Olde Occupations
Q - S
A | B | C | D-E | F-G | H-L | M-P | Q-S | T-Z |
Qhylwryghte | wheelwright |
Quarrel Picker | glazier |
Quarrier | quarry worker |
Quarryman | quarry worker |
Quiller | operated a machine that wound yarn onto spools |
Quilter | quilted material |
Quiltress | quilted material |
Quister | bleached things |
Rack Maiden | girl employed in the tin mines of Cornwall to dress the ore |
Raff Merchant | seller of fiber used to make raffia bags etc |
Raffman | dealt in raff (saleable rubbish) |
Rag and Bone Man | went from street to street with a cart and collected any old rubbish |
Rag Cutter | 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 |
Rag Man | went from street to street collecting and selling old clothes and rags |
Rag Picker | sorted through the left over rags to find reusable ones |
Rail Stran'er | iron industry worker |
Raker | street sanitation worker |
Ratoner | rat catcher |
Rattlewatch | town watchman |
Reckoner | worked in the tinplate manufacturing industry |
Rectifier | distilled alcoholic spirits |
Redar | interpreter of dreams |
Reddsman | employed in maintaining mine haulage ways |
Redesman | employed in maintaining mine haulage ways |
Redsman | employed in maintaining mine haulage ways |
Redsmith | goldsmith |
Reeder | worked with reeds for hedging or thatching |
Reedmaker | made the pipe for a musical instrument; made a weavers implement (a reed), reed cloth or the comb used in tapestry |
Reeler | operated the machine that wound the yarn onto the bobbin |
Reeve | church warden |
Reever | shriever |
Refiners | worked in the tinplate manufacturing and iron industries |
Registrar | official who registers events such as land purchases or births |
Relieving Officer | organized parish relief; acted as a Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths |
Renovator | repaired clothing |
Revenuer | federal officer enforcing the law against illegal manufacturing of whisky |
Rickmaster | captain of horse |
Riddler | wool stapler |
Riding officers | customs officers on horseback set up on the coast in 1688 to prevent smuggling |
Riftere | reaper |
Rigger | hoist tackle worker; works on a ship's rigging |
Ripper | seller of fish; maker and seller of baskets; miners who 'ripped' away the roof and floor of a seam in a mine to allow sufficient height to bring horses up to the coal face |
Rippier | seller of fish; maker and seller of baskets |
Riser | worked in the tinplate manufacturing industry |
Riverman | worker on a river boat |
Roadman | coal mine worker who maintained the condition of the main underground roadways |
Rockgetter | rock salt miner |
Rockman | worked in a quarry usually placing the charges on the rock face |
Rodman | surveyor's assistant |
Roll Turner | carder of wool, cotton etc into rolls prior to spinning |
Roller | iron industry worker |
Roller Cover | covered the rollers for the spinning process |
Rollerman | in a Tin Plate Works - inserted the red hot sheets into the rolls - team captain. |
Rolleyway Man | maintained the underground road in the mines |
Roman Cementer | worked with roman cement used in stuccoing |
Roper | maker of rope or nets |
Rotarius | wheelwright |
Rover | archer or operator of a machine used in cotton mills which prepared the carded fibre into rolls |
Rower | builder of (small) wagon wheels |
Rubbers | worked in the tinplate manufacturing industry |
Rubbisher | sorted the small stones in the quarries |
Rubbler | sorted the small stones in the quarries |
Rugman | dealer in rugs |
Runner | smuggler; messenger; worked for the magistrate - best remembered as Bow Street Runners |
Rustler | cattle thief |
Saddle Tree Maker | made the frames for saddles that the saddler used |
Saddler | maker and repairer of saddles and bridles |
Safernman | grower of saffron |
Saggar Maker | made the fireclay containers in which the stoneware was placed ready for firing |
Sagger Maker | made the fireclay containers in which the stoneware was placed ready for firing |
Saloonist | saloon keeper |
Salt Boiler | obtained salt by boiling water |
Salter | made or dealt in salt |
Samite | maker of a kind of heavy silk stuff |
Samitere | maker of a kind of heavy silk stuff |
Sand Hog | dug the tunnel under the river |
Sandesman | ambassador or messenger |
Sandwichman | wears a sandwich billboard for advertising |
Sarcinet Weaver | silk weaver |
Saucer | made or dealt in salt |
Sauntere | salt maker |
Sausere | salter |
Savant | servant |
Sawbones | physician |
Sawbones | physician |
Sawyer | saws; carpenter |
Say Weaver | made Say, material used for table cloths or bedding |
Scabbler | uses a scabbler (pick) to trim the sides of a tunnel |
Scagiola Maker | made imitation marble |
Scaleraker | employed by the parish to clean the streets |
Scappler | roughly shaped the stone prior to being finished by the stonemason |
Scavelman | employed to keep the waterways and ditches clear |
Scavenger | employed by the parish to clean the streets |
Schrimpschonger | artisan who carves in bone, ivory, or wood |
Schumacker | shoemaker; cobbler |
Scotch Draper | sold goods door to door with payment to be made by installments |
Scotchman | sold goods door to door with payment to be made by installments |
Scourers | worked in the tinplate manufacturing industry |
Screener | screened the ore at the mines surface |
Scribbler | employed in a scibbling mill where the wool was roughly carded before spinning |
Scribe | clerk |
Scriber | employed at the docks to mark the cotton bales with the approximate weight ready for selling by the brokers |
Scribler | minor or worthless author |
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; wrote out legal documents etc; notary public |
Scrutineer | election judge |
Scullery Maid | female servant who performed all the menial tasks |
Scullion | male servant who performed all the menial tasks |
Scutcher | beat the flax to soften the straw in the bundles |
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 | made watch springs |
Sedgeman | skilled workman who applied sedge (type of grass) which was used as an early roofing material |
Seedsman | sower of seeds |
Seinter | girdle maker |
Seler | sadder |
Self Acting Minder | in charge of the automatic spinning mule in the mills |
Sellarius | sadder |
Semi Lorer | maker of leather thongs |
Sempster | seamstress |
Seneschal | senior steward at the Manor |
Serviens | sergeant |
Servus | servant |
Sevier | sieve-maker |
Sewer | tailor or shoemaker |
Sewer Hunter | scavenger who concentrated on the sewers trying to find valuable objects |
Sewer Rat | bricklayer who specialized in making and repairing sewers and tunnels |
Sewing Clerk | collector of clothing piecework |
Sewster | seamstress |
Sexton | cared for and kept up church property; rang bells; dug graves |
Shagreen Case Maker | worked with shagreen leather |
Shanty Man | lumberman |
Sharecropper | tenant farmer who would be paid with part of the crop |
Sharman | raised the surface of woolen cloth and then sheared it to a smooth surface; cutter of woolen cloth |
Shearer | removed the fleece from sheep |
Sheargrinder | sharpened shears, scissors |
Shearman | raised the surface of woolen cloth and then sheared it to a smooth surface; cutter of woolen cloth |
Shearman | shearer of cloth, metal |
Shearman | made worsted |
Sheath Maker | made scabbards for swords |
Sheepman | sheep herder |
Shepster | dressmaker |
Sherman | raised the surface of woolen cloth and then sheared it to a smooth surface; cutter of woolen cloth |
Sherman | shearer of cloth, metal |
Shether | sheather; scabbard maker |
Shifter | miner paid day rate per shift, usually on repair work |
Shingler | roof tiler who used wooden tiles (shingles); employed in Iron Works |
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 |
Shoe Wiper | servant who polished shoes |
Shoesmith | cobbler; shoed horses |
Shop Joyner | housewright |
Shopjoiner | housewright |
Shot Firer | in charge of blasting in mines or quarries |
Shrager | trimmed and pruned trees |
Shrieve | sheriff |
Shuffler | yardman on the farms |
Shunter | moved rolling stock around the railway yards |
Shuster | shoe maker |
Shuttle Maker | made the shuttles for the weaving mills |
Sickleman | reaper |
Sidesman | assisted the churchwarden |
Sifker | sieve maker |
Silk Dresser | prepared the silk for weaving |
Silk Engine Turner | turned the wheel on automatic silk weaving looms |
Silk Mercer | sold silk cloth and items made from silk |
Silk Thrower | worker in the silk industry |
Silk Twister | silk spinner |
Silker | sewed the ends of the fabric to prevent the layers from separating |
Silkmaker Spinster | female spinner |
Silkmaker Throster | male spinner |
Silversmith | worked with silver |
Simpler | agriculturist that we would call herbalist today |
Sissor | tailor |
Sizer | applies size to textiles |
Skeiner Maker | made wheels used in spinning industry upon which yarn was wound |
Skelper | made and sold beehives |
Skepper | made and sold beehives |
Skinker | tapster in an ale house |
Skinner | dealer in hides, mule driver |
Skipmaker | made the skips used in mining and quarrying for moving men or materials to the surface |
Skipper | master of a ship |
Slaper | worked in a pottery preparing the clay for the potter |
Slapper | worked in a pottery preparing the clay for the potter |
Slater | roofer |
Slatter | tiled roofs with slate; tiler |
Slaymaker | maker of reeds or slays (instruments to part threads in weaving) for looms |
Sleymaker | maker of reeds or slays (instruments to part threads in weaving) for looms |
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 | made smallware, e.g. tapes, braids etc |
Smelter | worker in a metal smelter, smelt fisherman |
Smiddy | smith |
Smith | metal worker |
Smugsmith | smuggler |
Snapper | worker in glass factory who placed molded bottle (by neck) into furnace hole |
Snob | shoe repairman |
Snobscat | shoe repairman |
Snuffer Maker | made the candle snuffer |
Soap Boiler | soap maker |
Sojourner Clothier | traveling clothes salesman |
Solicitor | lawyer |
Soper | soap maker |
Sorter | tailor |
Souter | shoe maker |
Soyor | sawyer |
Spallier | tin worker who performs chiefly menial tasks |
Special Constable | man chosen by magistrates to help them keep law and order |
Sperviter | keeper of sparrows |
Spicer | grocer |
Spinner | spins yarn |
Spinster | woman who spins; an unmarried woman |
Spittleman | hospital attendant |
Splitter | operated a splitting machine; split things by hand, e.g. stone, timber etc |
Spooner | made spoons |
Spragger | inserts a piece of wood (sprag) between the wheels of a lorry (truck) to bring it to a standstill |
Spurrer | maker of spurs |
Spurrier | maker of spurs |
Squarewright | carpenter, specifically a furniture maker |
Squire | country gentleman; farm owner; justice of peace; practitioner of a profession, a gentleman |
Stabler | ostler |
Stallman | keeper of a market stall |
Stampman | worker of an ore crushing machine |
Stasyon | probably a stationer |
Stationer | bookseller, seller of paper & writing implements |
Statist | politician |
Staver | senior member of a "butty partnership" of miners, and in charge at the surface |
Stawsun | probably a stationer |
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 | unloads and loads ships' cargoes |
Stever | senior member of a "butty partnership" of miners, and in charge at the surface |
Steward | manager of property; purveyor of supplies; attended passengers on conveyance |
Sticher | does decorative stitching |
Stockinger | knitter, weaver, or dealer in stockings |
Stoker | tends the fire of an engine boiler |
Stokiner | maker or weaver of stockings |
Stone Picker | employed to remove the stones from the farmers fields before planting |
Stone Workers | worked with stone |
Stonedresser | an itinerant worker who re-cut and sharpened millstones |
Stoneman | surveyor of highways |
Stonewarden | surveyor of highways |
Storeman | responsible for stored goods |
Stover | senior member of a "butty partnership" of miners, and in charge at the surface |
Stowyer | stowed the nets away on fishing boats |
Stravaiger | vagrant |
Straw Joiner | thatched roofs |
Straw Plaiter | made straw braids for the hat industry |
Streaker | prepared the body for burial |
Street Boy | street cleaner |
Street Orderly | street cleaner |
Striker | blacksmiths helper; harpooned the whale; worked in the tinplate manufacturing industry |
Stringer | made the strings for bows |
Stripper | employed in the woolen trade to remove the rubbish from the carding machines |
Stuff Gown | junior barrister |
Stuff Weaver | wove stuff (the coarse part of flax) |
Stuffgownsman | junior barrister |
Sucksmith | made ploughshares |
Sugarer | dealer in sugar |
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 | chimneysweep |
Swell Maker | made shallow baskets |
Swineherder | pig keeper |
Swineyard | pig keeper |
Swingler | beats flax to remove woody parts |
Sword Cutler | sword maker |
A | B | C | D-E | F-G | H-L | M-P | Q-S | T-Z |
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