knocking on their bedroom windows with a long pole
117 Lardner - keeper of the cupboard or store
118 Leech - physician
119 Lengthsman - responsible for maintaining a piece of country road, sometimes called a linesman
120 Limeburner - maker of lime
121 Lorimer / lormer/lorinor - bridlemaker
122 M.S. - male servant; UK 1841 census etc
123 Malster - brewer of malted beverages (beer)
124 Mason - stone carver, cutter
125 Millwright - one who designs or builds mills. Also a person who set the sails and dealt with all the mill’s innards eg millstones, cogs, gears etc. millwrights was used to describe the mechanic who kept the woollen and cotton mills running.
126 Monger - "seller (of goods ie. ale, fish, fruit)"
127 Necessary - Woman servant to empty chamber pots & clean privvies; female private personal attendant
128 Nedder - needle-maker
129 Outrider - mounted attendant riding before or behind a carriage
130 Packman - itinerant peddler
131  Palmer - a pilgrim; one who had been, or pretended to have been, to the Holy Land
132 Patton / Patten Maker - a maker of a clog shod with an iron ring; maker of iron-rimmed pattens for footware. A clog was also a wooden pole with a pattern cut into the end
133 Pettifogger - shyster; lawyer
134 Pinder - keeper of the pound or pinfold
135 Pleacher - someone who lays hedges. Derived from the word ‘pleach’ which means to plait or interlace
136 Ploughwright - one who makes or repairs ploughs
137 Porcher - pig-keeper
138 Porter - gate-keeper or door-keeper
139 Poulterer - dealer in poultry
140 Puddler - wrought iron worker
141 Pynner - pin-maker
142 Quarryman - stonecutter
143 Revenuer - officer enforcing the law against illegal manufacturing of whisky. Exciseman
144 Rower - maker of (small) wagon wheels
145 Saddler - maker and repairer of saddles and bridles
146 Sawyer - sawer of wood; carpenter
147 Scrivener - scribe or clerk; notary public; professional or public copyist or writer
148 Shepster -female, cutter-out of dressmaking material ; male, sheep shearer (some areas only)
149 Shrieve - sheriff
150 Slater - roofer; tiler
151 Spicer - grocer
152 Spinster - spinner (female)
153 Sugarer - dealer in or seller of sugar
154 Sutler - one who supplies an army with provisions
155 Swain - a shepherd or an attendant to a knight or servant
156 Tallyman - collected instalment payments for clothes and goods bought on credit
157 Tanner - person who tans (cures) animal hides into leather
158 Taper - candlewick maker or seller
159 Tapster - one who served ale & beer in a public house
160 Tinker - an itinerant mender and seller of kettles, tin pots and pans
161 Tipstaff - policeman
162 Tonsor - barber
163 Travers - toll bridge collector
164 Turner - turner of wood (using a lathe) into spindles
165 Victualer - tavern keeper, or one who provides an army, navy, or goods
166 Vitner - wine merchant
167 Walker - fuller; cloth trampler or cleaner (tucker; in some locations of U.K.)
168 Warrener - a servant or employee who managed rabbit warrens for the meat and skins they produced
169 Waterman - boatman who plies for hire
170 Webber - weaver; loom operator
171 Webster - operator of looms
172 Whitcher - maker of chests
173 Whitesmith - tinsmith; worker of iron who finishes or polishes the work
174 Whitster - bleacher of cloth
175 Yearman - a worker hired by the year
176 Yeoman farmer - who owns his own land; freeholder
 

Home