Occupations Explained
| Acater | supplied food provisions, e.g. a ships chandler |
| Accipitrary | falconer |
| Accomptant | Accountant |
| Accoucheur / Accoucheus | assisted women in childbirth |
| Accountrement Maker / Accoutre | supplier of military accessories |
| Ackerman / Acreman | ploughman, an oxherder |
| Actuary | kept public accounts of business |
| Administrator | directed the affairs of another |
| Advertisement Conveyancer | sandwich board man |
| Advocate Depute | Scottish law officer who could act a public prosecutor |
| Advowee | normally a nobleman, who had the right to present a clergyman to a benefice |
| Aeronaut | balloonist or a trapeze artist in the circus or music halls |
| Affeeror | official in the manorial courts who assessed the monetary penalty and also collected taxes and dues and were also called Assessor |
| Agister | official of the Royal Forests or in the New Forest it is the title for the one in charge of the ponies |
| Alabasterer | worked with alabaster |
| Alblastere | crossbow man |
| Alchemist | medieval chemist who claimed to be able to turn base metals into gold |
| Alderman | senior councilor one position down from Mayor in the local council |
| Ale-Conner / Ale Founder | official who tested quality and measure of ale served in public houses |
| Ale Draper | seller of ale |
| Ale Taster | tested ale and beer for quality first recorded in 1377 in London. Appointed by the Manor and forerunner of the Inspector for Weights & Measures |
| Ale Tunner | employed by the brewery to fill ale casks (tuns} with ale |
| Alewife | woman who keeps an alehouse or tavern |
| All Spice | name for a grocer |
| Almanac Man | official appointed by the Court of Sewers who warned the inhabitants of the Trent River area of higher than normal tides |
| Almoner | gave out alms or charity to the poor on behalf of the parish |
| Almsman | received alms |
| Alnager / Aulnager | official who examined the quality of woolen goods and stamped them with the town seal of approval |
| Amanuensis | Secretary or stenographer |
| Amber Cutter | cut ambergris |
| Amber & Jet Cutter | cut and polished amber for jewelry |
| Ambler | officer of the Royal Stable who broke in horses |
| Amen Man | parish clerk |
| Anchor Smith | made anchors |
| Anchoress | female hermit or religious recluse |
| Anchorite | male hermit or religious recluse |
| Anilepman | smallholder (tenant of the manor) |
| Angle Iron Smith | made angle iron i.e. flat iron bars bent at right angles lengthways |
| Ankle Beater | young person who helped to drive the cattle to market |
| Annatto Maker | worked in the manufacture of dyes for paint or printing |
| Antigropelos Maker | made waterproof leggings |
| Anvil Smith | made anvils and hammers for blacksmiths |
| Apiarian | beekeeper |
| Apothecary | prepared and sold medicines or drugs; pharmacist |
| Apparitor | official who summoned witnesses in the ecclesiastical courts |
| Apprentice | was bound to a skilled worker for a specified time to learn a trade |
| Aproneer | term used in London for a shopkeeper |
| Apronman | mechanic |
| Aquarius (EWAR) | waterman |
| Aquavita Seller | sold alcohol |
| Archiator | physician |
| Archil Maker | made a violet dye from lichens, used in the textile industry |
| Arkwright | skilled craftsman who produced "arks" (wooden chests or coffers) |
| Armiger | squire who carried the armour of a knight |
| Armourer | made suits of armour or plates of armour for buildings or ships etc. |
| Artificer | A soldier mechanic who does repairs |
| Ashman | dustman |
| Assayer | determined the proportions of metal in ore |
| Assay Master | determined the amount of gold or silver to go in coins |
| Auger Maker | made the carpenters augers (used for boring holes in wood) |
| Aurifaber | goldsmith |
| Avenator (Plantifene) | hay and forage merchant |
| Avowry | term for the lord of the manor |
| Axel Tree Maker / Axel Tree Turner | made axles for coaches and wagons |
| Backmaker | made "backs", vats, tubs, a Cooper |
| Backmann / Backster / Baxter / Beck / Becker | baker |
| Back’us Boy | kitchen servant (from "back of the house") |
| Back Washer | employed to clean the wool in the worsted manufacturing industry |
| Badger | 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 corn miller or dealer or an itinerant food trader |
| Badgy Fiddler | boy trumpeter in the military |
| Bagman | travelling salesman |
| Bagniokeeper | in charge of a bath house or brothel |
| Bailiff / Bailie / Baillie / Baillee | 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 |
| Bairman / Bareman | pauper or beggar |
| Baler | bales hay and in the mills one who bailed wool or cotton goods |
| Balister | archer most commonly a crossbowman |
| Ballast Heaver | loaded ballast into the hold of empty ships |
| Ballard Master | in charge of loading the ballast into the hold of empty ships |
| Baller / Baler Up | assisted the potter by measuring out the balls of clay |
| Bal Maiden | female mine worker who worked on the surface (also a Pit Brow Lass) |
| Band Filer | metal worker in the gun making industry |
| Bandster | bound the wheat sheaves after harvest |
| Bang Beggar | officer of the parish who controlled the length of stay of any stranger to the parish |
| Banker | 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 (sometimes known as a bank manager) |
| Barber / Barber Surgeon | a barber also a surgeon (an Act was passed that limited Barbers to hair-cutting, shaving, dentistry and bloodletting in the 18th century) |
| Bard | poet or minstrel |
| Bareman | beggar or pauper |
| Bargee / Bargeman | worked on or owned and operated a barge |
| Barge Mate | Naval officer |
| 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 |
| Barker | tanner |
| Bauer | farmer |
| Baxter | Baker |
| Belhoste | tavern keeper. |
| Barotoner | in charge of the monastic farm, also known as a barton |
| Basil Worker | worked with sheep and goat skins |
| Basketman | made baskets and furniture from wicker, and also employed to empty the basket of coal being offloaded from the colliers into the barges |
| Bass / Bast Dresser | employed in dressing fibre or matting |
| Bathing Machine Proprietor | owned and hired the changing huts used at the seaside in the by bathers |
| Batman | officer’s servant in the army |
| Batt Maker | made the wadding used in quilt and mattress making |
| Batter Out | sliced a short cylinder of clay (a bat) from a "pug" and threw it onto a mold shaped for the face of a ceramic plate |
| Battledore Maker | made the beaters used on clothes carpets etc to remove the dust (later made the paddles used in washing machines) |
| Bayweaver | who wove bay (a fine woolen fabric also known as baize) |
| Beadle / Bedel / Bedell | officer of the parish whose principle duty was to keep order, also was the town crier |
| Beadman / Beadsman / Bedesman | employed to pray for his employer, inhabitant of an almshouse / poorhouse / hospital or tenant employed by the manor for a specific service |
| Bead Piercer | employed to drill the holes in beads |
| 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 fuller's earth (fuller’s earth is any clay material) (aka Fuller) |
| Beaver | made felt used in hat making |
| Bedman | sexton |
| Bedral | in Scotland a minor church official |
| Bedwevere | made the webbing for bed frames and also a one who wove quilts |
| Beeskepmaker | made beehives |
| Beetler | operated a beetling machine, used in the textile trade for embossing fabric |
| Belleyetere | bellfounder |
| Bellfounder / Belter / Billiter | made bells |
| Bell Hanger | installed bells in churches |
| 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 | 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 pianos |
| Bender | cut leather |
| Besswarden | appointed by the parish to look after its animals |
| Besom Maker | made brooms |
| Bever | beverage maker |
| Biddy | female servant usually of Irish stock |
| Billier / Billyman | operated a Billy Roller, a machine used in the cotton industry to prepare the cotton for spinning |
| Bill Poster | put up notices, signs and advertisements |
| 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 | sold bird nests collected from the wild complete with eggs which were then hatched by domestic birds and sold as pets |
| Birlyman | in Scotland a ground officer or parish arbiter |
| Black Tray Maker | made Japanned trays |
| Blacking Maker | made polish for shoes |
| Black Borderer | made black edged stationery for funerals |
| Bladesmith | sword maker or knife maker |
| Blaxter / Bleacher | bleached cloth or paper pulp |
| Blemmere | plumber |
| Blentonist | water diviner |
| Blindsman | employed by the Post Office to deal with incorrectly addressed letters and parcels |
| Blockcutter / Blocker | made wooden blocks used in the hat trade or laid down the blocks on which a ships keel was laid; a block cutter was also a person who made and cut the patterns into wooden blocks for textile printing |
| Block Maker | engraved the blocks used in the printing |
| Block Printer | printer who used wooden blocks for printing |
| Bloodman / Bloodletter | used leeches for letting blood, this was thought to be a cure for many ailments |
| Bloomer | produced iron from ore, a bloom smithy |
| Blower glass blower | one who operated a "blowing machine" used to clean and separate fibres in the textile trade, one who operated the bellows at a blacksmiths |
| Blowfeeder | fed the fibres into a "blowing machine" |
| Bluestocking | Female writer |
| Bluffer | innkeeper or landlord of a pub |
| Boarding Officer | inspected ships before entering port |
| Boardman | truant officer who checked school attendance. a tenant of manorial land who paid rent by maintaining the manor's table |
| Boardwright | made tables and chairs aka carpenter |
| Boatman | worked on a boat, predominately on rivers and canals also the name given to a boat repairer |
| Boatswain | ship's officer in charge of riggings & sails |
| Bobber | who polished metals one 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 / Body Maker | made bodices for women’s garments |
| Bodger | craftsman who made wooden chair legs and the spars and usually worked in the actual woodland that they cut the timber in |
| Boilermaker | worked with metal in any industrial setting |
| Boiler Plater | made rolled iron plate used to make boilers for steam engines etc |
| Boll | looked after power looms in the weaving industry |
| Bolter | sifted meal |
| Bondager | female worker on a farm who was bonded |
| Bondman | bonded to a master for the purpose of learning a skill or trade |
| Bondsman | stood bond or surety for another where a bond was required by law |
| Bone Button Turner | made buttons using a lathe |
| Bone Lace Maker | made pillow lace |
| Bone Mould Turner | made the moulds for button manufacturers |
| Bone Picker | collected rags and bones aka Rag and Bone Man |
| Bonesetter | set broken bones |
| Boniface | Keeper of an inn |
| Book Gilder | decorated books with gold leaf |
| Bookholder | prompter in the theater |
| Book Keeper | looked after the accounts for businesses |
| Bookman | student |
| Boonmaster | surveyor of roads with the responsibilities of maintaining and repairing the road |
| Bootbinder | employed to operate the machines which bound footwear |
| Boot Catcher | servant at inn who pulled off traveler's boots |
| Boot Closer | worked in the shoe trade stitching together all the parts of a shoe upper |
| Boothman | corn merchant |
| Borler | who made cheap coarse clothing |
| Borsholder | regional name (Kent) for a constable |
| Botcher | tailor or cobbler |
| Bottiler / Bottler | made leather containers for holding liquids i.e. wine flasks or water bottles |
| Bottle Boy | pharmacist’s assistant |
| Bottom Maker | moulded the bottoms for saggers in the pottery industry |
| Bottom Knocker | saggar makers assistant in the pottery industry |
| Bottomer | worked down the pits moving the ore etc to the bottom of the shaft for removal |
| Bowdler | worked with iron ore |
| Bowker | bleached yarn. A local term in some parts of Lancashire for a butcher |
| Bowler | made bowls and dishes and also a term used for those who made the rounded part of spoons before casting |
| Bowlman / Bowlwoman | dealer in crockery |
| Bowlminder | in charge of the vats used for washing raw wool before processing |
| Bowyer / Bower | made bows used in archery |
| Bozzler | parish constable |
| Brabener | weaver |
| Brachygrapher | shorthand writer |
| Braider | made cord by twisting threads or strips of leather |
| Brailler | made girdles |
| Brakeman / Brakesman | operated the winch at the pit head or operated the braking mechanism on trains and trams |
| Brasiler | dyer |
| Brazier | One who works with brass |
| Brewster | Beer manufacturer |
| Brightsmith | Metal Worker |
| Broom | Dasher dealer in brooms |
| Broom Squire | broom maker |
| Brotherer / Browderer / Broderer / Broiderer | embroiderer |
| Brow Girl | female employed at the pit head |
| Brownsmith | works with copper or brass |
| Buckler / Bucklesmith | made buckles |
| Buckle Tongue Maker | made the metal points that go in the holes of a belt |
| Buckram Maker | worked with buckram (used in stiffening materials) e.g. belts, lapels and collars |
| Buck Washer | laundress |
| Buddleboy | employed to use and maintain the vats used in the lead and tin mines for washing the ore |
| Buddler | women and children who washed the ore at the copper mines in Allihies, Berehaven |
| Buffalo Soldier | soldier serving in a black regiment in the US Army in the West |
| Bullwhacker | oxen driver |
| Bullocky | attended to the daily needs of cattle and may also have lent a hand with general farm duties, especially during busy periods |
| Bumboat Man | met ships at anchor with goods for passengers and crew to purchase |
| Bummer | army deserter |
| Bummaree | middle man between the wholesaler and the retailer at the fish markets |
| Bunter | female rag & bone collector |
| Burgess | represented a borough at official levels |
| Bureler | made borel, a woolen cloth with a coarse feel |
| Burgonmaster | Mayor |
| Burler | quality inspector for clothing |
| Burmaiden | chambermaid or lady-in-waiting |
| Burneman | carrier of barm or water for brewers |
| Burye Man | grave digger |
| Bushel Maker | cooper |
| Busheler | tailor's helper |
| Buss Maker | maker of guns |
| Busker | hairdresser |
| Butner | button maker |
| Butter Carver | made imprints in butter pats |
| Button Burnisher | button polisher |
| Butty | negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labor |
| Caddy Butcher | butcher that dealt in horse meat |
| Caddie | messenger or errand boy |
| Cadger | beggar |
| Cafender | carpenter |
| Caffler | rag and bone collector |
| Cainer | made walking sticks |
| Caird | another term for a tinker |
| Calciner | burnt bones to make powdered lime |
| Calender | listed documents |
| Calenderer / Calenderman / Calender | Worker operated a machine which pressed using two large rollers (calender) used to press and finish fabrics or paper |
| Calico Printer | dyed and colored calico |
| Cambric Maker | made a fine linen or cotton fabric called cambric |
| Camister | minister of the cloth |
| Candle Maker / Candler | who made and sold candles |
| Cambist | banker |
| Camerist | lady's maid |
| Camlet Merchant | seller of camlet, cloth used to make cloaks & petticoats |
| Campaner | bell maker |
| Candy Man | traveling candy salesman and also slang name for a bailiff |
| Cancellarius | chancellor |
| Caner / Chair Bottomer | made the seats for chairs out of woven cane |
| Cannaller | canal boat worker |
| Canter | religious speaker who uses can’t |
| Canting Caller | auctioneer |
| Canvaser | made canvas |
| Caper | cap maker |
| Capillaire Maker | made orange flavored syrup |
| Capitalist | investor |
| Capper / Cap Maker | 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 |
| Cardroomer | term for anyone who worked in the carding room of the mills |
| Carder | cards wool |
| Cardmaker | maker of cards or instruments for combing wool |
| Carman / Charman / Carter / Carrier | drove a vehicle used to transport goods |
| Card Nailer / Nailora | maintained the teeth (nails) on the carding machine used for preparing wool and cotton for weaving |
| Caretaker | takes care of another's property |
| Carner | granary keeper |
| Carnifex | butcher |
| Carpentarius | carpenter |
| Carry-In-Boy | took finished bottled (products) to the tempering oven |
| Carter | carries or conveys in or as if in a cart |
| Cart Wheeler | made cart wheels |
| Cartographer | map maker |
| Cartomancer | fortune teller who used cards |
| Cartwright | maker of carts & wagons |
| Cashmarie | sold fish usually at inland markets |
| Caster / Castora | made small bottles used for sprinkling salt, pepper, sugar etc |
| Castrator | who castrated farm animals aka gelder |
| Catagman | cottager |
| Catchpole / Catchpolla | sheriff's assistance or bailiff |
| Catechista | teacher of religion |
| Cattle Jobber | buys and sells cattle |
| Caulker | One who filled up cracks (in ships or windows or seems to them watertight by using tar or oakum-hemp fiber produced by taking old ropes apart |
| Ceiler | puts up the ceilings in buildings |
| Cellarman | looked after the beer, wines and spirits in public houses or the warehouse |
| Chaff Cutter | made chaff by cutting straw |
| Chafferer | dealer in chaff |
| Chair Bodger | traveling chair repairman |
| Chaisemaker | Carriage maker |
| Chaloner | dealer in shalloon, a material made in Chƒlons |
| Chamberlain / Cemmer | steward to either royalty or nobility, in charge of the household |
| Chambermaid | female servant attending to bedrooms in houses or inns |
| Chamber Master | shoemaker that worked from home as an outworker or selling direct |
| Chaunter | street entertainer who sung ballads |
| Cheese Factor / Cheeseman / Cheese Monger | dealer in cheeses |
| Chandler | Dealer or trader; one who makes or sells candles; retailer of groceries |
| Chanty Man | sailor that led the singing of shanties on board ship |
| Chapeler | made and sold hats |
| Chapman / Copeman / Petty Chapman / Ceapman | dealer or peddler of goods usually itinerant going from village to village. |
| Charcoal Burner | made charcoal usually in the woods where the trees were cut |
| Chartmaster | middleman that negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labour |
| Charwoman | cleaning woman |
| Chatelaine | mistress of a castle or house |
| Chiffonnier | Wig maker |
| Childbed Linen Warehouse Keeper / Dealer | hired bedlinen for childbirth as most children were born at home |
| Chimney Sweep | chimney cleaner |
| Chinglor rooftiler | who used wooden shingles |
| Chip | shipwright or carpenter |
| Chippers Labourer | assistant to a shipwright or ships carpenter |
| Chiropodist | treats diseases of the feet & hands |
| Chirugion or Chirurgeon | apothecary or surgeon (usually learned by apprenticeship) |
| Chowder | fish monger; The occupation name derives from the archaic word Jowter |
| Chronologist | recorded official events of historical importance |
| Cinder Wench | female who collected the cinders from gas works and sold them door to door |
| Claker | magician/astrologer |
| Clapman | town crier |
| Clark / Clericus | Clerk |
| Classman | unemployed laborer |
| Claviger | servant |
| Clay Carrier | assistant to the shot firer in the pits |
| Clayman / Cleyman | 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 |
| Clerk | Clergyman, cleric |
| Clicker | The servant of a salesman who stood at the door to invite customers; one who received the matter in the galley from the compositors and arranged it in due form ready for printing; one who makes eyelet holes in boots using a machine which clicked. |
| Clicker | worked in the shoe trade cutting out the uppers made the shoelace holes and one in charge of the final stage of layout before printing in printing industry |
| Clipper / Clipper On / Clipper Off | 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 |
| Clogger | maker of wooden shoes |
| Cloth Lapper | took the cloth from the carding machine readied it for the next process |
| Cloth Linter / Cloth Picker | removed unwanted threads and lint from the finished material |
| Clothier / Clothesman / Clothman | who made or sold clothes |
| Clouter / Clower | made nails also another term for a shoemaker for the former term |
| Coachman / Coach Driver | drove any coach |
| Coal Backer | carried the sacks of coal from the coal barge to the coal wagons |
| Coal Burner | made charcoal |
| Coal Drawer | worked in the mines pushing or dragging the coal carts to the bottom of the pit |
| Coal Heaver | unloaded coal |
| Coalman / Coal Merchant / Coal Higgler | sold coal usually from a horse and cart, house to house. |
| Coalmeter | measured the coal |
| Coal Runner | attended the coal carts underground |
| Coal Whipper | unloaded coal from ships using baskets attached to a simple form of crane |
| Coast Surveyor / Waiter | customs officer who watched over the offloading off goods on the coast |
| Cobbler | shoemaker |
| Cobleman | used a flat-bottomed boat for fishing |
| Cocus | cook |
| Cod Placer | put fireproof containers which held the pottery for firing into the kiln |
| Cohen | Priest (descendant of Levi) |
| Coiner | worked at the mint stamping out coins |
| Collar Maker | made horse collars and one who made shirt collars |
| Collier | Coal miner |
| Colonus | Latin for farmer or husbandman |
| Colporteur | Peddler of books |
| Colourator / Coloratora | worked with dyes |
| Colour Man | mixed the dyes in the textile trade and also assistant to a house painter |
| Comber / Combere | combs wool |
| Comb Maker | made combs either for the textile industry for combing wool etc. or the maker of hair combs |
| Compositor | set the type ready for printing |
| Conder / Conner | 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 Catcher | rabbit catcher |
| Confectioner | candy maker |
| Conner | inspector or tester |
| Cooper | One who makes or repairs vessels made of staves and hoops, such as casks, barrels, tubs, etc. |
| Copeman / Coper | dealer in goods and also dishonest dealer in horses in the latter case |
| Copperbeater / Copperbeter | coppersmith |
| Coppersmith | worked with copper |
| Coracle Maker | made coracles, a small round boat used for fishing |
| Cordiner / Corviner / Corvisor /Cordwainer | Shoemaker, originally any leather worker using leather from Cordova/Cordoba in Spain |
| Costermonger | Peddler of fruits and vegetables |
| Coster Wife | female fruit seller |
| Cotiler | cutler |
| Cottier | landless farmer in the Irish midland estates that farmed at will, not year to year |
| Couper | buys & sells horses and cattle |
| Couranteer | journalist |
| Cowherd | 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 |
| Coxwain | ship or boat helmsman |
| Cratch Maker | made cratches (mangers, cribs, or frames) for hay |
| Crier | law court officer, auctioneer, town announcer |
| Crimper | member of navy press gang |
| Crocker | Potter |
| Crofter | tenant of a small piece of land |
| Cropper | tenant who is paid with a share of the crop |
| Crosier / Crozier | bearer of the pastoral staff of a bishop or the bearer of the cross before the archbishop in the church |
| Crowner | Coroner |
| Cuhreur (Cunreur) | currier |
| Curer | cures tobacco |
| Curretter | broker |
| Currier | One who dresses the coat of a horse with a currycomb; one who tanned leather by incorporating oil or grease |
| Cutler | knife seller or sharpener |
| Daguerreotype Artist | early name for a photographer (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 |
| Dateler / Day Man / Daytaleman | casual worker, usually employed by the day |
| Deathsman | executioner |
| Decimer / Dozener | 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 | knowledgeable in decrees, decretals |
| Deemer / Deemster / Demster / Dempster | judge, usually in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man |
| Delver | dug ditches |
| Depater | precious metal refiner |
| 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 | printer's errand boy |
| Deviller | operated the devil, a machine that tore rags used in the textile industry |
| Dexter | dyer |
| Dey Wife | female dairy worker |
| Dikeman / Dykeman | hedger or ditcher |
| Dipper | who worked in the pottery trade and was responsible for the glazing of items |
| Disher / Dish Thrower | who made bowls and dishes |
| Dish Turner | who made wooden bowls or dishes |
| Distiller | maker of alcoholic beverages |
| Distributor | parish official attached to the workhouse / poorhouse who looked after the secular needs of the poor |
| Docker / Stevedore | dock worker who loads and unloads cargo |
| Dock Master | in charge of a dockyard |
| Dog Leech | veterinarian |
| Dog-Whipper | drove dogs away in a village |
| Domesman | judge |
| Domestic | household servant |
| Donkey Boy / Donkey Man | driver of a carriage for passengers |
| Door Keeper | guard, janitor, or porter |
| Doubler | operated a machine used to twist together strands of fibre (cotton, wool etc.) |
| Dowser | One who finds water using a rod or witching stick |
| Dragman | fisherman who fished by dragging a net along the bottom of the water |
| Dragoman | acted as interpreter or guide in Turkish or Arabic |
| Dragsman | driver of a small stagecoach or carriage used for public transport or private hire |
| Dragoon | mounted infantryman |
| Drainer | made drains |
| Draper | A dealer in dry goods |
| Drawboy | weavers assistant in the shawl making mills, they sat atop the looms and lifted the heavy warps. |
| Drayman | One who drives a long strong cart without fixed sides for carrying heavy loads |
| Dredgerman | one who in a boat to collect the bits and pieces that had fallen overboard from other vessels which then were sold (London occupation) |
| Dresser | A surgeon's assistant in a hospital |
| Dressing Machine Maker | made sewing machines |
| Drift Maker | made drift nets, used in the fishing industry |
| Dripping Man | dealer in dripping (the fat collected during the cooking of meats) |
| Driver | slave overseer |
| Drover | One who drives cattle, sheep, etc. to market; a dealer in cattle |
| Drugger | pharmacist |
| Drummer | traveling salesman |
| Dry Salter | dealer in pickles, dried meats, and sauces or a dealer in dyes and colors used in the dying trade |
| Dubbere | cloth dubber, i.e., one who raises the nap of cloth |
| Duffer | Peddler |
| Dustman / Dustbin Man | collected domestic refuse |
| Dry Stone Waller (Dry Stane Dyker in Scottish) | built stone walls usually using the stones removed from the fields as building materials. The art was in not using any cement or mortar and generally not cutting the stone, but being able to see where various stones would fit together |
| Dyer | employed in the textile mills to color fabric prior to weaving |
| Ealdorman | an official of the shire courts who acted as the King's deputy taking payment from the profits of the court |
| Ebonite Turner | one who worked with ebonite or vulcanite, making combs or ornaments etc. |
| Earer | plowman |
| Earth Stopper | one who plugs up animal holes |
| Egg Factor / Eggler | egg or poultry dealer |
| Elephants Teeth Dealer | who dealt in ivory ornaments etc. |
| Ellerman / Elliman / Oilman | who sold oil used for lamps |
| Elymaker | produced oil for lamps |
| Embosser | who moulded or carved designs that were raised above the surface of the material |
| Empresario | land broker, settlement scheme promoter, showman |
| Endholdernn | inn keeper |
| Engineman | employed at a mine to be in charge of the machinery used to crush the ore |
| Engine Tenter | who operated the machine which stretched the cloth whilst drying in a woollen mill |
| Ensign | commissioned officer in the navy |
| Enumerator | 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 | hermit |
| Erite | heretic |
| Esquire | one who attended a knight, which later became a title for a man of standing in society |
| Estafette | mounted courier |
| Ewe Herd | shepherd |
| Exchequer | revenue collector |
| Exiseman | excise tax collector |
| Expressman | person employed in the express business |
| Eyer / Holer | one who made eyes in needles used for sewing |
| Faber | artisan or workman |
| Fabricator | maker |
| Factor | Agent, commission merchant; one who acts or transacts business for another; Scottish steward or bailiff of an estate Farrier A blacksmith, one who shoes horses |
| Fagetter | made up faggots into bundles, seller of firewood |
| Faker | photographic assistant who added color to photographs by hand before color film was available |
| Faulkner / Falconer / Fawkner | breeds, trains, or hunts with hawks |
| Fancy-Pearl Worker | worked in mother-of-pearl making buttons or fancy goods |
| Fancy Man | pimp |
| Fancy Woman | prostitute |
| Fanner | grain winnower |
| Fanwright | maker and repairer of fans or winnowing baskets |
| Farandman | traveling merchant |
| Farmer | often descendant of the gentry and, ultimately, noble classes; usually having servants and farm workers, e.g., husbandmen, groomsmen, etc. |
| Farrier / Ferrour | horseshoer or blacksmith |
| Fear-Nothing Maker | weaver of a 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 / Feather Driver | cleanser of feathers |
| Feather-Dresser | who cleaned and prepared feathers for sale |
| Featherman | dealer in feathers and plumes |
| Feather-Wife | woman who prepared feathers for use |
| Feeder | herdsman |
| Feller | woodcutter |
| Fell monger | One who removes hair or wool from hides in preparation for leather making |
| Felter | worker in the hatting industry |
| Feroner | ironmonger |
| Ferreter | dealer in or manufacturer of ferret, i.e. silk tape |
| Fettler | cleaned the machinery in woollen mills, removing accumulated fibres, grease, etc., sharpened the fustian cutters knives or needle maker who filed the needle to a point |
| Fewster | maker of saddle trees |
| Fewterer | keeper of hounds, for hunting or coursing |
| Fiddler | used a fiddle (small knife) to remove the flashing from cast clay forms such as bowl, creamers, cups or pitchers |
| File Cutter | a maker of files, involved the cutting of grooves on the file surface |
| Filibuster | American mercenaries in South America, gun runners |
| Filler | who filled bobbins in mills |
| Fine Drawer | employed in tailoring to repair tears in the cloth (invisible mending) |
| Finisher | operated machine giving final touches to a manufactured article in various trades |
| Firebeater | tended the boilers that powered the machinery in a cotton mill |
| 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 | fisherman |
| Fisher (Fishdryver) / victualler | a person who is licensed to sell alcoholic liquor. |
| Fish Fag | female fish monger |
| Fitter | coal broker |
| Flauner | confectioner |
| Flasher | specialist process worker in the glass industry |
| Flatman / Floatman | navigated a flat, a broad flat-bottomed boat used for transport, especially in shallow waters |
| Flaxdresser | prepared flax prior to spinning |
| Fleshmonger / Flesher | butcher or one who worked in a tannery |
| Fleshewer | butcher |
| Fletcher | One who made bows and arrows |
| Floater | vagrant or one who regulated the year-round workings of the water-meadows in winter by adjusting the hatches on the channels to flood or float the meadows with a shallow covering of water to protect them from frost and encourage the early growth of new grass mainly for early feed for sheep and other animals. The sheep were pastured on the new grass by day and driven up on to the downs to be folded by night to provide the manure needed for the coming season's grain crops |
| Flusherman | who cleaned out water mains |
| Flycoachman | driver of one-horse carriage hired by the day |
| Flying Stationer | street broadsheet seller |
| Flyman | driver of a light vehicle hired out for carriage of passenger or Theatre stage hand |
| Fogger | peddler or low class lawyer |
| Foister / Foisterer | joiner; a person who constructs the wooden components of a building, such as stairs, doors, and door and window frames. |
| Foot Maiden | female servant |
| Foot Man | servant who ran errands |
| Foot Pad | robber |
| Foot-Post | letter carrier or messenger who travelled on foot |
| Foot Straightener | one who assembled watch and clock dials in watchmaking |
| Forester | game warden or forest ranger |
| Forgeman | blacksmith or assistant (coachsmith 18th century Derbyshire) |
| Forger | blacksmith, worker at a forge |
| Fossetmaker | who made faucets for ale-casks, etc. |
| Fower | street cleaner, sweeper |
| Fowler / Fogler / Fugler / Vowler / Vogeler / Vogler / Vageler / Vogelaar / Vogler | keeper or catcher of birds |
| Frame Spinner | worker on a loom |
| Framer | one who frames houses |
| Frameworker Knitter | operator of machine which made hosiery |
| Freedman | one released from slavery |
| Freemason | stonecutter |
| Freser | maker of frieze, a rough plaster |
| Freshwater Man | sailed boat on fresh water only or in the coastal trade |
| Fripperer | buyer & seller of old clothes |
| Friseur | hairdresser |
| Frobisher / Furbisher / Furber / Furbour | remover of rust, a polisher of metal, e.g. armour |
| Fruiterer | fruit seller |
| Fruitestere | female fruit seller |
| Fulker | pawnbroker |
| Fuller | One who fulls cloth;one who shrinks and thickens woolen cloth by moistening, heating, and pressing; one who cleans and finishes cloth |
| Funabulist | tightrope walker |
| Furbisher | armor polisher |
| Furner | baker |
| Furrier | seller or maker of furs |
| Fustian Weaver | maker of corduroy |
| Gabeler | tax collector |
| Gaffer | foreman of a work crew or in glass factory, one who smoothed, reheated the neck of and formed lip on a bottle |
| Gaffman | a bailiff |
| Gager | tax collector of liquor taxes |
| Galvaniser | iron worker who handled process of coating metal with zinc, to inhibit formation of rust |
| Gamester | gambler or prostitute |
| Ganger | overseer or foreman from 1850 onwards |
| Gangsman | foreman |
| Ganneker | tavern keeper |
| Gaoler | A keeper of the goal, a jailer |
| Garcifer / Garicio | groom; attendant |
| Garlekmonger / Garlicmonger | dealer in garlic |
| Garthman | owner or worker of a fish trap |
| Gas Manager | foreman position in charge of checking for poisonous gas in coal mine shafts |
| Gater | watchman |
| 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 | goat keeper |
| Gauger | customs official who measured the capacity of imported barrels of liquor in order to calculate the customs duty |
| Gaunter | glover |
| Gaveller | usurer and in the Forest of Dean, an officer of the Crown who granted gales or the right to work a mine and in Suffolk a harvest worker, usually female |
| Gelder | castrator of animals, especially horses |
| Geometer | skilled in geometry |
| Gerund Grinder | Latin instructor |
| Gilder | applies gold leaf |
| Gimler | machinist involved in making a gimp, a kind of card |
| Ginour | engineer |
| Girdler | leather worker who made girdles and belts, chiefly for the Army |
| Glass Coachman | driver of two-horse carriage hired out for the day |
| Glassewryght / Glasswright | maker and mender of glassware |
| Glazier | Window glassman |
| Glimmer Man | in Dublin, the man who would turn out (or down) the gas street-lights and also warn people turn out lights in their houses to ensure blackouts during bombing raids at War time |
| Glover | one that makes or sells gloves |
| Goat Carriage Man | driver of small passenger carriage |
| Goldsmith | maker of gold articles, banker |
| Goose Herd | tends geese |
| Gorzeman | seller of gorse or broom |
| Grace Wife | midwife |
| Graffer | notary or scrivener |
| Grainer | painted wood to make it look like great and exotic woods |
| Granger | farmer |
| Graver | carver or sculptor, engraver of images or dockside worker who cleaned ship bottoms by burning and tarring |
| Grazier | pastures and raises cattle |
| Greave / Grieve | bailiff, foreman, sheriff |
| Green Grocer | fruit and vegetable seller |
| Greensmith | worker in copper or latten |
| Grimbribber | lawyer |
| Groover | miner |
| Groundsel & Chickweed Seller | street seller of common weeds, used to feed pet songbirds |
| Guinea Pig | an unattached, or roving person whose fee was usually a guinea |
| Gummer | one who improved old saws by deepening the cuts |
| Gutta-Percha Manufacturer | makes a tough plastic substance derived from latex and percha scrap used especially as insulation and in dentistry |
| Gynour | engineer |
| Gyp | a male college servant especially one attending undergraduates |
| Haberdasher | seller of men's clothing |
| Hacker | Maker of hoes |
| Hackler / Hackman / Heckler | one who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a hackle, an instrument with teeth in linen industry |
| Hackney Man | renter of horses & carriages |
| Hair Seating & Curled Hair Merchant | dealer in horse-hair stuffing used in upholstery |
| Hairweaver / Hairman | weaver of cloth composed wholly or partly of horsehair |
| Halbert Carrier | soldier or halberdier, armed with a halberd, a combination spear and battleaxe (a ceremonial officer) |
| Hammerman | hammerer, a smith |
| 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 | street vendor |
| Handwoman | midwife or female attendant |
| Hankyman | a travelling magician in Victorian/Edwardian England |
| Hansard | weapon maker or seller |
| Harlot | vagabond, beggar, rogue, 14th century male servant, attendant or menial, and 15th century, loose woman |
| Harmer Beck | constable |
| Harper | performer on the harp |
| Hatcheler | One who combed out or carded flax |
| Hatter | maker of or dealer in hats |
| Hawker / Huckster | peddler |
| Haymonger | Dealer in hay |
| Hayward | Keeper of fences |
| Headsman | executioner |
| Headswoman | midwife |
| Heald Knitter | operator of a machine which produced a jersey type of fabric as opposed to woven fabric |
| Heck Maker | maker of a part of a spinning machine by which the yarn is guided to the reels |
| Hedge Looker | supervised good repair of fence and enclosures |
| Hedger | hedge trimmer |
| Heelmaker | made shoe heels |
| Hellier / Hillier | tiler or slater |
| Helper-Up | young boy employed in Durham pits to help other workers |
| Hemplheckler | flax worker |
| Henchman / Hensman | horseman or groom |
| Henter | thief |
| Hetheleder | provider of heather for fuel |
| Hewer | miner who cut coal, stone, etc., a face worker in a mine |
| Higgler | Itinerant peddler |
| Highwayman | robber who preys on public roads |
| Hillard / Hiller / Hillier | Roof tiler |
| Hind | A farm laborer |
| Hired Man | gardener, farmhand, or stableman |
| Hobbler | boat tower on a river or canal |
| Hodsman | mason's assistant |
| Hoggard | pig drover |
| Holster | groom who took care of horses |
| Honey Dipper | extracted raw sewage from catch basins and out-houses |
| Hoofer | dancer |
| Hooker | 16th century reaper, 19th century worker in textile industry who operated a machine which laid fabric flat in uniform folds of any required length |
| Hooper | makes hoops for casks & barrels (not a cooper) |
| Horner | worker in horn making spoons, combs, or musical horns |
| Horse Courser | owner of race horses |
| Horse Knave | groom |
| Horse Leech | veterinarian, farrier |
| Horse Marine man | handled barges on canals when horses could not be used |
| Horse-Capper | dealer in worthless horses |
| Horse-Hair Curler | dressed horsehair which was used extensively in the upholstery trade |
| Hosier | retailer of stockings, socks, gloves, nightcaps |
| Hosteller | innkeeper |
| Hostler / Ostler | cares for horses, stableman, groom, repairer or railway engines |
| House Joiner | house framer |
| House Wright | house builder |
| Hotpresser | worker in paper or textile industries where product was pressed between glazed boards and hot metal plates to obtain a smooth and shiny surface |
| Hoyman | one who carries goods and passengers by water (Hoy - small coastal vessel or sloop) |
| Howdy Wife | midwife |
| Huckster | Sells small wares |
| Husbandman | A farmer who cultivated the land |
| Huissher | usher or door attendant |
| Hurdleman / Hurdler | hedge-maker, of wattled framework fencing |
| Hurriers | term applied to the girls aged 5-18 who were employed as coal-drawers in the coal industry |
| Husbandman | tenant farmer |
| Hush Shop Keeper | brewed and sold beer without a license (usually as a side line) |
| Iceman | seller or deliverer of ice |
| Idleman | gentleman of leisure |
| Infirmarian | in charge of an infirmary |
| Innkeeper | Also known as Bluffer, Hosteller, Ordinary Keeper, Ostler, Piper, Publican, Taverner |
| Intelligencer | spy |
| Intendent | director of a public or government business |
| Interfactor | murderer |
| Iron Founder | one who founds or iron |
| Iron Master | owner or manager of a foundry |
| Iron Monger | dealer in hardware made of iron (also known as a feroner) |
| Ivory Workers | included makers of combs, boxes, billiard balls, buttons, and keys for pianofortes |
| Jack | young male assistant, sailor, or lumberjack |
| Jack-Frame Tenter | cotton industry worker who operated a jack-frame, used for giving a twist to the thread |
| Jack-Smith | maker of lifting machinery and contrivances |
| Jagger | Fish peddler |
| Jakes-Farmer | one who emptied cesspools |
| Japanner | one who covers with a hard brilliant coat of any of several varnishes |
| Jerquer | custom house officer who searched ships |
| Jersey Comber | worker in woollen manufacture (Jersey - wool which has been combed but not spun into yarn) |
| Jiggerman | operated a spinning wheel (Jigger) to form the foot (back side) of a ceramic plate |
| Jobber | a buyer in quantity to sell to others, a pieceworker |
| Jobling Gardener | one employed on a casual basis |
| Jobmaster | supplied carriages, horses and drivers for hire |
| Jongleur | traveling minstrel |
| Journeyman | One who had served his apprenticeship and mastered his craft, not bound to serve a master, but hired by the day |
| Joyner / Joiner | A skilled carpenter |
| Jouster | fishmonger |
| Kedger | fisherman |
| Keeker | colliery official who checked quantity and quality of coal output or weighman |
| Keeler | Bargeman |
| Keeper | controlled 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 | made cuishes (thigh armour) and high armour |
| Knacker | harness maker, buyer of old horses and dead animals |
| Knappers | dressed and shaped flints into required shape and size |
| Kneller / Knuller | chimney sweep who solicited custom by knocking on doors |
| Knocker-Up | man paid to wake up northern mill and factory workers on early shifts |
| KnockKnobbler | dog catcher |
| Knoller | toller of bells |
| Lace-Drawer | child employed in lace work, drawing out threads |
| Laceman | dealer in lace, who collected it from the makers, usually only those who had bought his thread, and sold it in the lace markets |
| Lace-Master / Mistress | employed workers in factories or in their homes for the production of lace |
| Lace-Runner | young worker who embroidered patterns on lace |
| Lacewoman | lady's maid |
| Lagger | sailor |
| Lagaetman | local constable (Law-Rightman) |
| Lardner | Keeper of the cupboard |
| Laster | shoemaker |
| Lattener | brass worker |
| Landwaiter | customs officer whose duty was to wait or attend on landed goods |
| Launderer | washer |
| Lavender | Washer woman |
| Layer | worker in paper mill responsible for a particular stage in paper-making process |
| Leavelooker | examined food on sale at market |
| Lederer | Leather maker |
| Leech / Sawbones | Physician |
| Legerdemainist | magician |
| Legger | canal boatman |
| Lehrer | teacher |
| Leightonward | gardener (leighton - a garden) |
| Lighterman | worker on a flat-bottomed boat |
| Limner | illuminator of books, painter or drawer |
| Linener | linen draper, shirtmaker |
| Liner / Lyner | flax dresser |
| Linkerboy / Man | one who carried a link or torch to guide people through city streets at night for a small fee (had to be licensed to trade in early 19th century had and term later sometimes applied to general manservant) |
| Lister / Litster | dyer |
| Litterman | groom (of horses) |
| Loadsman | ship's pilot |
| Loblolly Boy | ship's doctor's assistant or errand boy |
| Lock Keeper | overseer of canal locks |
| Longshoreman | Stevedore; a person employed, or a contractor engaged, at a dock to load and unload cargo from ships. |
| Long Song Seller | street seller who sold popular song sheets printed on paper |
| Lorimer | Maker of horse gear |
| Lotseller | street seller |
| Lotter | one who bought odd lots of wool and consolidated them for sale |
| Lumper | dock laborer who discharged cargo of timber employed by a master lumper (not the Dock Company) or fine-grain salt maker, from practice of moulding salt into lumps |
| Lum Swooper | chimney sweep |
| Lungs | alchemist's servant whose duty was to fan the fire |
| Luthier | maker and repairer of stringed musical instruments |
| Maderer | gathered and sold garlic |
| Maid | female domestic servant |
| Mail Guard | armed guard, frequently an ex-soldier, employed on the mail coach service |
| Maise Maker | one who made measures for weighing herring catch |
| Malemaker | maker of 'Males' or travelling bags |
| Malender | Farmer |
| Maltster | Brewer |
| Manciple | A steward |
| Mangler | works a mangle |
| Mangle Keeper | woman who offered use of the mangle for a fee |
| Mango | slave dealer |
| Mantuamaker | dressmaker |
| Marbler | one who stained paper or other material, veined in imitation of marble |
| Marshall | horse doctor of shoe smith |
| Marshman | paid by various landowners to look after marshlands and tend the animals put to graze there for the season |
| Mashmaker | maker of the mash-vats or mashels used for mixing malt |
| Mason | Bricklayer |
| Master | one of three grades of skill recognised by the Guild of Crafts |
| Master Lumper | contractor of laborers at cheap rate of pay |
| Master Mariner | ship's captain |
| Matchet Forger | knifemaker |
| Mawer | mower |
| Mealman | dealer in meal or flour |
| Melder | corn miller |
| Mercator | merchant |
| Mercer | cloth seller |
| Meterer | poet |
| Midwife / Grace Wife / Handwoman / Headswoman / Howdy Wife | experienced woman who assists in childbirth |
| Milesman / Lengthsman | railway worker who had a length of railway track to keep in good order |
| Miller / Molitor / Multurer | corn miller, cloth miller, saw miller |
| Milleress | miller's wife |
| Millers Carman | drove carrier to deliver the flour or seed to the customers |
| Millpeck | sharpener of mill stones |
| Millner | maker of women’s hats |
| Millwright | designer & builder of mills or mill machinery |
| Milstone Inspector | vagrant, a gentleman of the road |
| Mintmaster / Mintmaker | One who issued local currency |
| Mixer | bartender |
| Mocado Weaver | weaver of woollen cloth used for making clothes 16-17th century |
| Mold Boy | closed and held mold for glassblower, also weighed the bottles |
| Molitor | miller |
| Mondayman | one who worked for landowner on Mondays in lieu of rent |
| Monger | Seller of goods (ale, fish) |
| Monthly Nurse | someone who assisted women during the first month after giving birth |
| Moulder | maker of moulds or castings, brickmaker |
| Mountebank | seller if ineffectual patent medicines |
| Mudlark | sewer cleaner, riverbank scavenger |
| Muffin Maker | maker who made muffins |
| Muffin Man | itinerant seller of muffins |
| Muggler | pigman; a pig farmer |
| Mugseller | seller of cups, mugs |
| Mule Minder | minded the spinning mules in the cotton mills |
| Muleskinner | Teamster |
| Muleteer | mule driver |
| Multurer | miller |
| Musicker | musician |
| Mustarder / Mustardman | made and dealt in mustard |
| Nagelschmiedmeister | master nailsmith |
| Nagsman | a person who schools horses, usually for his employer |
| Naperer / Napier | royal servant in charge of table linen |
| Narrow Weaver | weaver of ribbons, tapes, etc. |
| Navigator | laborer building canals or railways |
| Neatherder | Herds cows |
| Necker | worker responsible for the feeding of cardboard into the machine the makes boxes |
| Nedeller | needle maker |
| Necessary Woman | servant responsible for emptying and cleaning chamber pots |
| Netter | net maker |
| Night Soilman / Nightman | one who emptied cesspits, ashpits and backyard toilets |
| Nightwalker | watchman or bellman |
| Nimgimmer | a pox doctor |
| Nipper lorry boy | a young person employed by the carter or wagoner to assist with the collection and delivery of goods |
| Nob Thatcher | wig maker |
| Noon Tender | guarded the goods on the quay while the officers were a lunch |
| Noterer | notary |
| Occupier | tradesman |
| Oilman | sold the oil for lamps |
| Olitor | kitchen gardener (from Olitory-a kitchen garden) |
| Orderly | soldier who functioned as a servant for an officer |
| Ordinary Keeper | Innkeeper with fixed prices |
| Orrery Maker | made a mechanical apparatus for showing the movements of the planets (named after the Earl of Orrery the inventor) |
| Orrice Weaver | designer of lace patterns to be woven with silk thread and silk |
| Osier Peeler | removed bark from willow rods or osiers which were used in basket weaving, usually women and children (also known as withy peelers) |
| Ostiary | monastery door keeper |
| 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 | auctioneer |
| Outworker | worker who carried on their occupation at home, e.g., cotton or woollen weavers but it applies to many occupations |
| Overlooker | superintendent or overseer, especially in the textile mills |
| Overman | supervisor in a colliery who checked the miners work and the quality of the mined coal |
| Owler | sheep or wool smuggler |
| Oyster Dredger | member of the crew on board an oyster fishing boat |
| Packer | packs goods such as pickles or herring |
| Packman | travelled around carrying goods for sale in a pack |
| Pack Thread Spinner | operator of the machine which made thread or twine |
| Pad Maker | made small baskets used for measuring |
| Page | youth being trained for the medieval rank of knight and in the personal service of a knight or attendant upon someone of rank in the medieval period |
| Paintress | woman employed in the pottery industry to hand paint the finished articles |
| Paper-Stainer | one who made wallpaper |
| Paling Man | seller of eels |
| Palister | one who ensured the parks were safe and well kept |
| Palmer | one who had been, or pretended to have been, to the Holy Land |
| Pannier Man | fishmonger |
| Pannifex | somebody who worked in the cloth trade |
| Panter | keeper of the pantry |
| Pantler | butler |
| Paperer | inserted the needles into the paper ready for sale in the needle making trade |
| Pardoner | seller of indulgences |
| Parfumier / Perfumer | manufacturer and purveyor of scents such as perfumes, colognes and even incense |
| Pargeter | applied ornamental plaster to buildings |
| Paritor | church officer who attended the magistrates and justices at court for the purpose of executing their orders |
| Parker | park caretaker |
| Passage Keeper | kept passages and alleys clean |
| Pasteler | pastry chef |
| Pastor | shepherd |
| Patten Maker | clog maker or the person who made wooden soles (pattens) to fit under normal shoes to protect from wet and muddy ground |
| Pattern Maker | A maker of a clog shod with an iron ring. A clog was a wooden pole with a pattern cut into the end |
| Paver / Paviour | laid paving stones |
| Pavyler | put up pavilions or tents etc. |
| Pedascule | schoolmaster |
| Peeler | policeman, constable, bobby (from Sir Robert Peel founder of the police force) |
| Pelterer | one who worked with animal skins |
| Perambulator | surveyor |
| Perchemear | one who made parchment |
| Peregrinator | Itinerant wanderer |
| Peruker | A wig maker |
| Pessoner | fishmonger |
| Peterman | fisherman |
| Pettifogger | A shyster lawyer |
| Petty Chapman | itinerant dealer in small goods, a peddler |
| Pewterer | made pewter utensils (using any of various alloys having tin as chief component especially a dull alloy with lead) |
| Philosophical Instrument Maker | one who made scientific instruments |
| Phrenologist | diviner of a person's character based on the bumps on a person's head |
| Picker | one who cast the shuttle on a loom |
| Piecener / Piecer | one who worked in a spinning mill, employed to piece together any threads which broke (usually a child or woman) |
| Pigman | Crockery dealer |
| Pikelet Maker | baker who specialised in making pikelets (a small pancake or crumpet) |
| Pikeman | miller's assistant |
| Piker | tramp or vagrant |
| Piller | robber |
| Pilot | ship steersman |
| Pinder | dog catcher |
| Piner | laborer |
| Pinner | pin maker |
| Pinner Up | dressmakers assistant or one who sold broadsheets or ballards in the streets |
| Pinsetter | one who manually set up bowling pins before the advent of automated pinsetting machines |
| Piper | innkeeper |
| Pirn Winder | wound the yarn onto large wheel like bobbins which were then ready to feed the looms in a cotton mill |
| Pistor | baker |
| Pit Brow Lass | female worker who worked on the surface of the mines |
| Pitman | coal miner |
| Plaiter | maker of straw plaits used in making hats etc |
| Playderer | one who made plaid |
| Plain Worker | performed plain sewing or needlework as opposed to an embroiderer |
| Planker | one who planks or kneads the body of the hat during felting |
| Platelayer | men who laid and maintained the railway tracks in Britain and the word actually predates railways being derived from the very old "plateways" which existed hundreds of years ago, mainly for moving coal |
| Pleacher / Plaicher / Platcher / Plasher | hedge layer |
| Plowman | farmer |
| Plowwright | maker or repairer of plows |
| Plumassier / Plumer | made or sold plumes, ornamental feathers |
| Plumber | One who applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or stained glass windows. |
| Plumbum Worker | plumber |
| Pointer | sharpened needles or pins or lace maker |
| Pointmaker / Pointman | made the tips of laces |
| Pointsman | railway worker who operated the points, used to change the line on which the train was travelling |
| Poldave Worker | made poldave, a coarse fabric |
| Poleman | surveyor's assistant |
| Polentier | poulterer |
| Poller / Powler | barber |
| Ponderator | inspector of weights and measures |
| Portable Soup Maker | converted soup into a dry form for transporting from place to place |
| Porter | Door keeper |
| Postillion | attacher of extra horses to wagons & coaches to help them up hills |
| Post Boy | 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 who worked in the quarries breaking rocks |
| Potato Badger | seller of potatoes |
| Pot Boy / Man | one who worked in public houses washing and removing dirty pots also did other menial tasks |
| Potter | maker or seller of pottery |
| Potter Carrier | chemist or pharmacist |
| Potter Thrower | potter who used a wheel and therefore had to throw the clay |
| Poulter | seller of poultry |
| Power Loom Tuner | one who maintained the loom in mills |
| Prentis | apprentice |
| Preceptress | school mistress |
| Prediger | preacher |
| Pricker | witch hunter, pattern maker or a horseman |
| Prick Louise | tailor |
| Pricker | used a type of wire brush to make small holes inside ceramic sewer pipe to prevent spalling during firing |
| Prig Napper | horse thief |
| Proctor | official of a university |
| Prop Bobby | worked in mines checking the pit props |
| Prothonary | law clerk |
| Publican | innkeeper |
| Puddler | Wrought iron worker |
| Puggard | thief |
| Pugger | produce clay paste by treading like grapes, usually women and children in brick manufacturing |
| Pug Mill Operator | operated a machine for mixing clay and water, which then exuded a "pug" (a cylinder of clay of any diameter and indefinite length) |
| Punky | chimney sweep |
| Purefinder | old women and young girls who went about the streets gathering dog droppings which were used for tanning leather |
| Purser | ship's officer in charge of provisions & accounts |
| Putter In | put things in to some form of mechanised process |
| Quarrel Picker | glazier |
| Quarrier / Quarryman | quarry worker |
| Quiller | one who operated a machine that wound yarn onto spools |
| Quilter / Quiltress | one who quilted material |
| Quister | one who bleached things |
| Qwylwryghte | wheelwright |
| Rack Maiden | girl employed in the tin mines of Cornwall to dress the ore |
| Raffman | one who dealt in raff (saleable rubbish) |
| Raff Merchant | seller of fibre used to make raffia bags etc. |
| 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 & Bone Man | one who went from street to street with a cart and collected any old rubbish, usually in exchange for a small item, e.g. a block of soapstone |
| Rag Picker | sorted through the leftover rags to find reusable ones |
| Raker | street sanitation worker |
| Ratoner | rat catcher |
| Rattlewatch | town watchman |
| Rectifier | one who distilled alcoholic spirits |
| Redar | interpreter of dreams |
| Redsmith | goldsmith |
| Reeder | worked with reeds for hedging or thatching |
| Reedmaker | made the pipe for a musical instrument or made a weavers implement (a reed) or reed cloth or the comb used in tapestry |
| Reeler | operated the machine that wound the yarn onto the bobbin |
| Reeve | church warden |
| Reever | shriever; To make or go to confession; To hear confessions |
| Registrar | official who registers events such as land purchases or births |
| Renovator | one who repaired clothing |
| Revenuer | taxman who enforces tax laws on liquor |
| Rickmaster | Captain of Horse |
| Riddler | wool stapler |
| Riftere | reaper |
| Rigger | Hoist tackle worker |
| Ripper | Seller of fish |
| Riverman | worker on a river boat |
| Rockman | worked in a quarry usually placing the charges on the rockface |
| Rockgetter | rock salt miner |
| Roller Coverer | one who covered the rollers for the spinning process |
| Rolleyway Man | maintained the underground road in the mines |
| Roll Turner | carder of wool, cotton etc into rolls prior to spinning |
| Roman Cementer / Pasterer | one who worked with roman cement used in stuccoing |
| Roper | Maker of rope or nets |
| Rover | archer or operator of a machine used in cotton mills which prepared the carded fibre into rolls |
| Rodman | surveyor's assistant |
| Rubbisher / Rubbler | sorted the small stones in the quarries |
| Rugman | dealer in rugs |
| Runner | smuggler, messenger and ironically one who worked for the magistrate best remembered as Bow Street Runners |
| Rustler | cattle thief |
| Saddler | One who makes, repairs or sells saddles or other furnishings for horses |
| Saddle Tree Maker | one who made the frames for saddles that the saddler used |
| Saggar (also Sagger) Maker | one who made the fireclay containers in which the stoneware was placed ready for firing |
| Saggar (also Sagger) Maker’s Bottom Knocker | was the saggar maker's assistant who tapped the bottom of the pots |
| Salt Boiler | one who obtained salt by boiling water |
| Salter / Drysalter / Saucer | one who made or dealt in salt |
| Sarcinet Weaver | silk weaver |
| Saloonist | saloon keeper |
| Sandesman | ambassador or messenger |
| Sand Hog | those who dug the tunnel under the river |
| Sandwichman | wears a sandwich billboard for advertising |
| Sawbones | Physician |
| 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 |
| Sawyer | One who saws; carpenter |
| Say Weaver | one who made Say, material used for table cloths or bedding |
| Scagiola Maker | one who made imitation marble |
| Scaleraker / Scavenger | employed by the parish to clean the streets |
| Scappler | one who roughly shaped the stone prior to being finished by the stonemason |
| Scavelman | employed to keep the waterways and ditches clear |
| Schrimpschonger | artisan who carves in bone, ivory, or wood |
| Schumacker | Shoemaker |
| Scotch Draper / Scotchman | sold goods door to door with payment to be made by installments |
| Screener | screened the ore at the mines surface |
| Scribe | clerk |
| Scriber | 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 |
| Scribbler | employed in a scribbling mill where the wool was roughly carded before spinning |
| Scrimer | fencing master |
| 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 | Professional or public copyist or writer; notary public |
| Scutcher | beat the flax to soften the straw in the bundles |
| Scullery Maid | female servant who performed all the menial tasks |
| Scullion | male servant who performed all the menial tasks |
| Scrutineer | Election judge |
| Seal Presser | employed in the glass industry to seal the bath against air intake which could spoil the finished surface |
| Searcher | customs man |
| Secret Springer | one made watch springs |
| Seedsman | sower of seeds |
| Sedgeman | skilled workman who applied sedge (type of grass) which was used as an early roofing material |
| Self Acting Minder | one in charge of the automatic spinning mule in the mills |
| Semi Lorer | maker of leather thongs |
| Sempster | seamstress |
| Seneschal | A senior steward at the Manor |
| Sewer Hunter (also see Toshhr) | scavenger who concentrated on the sewers trying to find valuable objects |
| Sewer Rat | bricklayer who specialised in making and repairing sewers and tunnels |
| Sewing Clerk | collector of clothing piecework |
| Sewster | seamstress |
| Sexton | employee or officer of a church who cares and maintains church property and sometimes rang bells and dug graves |
| Shagreen Case Maker | one who worked with shagreen leather |
| Shanty Man | lumberman |
| Sharecropper | tenant farmer who would be paid with part of the crop |
| Shearer | removed the fleece from sheep |
| Sheargrinder | sharpened shears, scissors |
| Shearman or Sherman | shearer of cloth, metal |
| Sheath Maker | one who made scabbards for swords |
| Sheepman | sheep herder |
| Shepster | dressmaker |
| Shingler | A roof tiler who used wooden tiles (shingles) |
| Ship Husband | repairer of ships while in harbor |
| Ship Master | owner or captain of a ship |
| Shipwright | constructor or repairer or ships |
| Shoe Finder | seller of shoe maker's tools |
| Shoesmith | cobbler, one who shoed horses |
| Shoe Wiper | servant who polished shoes |
| Shot Firer | one in charge of blasting in mines or quarries |
| Shrager | one who trimmed and pruned trees |
| Shrieve | Sheriff |
| Shuffler | yardman on the farms |
| Shunter | one who moved rolling stock around the railway yards |
| Shuster | shoe maker |
| Shuttle Maker | made the shuttles for the weaving mills |
| Sickleman | reaper |
| Sidesman | one who assisted the churchwarden |
| Silk Engine Turner | turned the wheel on automatic silk weaving looms |
| Silk Thrower | worker in the silk industry |
| Silker | sewed the ends of the fabric to prevent the layers from separating |
| Silk Dresser | prepared the silk for weaving |
| Silk Mercer | sold silk cloth and items made from silk |
| Silk Twister | silk spinner |
| Simpler | agriculturist that we would call herbalist today |
| Silversmith | worked with silver |
| Sissor or Cissor | tailor |
| Sizer | applied the size to cloth or worked in a paper mill |
| Skeiner Maker | made wheels used in spinning industry upon which yarn was wound |
| Skepper / Skelper | one who made and sold beehives |
| Skinker | tapster in an ale house |
| Skinner | dealer in hides, mule driver |
| Skipmaker | one who made the skips used in mining and quarrying for moving men or materials to the surface |
| Skipper | master of a ship |
| Slapper / Slaper | one who worked in a pottery preparing the clay for the potter |
| Slater | Roofer |
| Slaymaker | apparently an Old English name meaning maker of slay's--wooden pegs used in weaving |
| Slopseller | Seller of ready-made clothes in a slop shop |
| Slubber | operated the machine used to prepare cotton for spinning |
| Slubber Doffer | removed the bobbins from the spindles in the mills |
| Smackman | worked on a sailing ship (as a sloop or cutter) used chiefly in coasting and fishing |
| Smallware Maker | who made smallware, e.g. tapes, braids etc |
| Smelter | worker in a metal smelter, smelt fisherman |
| Smiddy / Smith | metal worker |
| Smugsmith | smuggler |
| Snapper | worker in glass factory who placed molded bottle (by neck) into furnace hole |
| Snobscat / Snob | One who repaired shoes |
| Snuffer Maker | made the candle snuffer |
| Soap Boiler (Soper) | soap maker |
| Sojourner Clothier | travelling clothes salesman |
| Solicitor | lawyer |
| Sorter | Tailor |
| Souter | shoemaker |
| Spallier | tin worker who performs chiefly menial tasks |
| Sperviter | keeper of sparrows |
| Spicer | grocer or dealer in spices |
| Spinner | spins yarn |
| Spinster | A woman who spins or an unmarried woman |
| Splitter | operated a splitting machine or one who split things by hand, e.g. stone, timber etc. |
| Spooner | made spoons |
| Spurrer / Spurrier | Maker of spurs |
| Squire | Country gentleman; farm owner; justice of peace |
| Supercargo | officer on merchant ship in charge of cargo |
| Sutler | followed soldiers to encampments, set up tents to sell supplies, foodstuffs and dry goods |
| Stabler | ostler |
| Stallman | keeper of a market stall |
| Stampman | worker of an ore crushing machine |
| Stationer | bookseller, seller of paper & writing implements |
| Statist | politician |
| Stay Maker | corset maker |
| Steeple Jacker | painted flag poles etc. |
| Steersman | ship's helmsman |
| Stenterer | operated the cloth finishing machine |
| Step Boy | employed to help passengers to enter or leave the coach |
| Stevedore | laborer who unloads and loads ships' cargoes |
| Steward | manager of property, purveyor of supplies or someone who attended passengers on conveyance |
| Stitcher | one who does decorative stitching |
| Stockinger | knitter, weaver, or dealer in stockings |
| Stoker | tends the fire of an engine boiler |
| Stoneman / Stonewarden | a surveyor of highways |
| Stone Picker | employed to remove the stones from the farmers fields before planting |
| Stone Workers | worked with stone e.g. masons, quarriers etc. |
| Storeman | one responsible for stored goods |
| Stowyer | one who stowed the nets away on fishing boats |
| Stravaiger | vagrant |
| Straw Joiner | one who thatched roofs |
| Straw Plaiter | one who made straw braids for the hat industry |
| Streaker | one who prepared the body for burial |
| Street Orderly / Boy | street cleaner |
| Striker | blacksmiths helper or harpooned the whale |
| Stripper | employed in the woollen trade to remove the rubbish from the carding machines |
| Stringer | made the strings for bows |
| Stuff Gowsman | junior barrister |
| Stuff Weaver | wove stuff (the coarse part of flax) |
| Sucksmith | one who made ploughshares |
| Sumner | summoner or apparitor |
| Sumpter | porter |
| Supercargo Officer | on merchant ship who is in charge of cargo and the commercial concerns of the ship |
| Sutler | merchant or peddler in an army camp |
| Swailer | miller or dealer in grain |
| Swain | herdsman |
| Sweep | chimney sweep |
| Swell Maker | one who made shallow baskets |
| Swineyard / Swineherder | pig keeper |
| Swingler | one who beats flax to remove woody parts |
| Sword Cutler | sword maker |
| Tabler | boarding house operator |
| Tackler | an overlooker of power loom weavers |
| Tacksman | middleman who leased a large piece of land from the owner and sublet it in small lots |
| Tailor | one who made or repaired clothes |
| Tallow Chandler | made or sold candles |
| Tally Clerk | kept count of goods arriving or departing from warehouses, docks etc |
| Tallyman / Tallyfellow | one who sold goods that were paid for in installments |
| Tan Bark Stripper | collected the bark that was used in the tanning process |
| Tanner | One who tans (cures) animal hides into leather |
| Taper Weaver | one who made the wicks for candles |
| Tapiter / Tapicer | one who wove worsted cloth |
| Tapley | One who puts the tap in an ale cask |
| Tappiologist | someone who taps the wheels of trains to check for cracks and flaws |
| Tapster | bartender or barmaid |
| Tar Boy | applied tar (as antiseptic) to sheep when they were nicked by shearers |
| Tasker | Reaper |
| Tasseler | one who made tassels used in furnishings or nobleman |
| Taverner | innkeeper |
| Tawer / Tawyer | white leather maker |
| Teamer / Teamer Man / Teamster | One who drives a team for hauling |
| Teaser | one who opens up matted wool for carding |
| Teemer | person who emptied grain from the cart or who poured the molten steel into the moulds |
| Tenter / Tenterer | one who stretched the cloth on a machine while it was drying or looked after and maintained the machine used in the process |
| Textor | weaver |
| Thacker / Thatcher | one who covered roofs with straw or reeds |
| Thirdborough | an under constable |
| Thresher | one who separated the grain from the husks and straw |
| Throwster | one in the textile trade who twisted the strands of fibre together into yarn |
| Ticket Writer | person (usually female) who hand wrote or painted the price tickets on goods displayed for sale and painted the signs that go up to make a window display |
| Tickney Man / Woman | sold earthenware from town to town |
| Tide Gauger / Surveyor | monitored the state of the tide |
| Tidesman / Tide waiter | Customs inspector |
| Tiemaker | one who made wooden railway ties |
| Tiger | small groom or pageboy in livery |
| Tiler | one who put tiles in place either on the roof or floor |
| Tiller | farmer |
| Tillman | plowman |
| Times Ironer | servant responsible for ironing the daily newspaper |
| Tinctor | dyer |
| Tinker | An itinerant tin pot and pan seller and repairman |
| Tinman | a tinsmith or tinker |
| Tinner | tin miner, tinsmith |
| Tinter / Teinter | artists who performs tinting |
| Tipper | one who put the metal tips on arrows etc. |
| Tippler | kept an ale house |
| Tipstaff | Policeman |
| Tirewoman | female dresser, especially in the theater |
| Tixtor | weaver |
| Tobacco Spinner | maker of cigars |
| Todhunter | employed by the parish to hunt foxes |
| Toe Rag | who worked at the docks as a corn porter |
| Toilinet Manufacturer | made toilinet (a kind of quilting) |
| Toller / Tollgate Keeper / Tollie / Tolman / Turnpike Keeper | worked at the toll gate to collect fees for use of the road |
| Tonsor | Latin for barber |
| Tool Helver | made tool handles |
| Topman | sailor who works in the ship's rigging |
| Top Sawyer | upper man in a saw pit |
| Topsman | head cattle drover |
| Touch Holer | one who worked in the gun manufacturing industry |
| Tosher (also see Sewer Hunter) | sewer hunters were formerly, and indeed still are, called by the name of toshers, the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along the shore being known among themselves by the general term tosh |
| Tow Card Maker | one who made tow cards, used in the textile industry |
| Town Chaberlain | one who looked after the towns affairs |
| Town Crier | one who made public announcements in the streets |
| Town Husband | employed by the parish to collect the money from the fathers of illegitimate children for their upkeep |
| Townswaiter | customs man |
| Tozer | worked in the wool mills employed to tose or tease the cloth |
| Trammer | young person who worked in the mines |
| Trampler | lawyer |
| Tranqueter | person who made hoops |
| Tranter | peddler |
| Trapper | employed in the mines to open and shut the doors for the miners |
| Travers | Toll bridge collection |
| Treen Maker | made domestic articles from wood |
| Treenail Maker | one who made the long wooden pins used in shipbuilding |
| Trenchermaker | made wooden boards or platters for serving food from or cutting and slicing food on |
| Trencherman | cook |
| Trepanger | one who used a circular saw to cut timber |
| Trimmer | trims a ship by rearranging its cargo |
| Troacher | peddler |
| Troner | weighing official at the markets |
| Trotter / Trotman / Trott | messenger |
| Trouchman / Truchman | interpreter |
| Trover | smuggler |
| Trugger | one who made long shallow baskets |
| Tubber | one who made tubs and barrels i.e. a cooper |
| Tubman | English barrister |
| Tucker | Cleaner of cloth goods |
| Tucker In | maid who attended the bedroom and "tucked in the bedclothes" |
| Turner | A person who turns wood on a lathe into spindles |
| Turnkey | prison warder or jail keeper |
| Turnspit | one who operated the spit handle |
| Tweenie / Tweeny | maid who worked "between the stairs" she assisted the cooks and the housemaids |
| Twister / Twisterer | one who operated the machine used for twisting yarns and threads together |
| Twist Hand | one who operated a lace machine |
| Ulnager | one appointed to examine the quality of woollen goods to be sold |
| Upholder | upholsterer and also a seller of secondhand goods |
| Upright Worker | chimney sweep |
| Valet | male servant that attended a nobleman or gentleman |
| Valuator | who valued objects |
| Venator (Venur) | huntsman |
| Vassal | 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 |
| Verderer | official in charge of the royal forest |
| Verger | one who worked with the priest in the running the church |
| Verge Maker | one who made the spindles used in clocks and watches |
| Verrier | glazier |
| Vestment Maker | one who made the gowns worn by priests |
| Victualer | A tavern keeper, or one who provides an army, navy, or ship with food |
| Viewer | one who worked at the mines in a managerial capacity |
| Villein | one who paid dues to the lord of the manor in return for use of the land |
| Vintager / Vineroon | grape farmer, wine maker |
| Vintner / Vinter | wine merchant |
| Virginal Player | player of a musical instrument similar to a harpsichord |
| Vulcan | Blacksmith |
| Wabster | weaver |
| Wadsetter | under Scottish law a creditor to whom a wadset is made; a wadset is a right, by which lands, or other heritable subjects, are impignorated by the proprietor to his creditor in security of his debt |
| Wagoner | Teamster not for hire |
| Wailer | one employed in the mines to remove the impurities from the coal |
| Wainwright | builder or repairer of wagons |
| Wait / Wakeman | night watchman |
| Waiter Customs Officer / Tide Waiter | one who waited on the tide to collect duty on goods brought in |
| Walker / Waulkmiller | cloth worker (see also FULLER) |
| 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 |
| Wanter / Wantcatcher | mole catcher |
| Warder | in charge of prisoners |
| Warehouseman | in charge of or employee in a warehouse |
| Warper | 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 | 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 | 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 | trapped water fowl |
| Water Leader / Leder / Loder | transported and sold fresh drinking water |
| Waterman | Boatman who plies for hire |
| Wattle Hurdle Maker | made a type of fence from wattle to keep the sheep in |
| Way-Maker | employed to make roads |
| Way Man | surveyor of roads |
| Weatherspy | astrologer |
| Webster | Operator of looms |
| Weigher | worked on the docks to weigh the cargo as it was unloaded |
| Wellmaster | one in charge of the local well with the responsibility of ensuring clean water for the village |
| Well Sinker | dug wells |
| Well Wright | made the winding equipment used to raise the bucket in the well |
| Wet Glover | made leather gloves |
| Wet Nurse | woman employed to suckle the child of another (common practice with the rich) |
| Wetter | dampened paper during the printing process or in the glass industry who detached the glass by wetting |
| Whacker | horse or oxen team driver |
| Wharfinger | Owner of a wharf |
| Wheel Tapper | railway worker who checked for cracked wheels by striking them with a long-handled hammer and listening for a clear ring |
| Wheeler | wheel maker, attended to the spinning wheel in the textile industry and one who led the pit ponies that pulled the tubs underground in the mines |
| Wheelwright | One who made or repaired wheels; wheeled carriages, etc. |
| Wherryman | in charge of a wherry (a small light rowing boat) |
| Whig | horse driver (Scottish term) |
| Whipcord Maker / Whipmaker | made whips |
| Whipperin | managed the hounds in a hunt |
| Whitear | hide cleaner |
| White Limer | plastered walls using lime and water plaster |
| Whitesmith | Tinsmith; worker of iron who finishes or polishes the work |
| Whitening Roll Maker | made the whitening used in whitening walls of cottages |
| Whittawer | one who made saddles and harness |
| Whitener / Whitester / Whitster | one who bleached cloth |
| Whitewing | Street sweeper |
| Whitster | Bleach of cloth |
| Whittawer | preparer of white leather |
| Willow Plaiter / Weaver | one who made baskets etc. |
| Windster | silk winder |
| Woodbreaker | one who made wooden water casks |
| Woodranger / Wood Reeve / Woodward | in charge of the forest or woods |
| Woolcomber | operated machines that separate the fibres ready for spinning in woolen industry |
| Wool Driver | one who brought the wool to market |
| Wool Factor | wool merchants agent |
| Woolen Billy Piecer | worked in the woolen mills to piece together the broken yarns |
| Wool Man /Wool Sorter / Stapler | one who sorted the wool into different grades |
| Woolsted Man | a seller of woollen cloth (from worsted man) |
| Wool Winder | one who made up balls of wool for selling |
| Worsted Manufacturer / Shearman | one who made worsted |
| Wright | Workman, especially a construction worker |
| Wyrth | laborer |
| Xylographer | one who used and made wooden blocks used in printing illustrations |
| Yardman | railroad yard worker |
| Yatman | gate keeper |
| Yearman | one contracted to work for a year |
| Yeoman | Farmer who owns his own land |
| Zincographer | designer who etched in relief a pattern on zinc plates used for printing |
| Zitherist | player of a simple, flat many-stringed instrument |
| Zoetrope Maker | 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 | described and classified |
Submitted by Dan Burrows, Updated by Rebecca Maloney
Page content reviewed and/or updated by the Advisory Board 2022 Dec
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