Old Name	New Name or Meaning
Packman	Itinerant seller - carried the goods in his pack
Pack Thread Spinner	Operated a thread or twine making machine
Pad Maker	Made small measuring baskets
Paintress	Woman who hand painted pottery
Paling Man	Seller of eels
Palister	Park keeper
Pannier Man	Fishmonger
Pannifex	Worker in the cloth trade
Pansmith	1)Pan maker and/or repairer- metal worker 2) Made and maintained the large, shallow pans in which salt was boiled
Panter	Keeper of the pantry
Pantler	Butler
Pantographer	An engraver who used a Pantograph to transfer the pattern from a drawing to the engraving surface.
Papaya Man	Involved in trade with New Guinea (derived from Papua, New Guinea)
Paper Stainer	Printed wallpaper
Paperer	Inserted sewing needles into paper packets ready for sale
Pardoner	Licensed seller of indulgences
Pargeter	Applied pargetting (ornamental plaster) to buildings
Parish Apprentice	Working child of the workhouse
Paritor	Church official attending courts to execute their orders
Parker	Park keeper, usually a game park
Parminster	Worked with Cotswold stone roofing tiles
Passage Keeper	Cleaned the local passageways and alleyways
Pasteler	Pastry chef
Pastor	Shepherd
Patten Maker/ Pattener	Made "pattens" to fit under normal shoes for wet/muddy use. Clog-maker
Pattern Card Maker	Made the cards that set the pattern on weaving looms - the "jacquard" method
Pattern Maker	Makes wood patterns for the construction of steel or other metal objects. eg. Patterns are made for ship construction, for castings etc.
Paternosterer	Maker of Rosaries
Paver / Paviour / Pavier	Lays paving stones etc. (in use today) also called a Flagger  More Info.
Pavyler	Erected tents, pavilions etc.
Pedascule	Schoolmaster
Pedestrian	A Walker, sometimes athlete, sometimes paid for competing - More Info.
Pee-dee	A boy employed by the skipper of a Newcastle Keel - a river boat carrying coal down river to ships loading off-shore. See Keeler.
Peeler	Policeman - after Robert Peel, founder of the police
Pelterer	Worked with animal skins - pelts
Perambulator	Surveyor
Perchemear	Parchment maker
Peregrinator	Itinerant wanderer
Peruker / Peruke Maker	A wig maker
Pessoner	Fishmonger - from the French, poisson
Petardier	Made Petards - explosive devices used for storming castles. More Info.
Peterman	Fisherman - biblical
Pettifogger	A shyster lawyer
Petty Chapman	Peddler - itinerant small goods seller
Pew Opener	Opened the doors to private church pews
Pewterer / Pewtersmith	One whose occupation is to make utensils of pewter; plates, bowls, dishes, tankards, pots for the kitchen and table, also larger vessels for inns and businesses. Almost all old wills leave valuable amounts of pewter to members of the family. More Info.
Philosophical Instrument Maker	Made Scientific instruments
Phonologist	A person versed in Phonology - the science or doctrine of the elementary sounds uttered by the human voice in speech, including the various distinctions, modifications, and combinations of tones; phonetics. Also, a treatise on sounds.
Phrenologist	Read bumps on the head for character assessment
Picker	Cast the shuttles on a loom
Picker Maker	Made the "Pickers" - strong  leather attachments fitted to each side of a weaving loom  to drive the shuttle across the loom
Piece Broker	Dealer in fabric remnants
Piece Worker	Worker paid for by the number of articles finished. Usually home workers, and factory workers
Piecemaster	The middleman between employer and pieceworker, who allocated the work
Piecer / Piecener	Employed to piece together broken threads in weaving. Often children.  More Info.
Pigmaker	1) Poured molten metal to make "pigs" for distribution of raw metals 2) Pottery worker
Pigman	1) Crockery dealer 2) Pig herd
Pig Jobber	Bought pigs and then sold them off for profit. A pig trader.
Pikelet Maker	Baked Pikelets - small crumpet or pancake
Pikeman	1) Miller's assistant 2) Soldier armed with a pike 3) Turnpike worker
Piker	Tramp, vagrant
Pile / Piler	Fitted arrowheads to their shafts (pile was the old term for arrowhead)
Piller	Robber
Pilot	Ship's steersman
Pinder	Dog catcher & pound keeper
Piner	Labourer
Pinner	Pin maker
Pinner up	1) Dressmaker's assistant  2) Sold ballads in the street
Piper	Innkeeper
Pistor	Baker
Pit Brow Lass	Female surface worker at the coalmines
Pitman	Coal miner
Plain Worker	Plain needle-worker, as distinct from embroidered work
Plaisterer	Plasterer
Plaiter	Make straw plaits for hat making
Planker	"Planked" or kneaded the felt in hat-making
Platelayer	Laid and maintained railway tracks. The name predates railways, and is derived from the original "plateways" which existed hundreds of years ago, laid for coal mines.   More Info.
Playderer	Made plaid
Pleacher / Plasher / Platcher / Plaicher	Hedge layer. A skilled job
Plod Weaver / Plaid Weaver	Wove plaid material - Plod was a C16-17th variant of plaid
Ploughboy	Led the oxen pulling a plough
Ploughwright	Made or repaired ploughs
Plumassier / Plumer	Made ornamental feather plumes or sold feathers - from French, plume
Plumber	Applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or stained glass windows. As lead was the usual material for pipes, the modern term evolved. Plumbium - Latin for lead
Plumbium Worker	Worked with plumbium (lead) - a plumber. from the Latin, plumbium = lead
Plunger	Speculator
Pluralist	A person who had the "living" of more than one parish, or church
Plush Weaver	Wove Plush, a type of textile which has a nap or pile similar to velvet - used in royal courts
Pointer / Pin Pointer	1) Lace-maker  2) Sharpened needles or pins in manufacture
Pointmaker / Pointman	Made the tips of laces
Pointsman	Changed the points to change the track direction of trains
Poldave Worker	Made "poldave" - a coarse fabric
Poleman	Surveyor's assistant
Polenter / Polentier	Poulterer
Pollard Dealer	Dealer in pollard, bran sifted from flour. Also flour dealer
Poller / Powler	Barber
Ponderator	Weights and measures inspector
Pony Driver	Usually a child, drove the pit ponies drawing the coal tubs
Portable Soup Maker	Made dried soup for transporting
Porter	1) Door or gate keeper 2) Carried baggage in railway stations and other public places
Portmanteau Maker	Made suitcases / travelling bags
Postillion	Rode as a guide on one of the near pairs of horses drawing a coach or post chaise
Post Boy	1) Carried mail 2) Guard who travelled on the mail coach 3) Outrider travelling with the coach or a Postillion
Poster	Broke rocks in the quarries
Potato Badger	Potato seller
Pot Boy/man	1) Cleared away and washed the pots in a public house 2) A Potman was also a street-seller of porter and stout.
Pot Burner	Placed completed pots into the ovens for firing
Potato Badger	Potato seller
Potter's Carrier	Chemist or Pharmacist
Potter's Jollier	Jollying is a way of forming a ceramic article by using a rotating mould formed to shape one side of the pot or liner while a metal profile blade mounted on a counterbalanced arm forms the other side
Potter's Presser	Pottery maker, using moulds
Potter's Printer	Printed from an engraved plate that is loaded with oil based colours - printed the transfer pattern on to tissue paper
Potter's Thrower	Potter, using a wheel - "threw" the clay onto the wheel
Poulter / Poulterer	Poultry seller
Pounder	Person how owned the local pound where stray animals ie cattle, horses and sheep would be rounded up. The owners of these animals would have to pay the Pounder a fee to retrieve their animals.
Powder Monkey	Young boys - and sometimes women - employed to supply naval guns with their powder charges from the magazines below the waterline. Boys were usually employed because the gun (Orlop) decks were very low for stability reasons, and grown men would have found it difficult to move around at speed in those situations.
Power Loom Tuner	Maintained the weaving looms
Powler	Barber
Poynter	Lace maker
Preceptor/ Preceptress	School Master / School Mistress
Prentis	Apprentice
Presser Off	A cotton warehouseman employee who gave garments their final pressing before packing.
Pressman	Operated a printing press
Prick Louise	Tailor
Pricker	1) Witch hunter 2) Pattern Maker 3) Horseman
Prig Napper	Horse Thief
Proctor	University official
Prop Bobby	Checked the pit props in mines
Prothonary	Law clerk
Prow Smith	In shipbuilding, was resposible for laying out the prows and the keel of a vesssel
Publican	Innkeeper - still in use
Puddler	Wrought iron or clay worker - see Iron Puddler & Clay Puddler
Puggard	Thief
Pugger	Trod clay to produce the mix for brick making. Often women & children
Punky	Chimney Sweep
Purefinder / Pure Gatherer	Old women & young girls who collected dog droppings used in the tanning industry
Purl Seller	Sold purl by boat to other river craft users. Purl was a potent mixture of beer and gin.
Putter	Hauled coal tubs in the mines.
Putter-in	Input materials in mechanical processes - varied.
Pykemonger	Dealer in pike and other freshwater fish.