|
Old Name |
New Name or Meaning |
| Backmaker |
Made "Backs" - vats, tubs - a Cooper |
| Backsmann / Backster / Beck / Becker |
Baker |
| Back-Boy |
Kitchen servant - from Back House Boy |
| Back Tenter |
Employed at the back of the weaving looms, clearing away debris. Tenting was a term for watching items or a process. Small children were commonly employed in this dangerous job as they were small enough to work underneath the working loom machinery. |
| Back Washer |
Cleaned wool in worsted manufacture |
| Badger |
1) Licensed pauper - wore a badge with "P" on it and was restricted to working a defined area (origin of "Badgering") 2) Corn Miller or Dealer 3) Itinerant food trader |
| Badgy Fiddler |
Military boy trumpeter |
| Bag Stitchers |
In the Cheshire salt industry, Usually women, who closed the tops of filled bags of coarse salt ready for transport. |
| Bagman |
Travelling salesman |
| Bagniokeeper |
Keeper of a bathhouse or brothel. (From French, baigner, to bathe) |
| Bailie / Bailie / Baillee / Bailiff |
Bailiff - Sheriff's Officer, land steward acting for the landowner/landlord. In Scotland, a magistrate of the Burgh - also looked after fishing rights on some rivers |
| Bairman / Bareman |
Pauper or beggar |
| Bal Maiden |
Female mine worker employed on the surface (Pit Brow Lass) |
| Balancer |
Employed in coal mines to operate a system of hauling coal tubs (Balance) |
| Baler |
1) Baled hay 2) In the mills, one who baled wool or cotton goods |
| Balister |
Archer. Most commonly, a crossbowman |
| Ballad Monger |
Street seller of printed ballad sheets |
| Ballard Master |
In charge of ballasting vessels |
| Ballast Heaver |
Loaded ballast in ships - commonly stone. Necessary when ships were not carrying cargo |
| Baller / Baller Up |
Potter's assistant - measuring out the balls of clay. Also see Cotton Baller |
| Balloon Blower (India) |
Made rubber balloons - (rubber was known as India rubber) |
| Bandsman |
Worked on the ropes and pulleys (bands) in coal pit hoisting arrangements |
| Bandsmith |
Made the bands for barrels |
| Band Filer |
Metalworker in gun making |
| Bandster |
Bound wheat sheaves after harvesting |
| Bang Beggar |
Parish Officer who controlled how long strangers could stay in the Parish |
| Banker |
1) Dug drainage trenches/ditches, banking up the diggings along the edges. 2) General surface worker in coal mining. More Info. |
| Banksman / Bank Manager / Browman |
In charge of the cages at mine pitheads - sometimes known as a Bank Manager. More Info. |
| Bar Collecter |
Collected the tolls (road, bridge etc.) at a Toll Bar |
| Barber, Barber/Surgeon |
Cut hair and also a surgeon. In the 18th Century, an Act was passed, limiting Barbers to hair cutting, shaving, dentistry and bloodletting |
| Bard |
Poet or Minstrel |
| Bareman |
Beggar or Pauper |
| Bargee / Bargeman |
Owned or worked on canal barges |
| Barilla Manufacturer |
Made Banilla, obtained from burning saltwort, the resulting sodium salt used in glass & ceramics |
| Barkeeper |
Tollkeeper - on toll roads |
| Barker / Barkman |
1) Tanner of leather using tree bark 2) Fairground cryer |
| Barleyman / Bylawman |
Manorial Court official who enforced the court orders |
| Barm Brewer |
Made yeast |
| Barmaster |
Lead Mine arbiter. In charge of the standard measure for the lead ore |
| Barrel Filer |
Employed in gun making |
| Barrow Man |
Pushed barrows of coal from pit face to the shaft |
| Bartoner / Barton |
In charge of a monastery farm or barton |
| Basil Worker |
Worked with skins of sheep and goats |
| Basketman |
1) Make wicker baskets & furniture 2) Emptied coal baskets into barges |
| Bass / Bast Dresser |
Dressed fibre for matting |
| Bathing Machine Proprietor |
Owned and hired out changing huts used by bathers at the seaside |
| Batman |
Army officers' servant - still current |
| Batt Maker |
Made the wadding (batts) used in quilt and mattress making |
| Battledore Maker |
Made the wicker beaters used on clothes & carpets to beat out the dust. Later made the paddles used in early washing machines |
| Battery Man |
The term 'Battery' is derived from the latin 'Battere', meaning to beat (Old French - 'Batteria'). A'Brass Battery Mill' is therefore a mill adapted for the manufacture of brass products (hollow-ware) by the beating of brass slabs (naps) using water-driven hammers. More Info |
| Bauer |
A Farmer |
| Baven Maker |
Made bavens - split and curled wood pieces used for kindling |
| Baxter |
Baker |
| Bayweaver |
Wove "Bay"(baize) a fine woollen felt like fabric |
| Bead Piercer |
Made the holes in bead making |
| Beadle / Bedel / Bedell |
Town crier and parish officer who kept order |
| Beadman / Beadsman / Bedesman |
1) Manorial tenant employed for a specific purpose 2) Inhabitant of a Poorhouse, Almshouse or Hospital 3) Employed to pray for his employer |
| Beamer |
Drew the warp yarn through and onto the long heavy beam of a loom for weaving textiles |
| Bearer |
Carried coal to the pit shaft and placed it in containers for lifting to the surface |
| Beater / Fuller |
Cleaned and thickened cloth by treading it in water with Fuller's Earth |
| Beaterman |
Managed the Hollander Beater (invented in the 16th century in Holland) in a paper mill. A
beater beats and crushes raw material, bruising and driving water inside the
fibres |
| Beatster |
Made or mended drift nets used in fishing |
| Beaver |
Made felt for hat making |
| Bedman |
Sexton |
| Bedral |
Minor Scottish church official |
| Bedwevere |
Made webbing for bed frames and also wove quilts |
| Beer Seller |
Sold Beer and Cider in Beerhouses under the 1830 Beerhouse Act. More Info |
| Beeskep Maker |
Made beehives |
| Beetler |
Operated the Beetling Machine, used for embossing textiles. The Beetling Machine was also used to give a Shiny effect to cloth as the pressure of the wooden rollers during the squeezing (mangling) of the Cotton Cloth added lustre |
| Belhoste |
Tavern keeper |
| Bell Hanger |
Hung bells in church towers |
| Belleyetere / Belter / Billiter |
Bellfounder - bell maker |
| Bellman |
1) Watchman or town crier 2) Worked for the Post Office, collecting mail by walking the streets ringing a bell Coaches then transported the mail |
| Bellowfarmer |
Maintained the church organ (which was bellows operated) |
| Belly Builder |
Built and fitted piano bellies or interiors |
| Belly Roller |
Operated a machine which rolled and compacted fibres on the belly of cattle hides |
| Beltman |
Changed and maintained the drive belts used in factory machinery |
| Benchman |
In chairmaking, cut out the seat portion |
| Bender |
1) Leather cutter 2) Bent wooden chair parts |
| Besom Maker |
Broom maker, usually of birch twigs |
| Besswarden |
Appointed by a parish to look after its animals |
| Biddy |
Female servant - usually Irish |
| Billier / Billyman |
Operated a Billy Roller, used to prepare cotton for spinning |
| Bill Poster |
As today, put up notices, signs and posters |
| Binder |
Bound books, hats etc. |
| Bird Boy |
Scared away birds from crops |
| Bird Catcher |
Caught birds for sale |
| Birlyman |
Scottish ground officer or parish arbiter |
| Black Borderer |
Made black edged funerary stationery |
| Black Saddler |
Maker of cart and carriage saddlery and harness, and generally work with black leather |
| Black Tray Maker |
Made black (Japanned) trays |
| Blacksmith |
Worked (still does) iron with forge and hammer. |
| Blackworker |
Embroidered "blackwork" using black silks on, commonly, white fabric |
| Blacking Maker |
Made boot polish (usually using soot) |
| Bladesmith |
Made swords, knives etc. |
| Blaxter / Bleacher /Bleacherer |
Bleached cloth or wood pulp for paper in a "Bleachery" |
| Blemmere |
Plumber |
| Blentonist |
Water diviner |
| Blindsman |
Dealt with incorrectly addressed mail for the Post Office |
| Block Cutter / Blocker |
1)Made wooden blocks for hat making 2)Laid the blocks for laying of a ship's keel in shipbuilding 3)Cut designs into wooden blocks for printing fabrics 4)Quarryman, whose job was to cut stone into useable blocks |
| Block Maker |
1) Engraved or set up the blocks used in block printing 2)Made pulley blocks 3) Made hatmakers' blocks. |
| Block Printer |
Printed paper or fabrics by the use of inked and carved or engraved wooden blocks. (Block Printing) |
| Bloodman / Bloodletter |
Used leeches to let blood, thought to be the cure for many ailments. Now being looked at again! |
| Bloomer / Bloom Smith |
Produced iron from iron ore |
| Blower |
1) Glass blower; 2) Operated a "blowing machine" to clean and separate textile fibres 3) Operated the blacksmith's bellows |
| Blowfeeder |
Fed the fibres into a blowing machine |
| Blue Dyer/Maker |
Used/made blue dye for whitening fabrics in manufacture or washing |
| Blue Slater |
Split blue roofing slates from rock from the Welsh hills |
| Bluestocking |
Female writer. From the Blue Stocking Society, formed in the 1750s and who wore blue stockings |
| Bluffer |
Innkeeper or pub landlord |
| Boarder |
Term used for a Lodger - usually dined with the family, whilst a Lodger did not |
| Boarding Officer |
Port official who inspects ship's papers on port entry - still exists |
| Boardman |
1) Truant officer for checking school attendance 2) Manorial tenant who paid rent by maintaining the manor house table |
| Boardwright |
Carpenter. Made tables and chairs |
| Boatman |
1) Worked on river and canal boats 2) Boat repairer |
