Old Name |
New Name or Meaning |
Daguerreotype Artist |
Early photographer - derived from Daguerre's method |
Damster |
Dam builder - for logging |
Danter |
Female overseer in silk winding room |
Dateler/Dataller/Day Man/ Daytaleman/Day Labourer |
Casual worker, employed on a daily basis |
Dauber/Dawber |
Made Wattle & Daub walls using 'Lute', a tenacious clay. |
Day-maid |
Dairymaid |
Deal Porter |
A specialistworker in the docks - mainly London, handling baulks of softwood or "deal" between ship and shore. |
Deathsman |
Executioner - very popular! |
Decimer / Dozener |
Elected by householders in a street to represent them at the Court Leet |
Decoyman |
Decoyed wild fowl, animals, into a trap or within shooting range |
Decretist |
Knowledgeable in decrees (decretals) |
Deemer/Deemster/
Dempster/Demster |
Judge |
Delaine Weaver |
Made delaine, a light all-wool cloth of plain weave, usually printed. From the French laine, meaning wool. De laine - 'from wool' |
Delfman |
Sold "Delf", which is earthenware from Delft, Holland. |
Delfsman / Delphman |
Worker in quarries or open pits, usually quarrying stone |
Delver |
Ditch digger - also a worker in a stone quarry. |
Dental Mechanic |
Made false teeth - a very skilled job (Mechanic meant a craftsman or artisan) |
Depater |
Refined precious metals |
Deputy |
Pit workers' safety officer |
Devil |
Printer's errand boy |
Deviller |
Operated a "devil" - a machine that tore rags in the textile industry |
Dexter |
Dyer |
Dey Wife |
Female dairy worker |
Die Sinker |
When forging metals, lays out, machines, and finishes impression cavities in die blocks to produce forging dies, following blueprints and applying knowledge of die sinking |
Digger |
1) Coal face worker 2) Day labourer in slate of stone quarries |
Dikeman / Dykeman |
Ditch digger or hedger |
Dipper |
Glazed goods in the pottery |
Disher / Dish Thrower |
Made bowls and dishes from clay |
Dish Turner |
Made wooden bowls and dishes on a lathe |
Distributor |
Parish official who attended to the secular needs of inmates of the poorhouse / workhouse |
Docker / Dock Walloper |
Stevedore, dock worker who loads and unloads cargo |
Dock Foyboatman |
A shore-based seaman who worked a "foy" to give assistance to vessels entering port - running lines from the ship to shore, towing small vessels etc. Foy is a corruption of fee, which was what the boatman charged |
Docket Room Hand |
Employed in a print works, processing the dockets which contain all the details, copy and pictures for a print job |
Dockmaster |
In charge of a dockyard |
Doffer |
Worked in the spinning mills, replacing the full yarn bobbins with empties on the looms. More Info. |
Dog Breaker |
Dog trainer |
Dog Killer |
Employed by the parish to round up and kill stray dogs |
Dog Leech |
Veterinarian |
Dog-Whipper |
Drove dogs away from the church. The dogs would be attracted by the custom of nailing fox tails to the church door as proof for collecting bounty on them |
Domesman |
Judge |
Dominie |
Cleric or schoolmaster |
Donkey Man/Boy |
Passenger carriage driver |
Dorcas |
Seamstress |
Doubler |
Operated a machine twisting yarn in cotton/woolen mills. The yarn on different bobbins is combined onto another bobbin |
Dowser / Diviner |
Finds water using a rod or witching stick |
Dragman |
Fisherman who dragged a net along the sea bed (trawling) |
Dragoman |
Interpreter for Turkish or Arabic |
Dragoon |
Cavalryman |
Dragsman |
Public transport/hire coach/carriage driver |
Drainer |
Dug drains |
Draper |
Dealer in fabrics and sewing goods - in use today. From the French "drap-de-Berry", a woollen cloth coming from Berry in France |
Drapery Painter |
Second-rate painters employed painting the clothes (drapery) onto a painter's subject |
Drawboy |
Weavers assistant - sat on the looms to lift the heavy warps |
Drawer |
1) Made wire by drawing the metal through a die 2) Raised the coal up the mineshaft |
Drawer In |
Draws the warp yarn through loom parts to arrange warp for weaving specified pattern More Info |
Drayman |
Drove a long strong cart without fixed sides for carrying heavy loads, such as beer kegs |
Dredgerman |
1) Collected flotsam from the Thames for sale 2) Oyster fisherman |
Dresser |
1) A surgeon's assistant in a hospital 2) Operator who assembled the yarns or threads prior to weaving of cloth 3) Assistant to a noble person, preparing clothes etc. 4) In an Iron Foundry, the person who removed the flash and unwanted bits from castings |
Dressing Machine Maker |
Sewing machine maker |
Drift Maker |
Made fishermen's drift nets |
Drillman |
Agricultural worker who operated a seed drill |
Dripping Man |
Dealer in dripping - fat from cooking meat |
Driver |
Literally, a slave driver |
Drover |
Drove cattle, sheep, etc. to market; a dealer in cattle |
Drowner |
A Waterman who understood the secrets of irrigation See |
Drugger |
Pharmacist |
Drum Battledore Maker |
Made galvanized drums with battledores (bat-shaped paddles), used as washing machines |
Drummer |
Travelling salesman (drumming up business) |
Dry Salter |
1) Dealt in dried meat, sauces, pickles 2) Dealt in dyes for fabrics etc. |
Dry Stone Waller /
Dry Stane Dyker (Scottish) |
Builds walls with stones from the fields. The art involves no mortar or cutting, but the ability to see where the stones should fit. Served the dual purpose of disposing of the stones from the fields and building the boundary walls |
Dubber |
Cloth dubber - raised the nap of cloth |
Duffer |
Peddler of cheap goods |
Dunner |
Debt collector |
Dyer |
Fabric dyer |
Dykeman |
Hedger or Ditcher |
Dyker |
(Scottish) Stonemason |