text:
Dictionary of Occupations |
ACATER - supplied food provisions
ACCIPITRARY - falconer
ACCOMPTANT - accountant
ACCOUCHEUR / ACCOUCHEUS - assisted women in childbirth
ACCOUTREMENT 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
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
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 councillor 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 recored 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
ALMSMAN - received alms
ALNAGER - official who examined the quality of woolen goods and
stamped them with the town seal of approval
AMANUENSIS - secretary or
AMBER CUTTER - cut ambergris
AMBER & JET CUTTER - cut and polished amber for jewelry
AMBLER - officer of the Royal Stable who broke in horses \par
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 ie. flat iron bars bent at
right angles lengthways
ANKLE BEATER - young person who helped to drive the cattle to
ANNATTO MAKER - worked in the manufacture of dyes for paint or
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
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 \par 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 - highly respected skilled or artistic worker or
craftsman or one that makes or contrives
ASHMAN - dustman
ASSAYER - determined the proportions of metal in ore
ASSAY MASTER - determined the amount of gold or silver to go in
AUGER MAKER - made the carpenters augers (used for boring holes
in wood)
AULNAGER - see Alnager
AURIFABER - goldsmith
AVENATOR (PLANTIFENE) - hay and forage merchant
AVOWRY - term for the lord of the manor
AXEL TREE MAKER / AXEL TREE TURNER - made axels for coaches and
BACKMAKER - made
"backs", vats, tubs, a Cooper
BACKMANN / BACKSTER / BAXTER / BECK / BECKER - baker
BACK'US BOY - kitchen servant (from "back of the
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
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 / BALLER 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 also a surgeon (an Act
was passed that limited Barbers to hair-cutting, shaving,
dentistry and blood letting in the 18th century)
BARD - poet or minstral
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
BARTONER - 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 - officers 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
BAUER - farmer
BAXTER - baker
BAYWEAVER - who wove bay (a fine woollen fabric also known as
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 undergrpound 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 fullers earth (aka Fuller)
BEAVER - made felt used in hat making \par
BEDMAN - sexton \par
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
BELHOSTE - tavern keeper
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
BESOM MAKER - made brooms
BESSWARDEN - appointed by the parish to look after its animals
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 BORDERER - made black edged stationery for funerals
BLACK TRAY MAKER - made Japanned trays
BLACKING MAKER - made polish for shoes
BLADESMITH - swordmaker 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
blockcutter was also a person who made and cut the patterns into
wooden blocks for textile printing
BLOCK MAKER - engraved the blocks used in the printin
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
BOBBIN CARRIER - worked in spinning and weaving sections of the
BOBBIN TURNER - made the bobbins used in the spinning and weaving
BOBBY - policeman usually of constable rank
BODEYS / BODY MAKER - made bodices for womens 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
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
eg wine flasks or water bottles
BOTTLE BOY - pharmacists assistant
BOTTOM KNOCKER - sagger makers assistant in the pottery industry
BOTTOM MAKER - moulded the bottoms for saggers in the pottery
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 - worker with brass
BREWSTER - female brewer or brewer
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
BUCK WASHER - laundress
BUCKLE TONGUE MAKER - made the metal points that go in the holes
of a belt
BUCKLER / BUCKLESMITH - made buckles
BUCKRAM MAKER - worked with buckram (used in stiffening
materials) e.g. belts, lapels and collars
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
BULLOCKY - attended to the daily needs of cattle and may also
have lent a hand with general farm duties, especially during busy
BULLWHACKER - oxen driver
BUMBOAT MAN - met ships at anchor with goods for passengers and
crew to purchase
BUMMAREE - middle man between the wholesaler and the retailer at
the fish markets
BUMMER - army deserter
BUNTER - female rag & bone collector
BURELER - made borel, a woollen cloth with a coarse feel
BURGESS - represented a borough at official levels
BURGOMASTER - 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
BUSKER - hair dresser and also a street entertainer
BUSS MAKER - maker of guns
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 \par 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
CANCELLARIUS - chancellor
CANER / CHAIR BOTTOMER - made the seats for chairs out of woven
CANNALLER - canal boat worker
CANTER - religious speaker who uses cant
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 \par 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
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 - filled up cracks (in ships or windows) or seams to make
them watertight
CEILER - puts up the ceilings in
CELLARMAN - looked after the beer, wines and spirits in public
houses or the warehouse
CEMMER - hand combed the yarn before weaving \par CHAFF CUTTER -
made chaff by cutting straw
CHAFFERER - dealer in chaff
CHAIR BODGER - traveling chair repairman
CHAISE MAKER - made carts from wicker
CHALONER - dealer in shalloon, a material
CHAMBERLAIN - steward to either royalty or nobility, in charge of
the household
CHAMBERMAID - female servant attending to bedrooms in houses or
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 - candle seller, grocer, provisioner, usually associated
with provisioning ships
CHANTY MAN - sailor that led the singing of shanties on board
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
suppiled the labour
CHARWOMAN - cleaning woman
CHATELAINE - mistress of a castle or house
CHECKWEIGHMAN - employed by a group of miners paid piecework (by
the ton mined) to check coal weight recorded by the mine
CHIFFONIER - wig maker or ragpicker
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
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 - 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
CLERICUS - clerk
CLERK - clergyman or cleric
CLICKER - worked in the shoe trade cutting out the lowers 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 \par
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
ofloading off goods on the coast
COBBLER - shoemaker
COBLEMAN - used a flat bottomed boat for fishing
COCUS - cook
COD PLACER - put fire proof containers which held the pottery for
firing into the kiln
COHEN - a priest
COINER - worked at the mint stamping out coins
COLLAR MAKER - made horse collars and one who made shirt collars
COLLIER - coal miner, a coal merchant or one who worked on the
coal barges
COLONUS - Latin for farmer or husbandman
COLPORTEUR - traveling Bible or religious book salesman
COLOURATOR / COLORATORA - worked with dyes
COLOUR MAN - mixed the dyes in the textile trade and also
assistant to a house painter
COMBER or 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 \par CONFECTIONER - candy maker
CONNER - inspector or tester
COOPER or CUPER - maker of barrels
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
CORDINER / CORDWAINER / CORVINER / CORVISOR - originally term
used for one who worked with Cordovan (a special leather from
Spain) but later term used for shoemaker
CORPORAL (or Doggy) - man in charge of underground haulage hands
COSTERMONGER - fruit seller
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
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 - cures or tans hides
CUSTOMER - customs tax collector
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
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 Isles 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
DEXTER - dyer
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 / DOCK WALLOPER - dock worker, longshoreman
DOCK MASTER - in charge of a dockyard \par DOG LEECH -
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 / DIVINER - water finder
DRAGMAN - fisher man 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 stage coach or carriage used for
public transport or private hire
DRAGOON - mounted infantryman
DRAINER - made drains
DRAPER - dealer in fabrics and sewing needs
DRAWBOY - weavers assistant in the shawl making mills , they sat
atop the looms and lifted the heavy warps.
DRAYMAN - cart driver
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 - one who dresses another, surgeon's assistant and also
one who operated a machine which prepared threads in the textile
DRESSING MACHINE MAKER - made sewing machines
DRIFT MAKERA - 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 - sheep or cattle driver
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 of cheap goods
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
variuos stones would fit together
DYER - employed in the textile mills to color fabric prior to
DYKER - Scottish term for a stonemason
EALDORMAN - an official of the shire courts who
acted as the King's deputy taking payment from the profits of the
EBONITE TURNER - one who worked with ebonite or vulcanite, making
combs or ornaments etc
EARER - plowwman
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 - who sold oil used for lamps and known as an
ELYMAKER - oilmaker
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
EXCISEMAN - excise tax collector
EXPRESSMAN - person employed in the express business
EYER - one who made eyes in needles used for sewing. Sometimes
called a Holer
FABER - artisan or workman
FABRICATOR - maker
FACTOR - an agent employed by merchants to transact business of
buying and selling and a Scottish term for the steward of an
estate responsible for collection of land rents
FAGETTER - made up faggots into bundles, seller of firewood
FAKER - photographic assistant who added color to photographs by
hand before color film was available
FALCONER - 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 - horse shoer or blacksmith
FAWKNER - trainer of falcons
FEAR-NOTHING MAKER - weaver of 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
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 - remover of hair or wool from hides in leather
FELTER - worker in the hatting industry
FERONER - ironmonger
FERRETER - dealer in or manufacturer of ferret, ie. silk tape
FETTLER - cleaned the machinery in woollen mills, removing
accumulated fibres, grease, etc., sharpened the fustian cutters
knives or needlemaker who filed the needle to a point
FEVER - blacksmith
FEWSTER - maker of saddletrees
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
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 - arrowsmith (from French fleche).
FLOATER - vagrant or one who regulated the year-round workings of
the watermeadows 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
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
FORESTER - game warden or forest ranger
FORGEMAN - blacksmith or assistant (coachsmith 18th century
FORGER - blacksmith, worker at a forge \p
FOSSETMAKER - who made faucets for ale-casks, etc
FOWER - street cleaner, sweeper
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 - hair dresser
FROBISHER / FURBISHER / FURBER / FURBOUR - remover of rust, a
polisher of metal, eg. armour
FRUITERER - fruit seller
FRUITESTERE - female fruit seller
FULKER - pawnbroker
FULLER - cloth worker who shrinks, beats and presses the cloth
(also see WALKER)
FUNAMBULIST - tightrope walker
FURBISHER - armor polisher
FURNER - baker
FURRIER - seller or maker of furs
FUSTIAN WEAVER - maker of corduroy
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 - jailer
GARCIFER / GARCIO - groom; attendant
GARLEKMONGER - garlicmonger; dealer in garlic
GARTHMAN - owner or worker of a fish trap
GAS MANAGER - forman 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 - userer and in the Forest of Dean, an officer fo the
Crown who granted gales or the right to work a mine and in
Suffolk a harvest worker, usually female
GETTER - produced coal at the coal face
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
GLASSEWRYGHT - glasswright; maker and mender of glassware
GLAZIER - glass cutter or window classman
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
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 - streetseller of common weeds,
used to feed pet songbirds
GUINEA PIG - an unattached, or roving person whose fee was usally
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 - 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
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
HANGER-ON / HOOKER-ON / ONSETTER -- hung corves (originally
baskets) on rope at the pit-bottom; later used for man who pushed
tubs of coal into the mine-shaft cage
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
HATCHLER - combed out or carded flax
HATTER - maker of or dealer in hats
HAWKER / HUCKSTER - peddler
HAYMONGER - dealer in hay
HAYWARD - fence viewer
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
HELLO GIRL - telephone employee in the early 1900s
HELPER-UP - young boy employed in Durham pits to help other
HEMPHECKLER - 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
\par HIGGLER - one who haggles or bargains or itinerant dealer,
similar to a cadger
HIGHWAYMAN - robber who preys on public roads
HILLARD / HILLER / HILLIER - covered houses with slate; tiler
HIND - farm laborer
HIRED MAN - gardener, farmhand, or stableman
HOBBLER - boat tower on a river or canal \par
HODSMAN - mason's assistant
HOGGARD - pig drover
HOGHEAD / HOGGER - railroad engineer or train driver
HOLSTER - groom who took care of horses
HONEY DIPPER - extracted raw sewage from catch basins and
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 (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 horse hair 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
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
INTELLIGENCER - spy
INTENDENT - director of a public or government business
INTERFACTOR - murderer
IRON FOUNDER - one who founds or iron
IRON MONGER - dealer in hardware made of iron (also known as a
IRON MASTER - owner or manager of a foundry
IVORY WORKERS - included makers of combs, boxes, billard balls,
buttons, and keys for pianofortes
JACK - young male assistant, sailor, or
JACK-FRAME TENTER - cotton industry worker who operated a
jack-frame, used for giving a twist to the thread \par JACK-SMITH
- maker of lifting machinery and contrivances
JAGGER - carrier, carter, pedlar or hawker of fish; 19th century,
young boy in charge of 'jags'or train of trucks in coal mine; man
in charge of pack horse carrying iron ore to be smelted
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
JOYNER or JOINER - skilled carpenter
JONGLEUR - traveling minstrel
JOURNEYMAN / JORMAN - one who served his apprenticeship and
mastered his craft; properly, one who no longer is bound to serve
for years but is hired day to day
JOUSTER - fish monger
KEDGER - fisherman
KEEKER - colliery official who checked quantity and quality of
coal output or weighman
KEELER / KEELMAN - bargeman (from keel, a flat bottomed boat)
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 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 - chimmney 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
LAGRAETMAN - local constable (Law-Rightman)
LAMPA / LAMPE - Swedish and German for glass blower, i.e. oil
lamp maker
LARDNER - keeper of the cupboard
LASTER - shoe maker
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
LEECH or 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
LONG SONG SELLER - street seller who sold popular songsheets
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 saltmaker,
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
MALSTER - brewer, maker or seller of malts
MANCIPLE - 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 shoesmith
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
MASON - stonecutter
MASTER - one of three grades of skill recognised by the Guild of
MASTER LUMPER - contractor of laborers at cheap rate of pay
MASTER MARINER - ship's captain
MASTER-SHIFTER - in charge on repair shift
MATCHET FORGER - knifemaker
MAWER - mower
MEALMAN - dealer in meal or flour
MELDER - corn miller
MERCATOR - merchant
MERCER - cloth seller
METERER - poet
MIDWIFE - experience woman who assists in child
MILESMAN / LENGTHSMAN - railway worker who had a length of
railway track to keep in good order
MILLER - 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 womens' hats
MILLWRIGHT - designer & builder of mills or mill machinery
MILSTONE INSPECTOR - vagrant, a gentleman of the road
MINTMAKER or MINTMASTER - issuer of 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
MOLITOR - miller
MONDAYMAN - one who worked for landowner on Mondays in lieu of
MONGER - (i.e., fish) - dealer
MONTHLY NURSE - someone who assisted women during the first month
after giving birth
MOULDER - maker of molds 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
MUGSELLER - seller of cups, mugs
MULE MINDER - minded the spinning mules in the cotton mills
MULESKINNER - teamster
MULETEER - mule driver
MULTURER - miller
MUSICKER - musician
MUSLIN SEWER / MUSLIN FLOWERER - tambouring muslin cloth for
household use which would be called embroidery today
MUSTARDER / MUSTARDMAN - made and dealt in mustard
NAGELSCHMIEDMEISTER - master nailsmith
NAGSMAN - a person who schools horses, usually for his employer
NAPERER - royal servant in charge of table linen
NAPIER - naperer
NARROW WEAVER - weaver of ribbons, tapes, etc
NAVIGATOR - laborer building canals or railways
NEATHERD - cowherder
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 - 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
ORRERY MAKER - made a mechanical apparatus for showing the
movements of the planets (named after the Earl of Orrery the
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 - official below Undermanager but above Deputy in mining
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
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
PANNIER MAN - fish monger
PANNIFEX - somebody who worked in the cloth trade
PANTER - keeper of the pantr
PANTLER - butler
PAPERER - inserted the needles into the paper ready for sale in
the needlemaking trade
PAPER RULER - operated a machine in the 19th century printing
industry who was a skilled worker/operator who set up several
inking pens in a machine,by the same name, designed to draw or
ink lines on paper
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 pupose 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
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 - wigmaker
PESSONER - fish monger
PETERMAN - fisherman
PETTIFOGGER - shyster lawyer
PETTY CHAPMAN - itinerant dealer in small goods, a pedlar
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
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
PIGMAN - one who sold crockery or bred or looked after pigs on
the farm
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 make
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
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
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 hundireds
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
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 or gatekeeper
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
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
PUMPMAKER - around the turn of the 19th century as canals were
becomeing important the word pumpmaker denoted a maker of canal
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 - worked clay into puddle, worked with puddle to make
things water tight eg canal walls or worked in puddling iron
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 indefinate 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 AND 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 left over rags to find re usable
RAKER - street sanitation worker
RATONER - rat catcher
RATTLEWATCH - town watchman
RECTIFIER - one who distilled alcoholic spirits
REDAR - interpreter of dreams
REDSMAN / REDDSMAN / REDESMAN - was employed in maintaining mine
haulage ways
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
REELER - operated the machine that wound the yarn onto the bobbin
REEVE - church warden
REEVER - shriever
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; works on a ship's rigging
RIPPER / RIPPIER - one who sold fresh water fish at the markets
or maker and seller of baskets
RIVERMAN - worker on a river boat
ROCKMAN - worked in a quarry usually placing the charges on the
ROCKGETTER - rocksalt miner
ROLLER COVERER - one who covered the rollers for the spinning
ROLLEYWAY MAN - maintained the underground road in the mines
ROLL TURNER - carder of wool, cotton etc into rolls prior to
ROMAN CEMENTER / PLASTERER - 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 made saddles, harnesses,
horse collars, bridles
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
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 - saws timber to boards
SAY WEAVER - one who made Say, material used for table cloths or
SCAGIOLA MAKER - one who made imitation marble
SCALERAKER / SCAVENGER - employed by the parish to clean the
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
SCRIBLER - a minor or worthless author
SCRIMER - fencing master
SCRIVENER - clerk, notary
SCRIBBLER - employed in a scibbling mill where the wool was
roughly carded before spinning
SCRIBER - employed at the docks to mark the cotton bales with the
approximate weight ready for selling by the brokers
SCRIPTURE READER - employed by the local clergy to go from house
to house reading parts of the bible to try and encouragepeople to
attend church, also read scriptures during some services
SCRIVENER - wrote out legal documents etc
SCRUTINEER - election judge
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
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 cared and upkept
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
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
SHIFTER - miner paid day rate per shift, usually on repair work
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
SHOPJOINER / SHOP JOYNER - housewright
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
SILK THROWER - worker in the silk industry
SILKER - sewed the ends of the fabric to prvent the layers from
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 readymade clothes in a slop shop
SLUBBER - operated the machine used to prepare cotton for
SLUBBER DOFFER - removed the bobbins from the spindles in the
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
SMITH - metal worker
SMUGSMITH - smuggler
SNAPPER - worker in glass factory who placed molded bottle (by
neck) into furnace hole
SNOBSCAT - one who repair shoes
SNUFFER MAKER - made the candle snuffer
SOAP BOILER (SOPER) - soap maker
SOJOURNER CLOTHIER - travelling clothes salesman
SOLICITOR - lawyer
SORTOR - tailor
SOUTER - shoe maker
SPALLIER - tin worker who performs chiefly menial tasks
SPERVITER - keeper of sparrows
SPICER - grocer or dealer in spices
SPINNER - spins yarn
SPLITTER - operated a splitting machine or one who split things
by hand, e.g. stone, timber etc
SPOONER - made spoons
SPURRER or SPURRIER - maker of spurs
SQUIRE - (esquire) practitioner of a profession, a gentleman
SUPERCARGO - officer on merchant ship in charge of cargo
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
STEVEDORE - laborer who unloads and loads ships' cargoes
STEWARD - manager of property, purveyor of supplies or someone
who attended passengers on conveyance
STICHER - 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 eg masons, quarriers etc
STOREMAN - one responsible for stored goods
STOVER / STEVER/ STAVER -- senior member of a "butty
partnership" of miners, and in charge at the surface
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
SUTLER - followed soldiers to encampments, set up tents to sell
supplies, foodstuffs and dry goods
SUTLER - merchant or peddler in an army camp
SWAILER - miller or dealer in grain
SWAIN - herdsman
SWEEP - chimneysweep
SWELL MAKER - one who made shallow baskets
SWINEYARD / SWINEHERDER - pig keeper
SWINGLER - one who beats flax to remove woody parts
SWORD CUTLER - sword maker


text:
Even though I'm not involved in research of Bitcoin anymore because my work on Bitmessage takes almost all of my time, as a dedicated HODLer I feel it as my obligation to try to explain to the people interested in Bitcoin why the discord exists, and why it's pointless to spend time on it. I hope that it will help people deeply think about their own values, and use them productively instead.
The conflict is often explained as a governance problem. I think this while there is an element of truth in it, misses the point. The reason for the conflict isn't a lack of procedures, but an emphasis of the differences in values.
Main axis: conservative versus progressive
The main reason why there is discord is the conservative vs. progressive affinity of the members of each groups. The "Bitcoin Core" group tends to be more conservative whereas the "Bitcoin Unlimited" tends to be more progressive. For the purposes of this article, I'll differentiate betwen the groups by their reaction to obstacles with respect to the existing rules; when facing an obstacle, the conservatives delay changing the rules and try to find a solution within, while the progressives more readily embrace a rule change and consider it as a part of solution. Conservatives view the rules as containing a historic wisdom which may not be apparent. Progressives view them as contextual and as a reaction to contemporary phenomena.
These tendencies are a naturally occurring phenomenon and are largely influenced by psychology. They reflect themselves in all areas of life. People are unlikely to change their affinity. They associate themselves with people with similar affinities, and the community membership gives them a sense of belonging. If someone tries to treat obstacles in a way conflicting with their affinity, they will view it as an attack on their values, and follow by an immediate counter by any means available. Typical reactions are accusations of being a traitor (collaboration with the enemy), segregating their opinions (censorship), ridicule and other ad hominems. It happens in politics (Brexit, Trump), or in religion (the different branches of Christianity or Islam). Even in cases when there is some element of truth in the accusations, they are mainly a symptom rather than a cause of the problem.
Unfortunately, psychology tends to catch up even well educated, highly experienced and an otherwise reasonable people, and they go full retard. This causes an enormous waste of resources, which otherwise could be spent on productive endeavours. Perhaps millenia ago, in hunter / gatherer societies, such a reaction to conflict made more sense, as there may not have been enough time to discuss the allocation of resources rationally.
People in the Bitcoin community of all should acknowledge that some people are naturally more conservative and some more progressive. This would help to calm down the situation.
Secondary axis: collectivism versus individualism
A second characteristic, orthogonal to the conservative / progressive one, is an affinity towards collectivism versus individualsim. Collectivists want everyone to adhere to a broad set of rules, whereas individualists want just a very narrow set of rules for everyone. In the forking debate, collectivists want there to be only one Bitcoin and the other to either die or never start in the first place, whereas individualists are either indifferent or prefer that both survive. In the forking debate, collectivists point to lost network effect, consumer confusion and similar things. Individualists argue that a fork would prevent oppression and allow to refocus resources productively.
While this axis explains a smaller proportion of the debate, it is perhaps more important. You see, conservatives and progresives can get along, as long as they are individualists. Once they calm down, they will leave each other alone and try to resolve conflicts peacefully. But there is no such solution with collectivists. They will appeal to the higher good and demand your subjugation to it (i.e. them).
Next time you're reading, writing, listening or talking on the topic of the blocksize, try to see the arguments from the point of view of the two axes I outlined. You'll be surprised how much of the underlying implications can be explained by the affinities. Please recognise that the conservative/progressive split is more or less a given and both sides have a legitimate reason for their position, and therefore there is a legitimate potential for a conflict. Remember that the real danger is collectivism and its most encroaching manifestation, the state. If afterwards you still think that a common solution cannot be found, then calmly prepare for a fork, and spend your time and resources in your part of the community, in a productive way.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
BabyBarista Book Review
by Colin Samuels
BabyBarista is hosting Blawg Review #224 and this might be a good time to review his new book, BabyBarista and the Art of War, so our followers get a sense of what to expect from his Blawg Review.
I'm often frustrated by book reviews for the simple reason that most tend to avoid answering the question "Is this book worth reading?" I'll not make that mistake in writing about Tim Kevan's BabyBarista and The Art of War. This is a book worth reading; it's entertaining and insightful, building upon the best aspects of the much-praised BabyBarista blog and providing greater depth and color (or should that be colour?) to its characters and stories. It's not a flawless novel, but it's well worth your time. Kevan's publishers were kind enough to send me a pre-release copy for review (the book will be widely available on 3 August), but I enjoyed it so much that I ordered a copy for a friend rather than part with my own. I can't think of higher praise to offer than that.
Kevan is a witty and observant writer, skills he's honed at his formerly-anonymous blog. While many other blogs have had decidedly mixed results in translating what worked online into dead-tree success, Kevan shows a keen appreciation of his online audience's tastes. He keeps his pacing brisk without being too choppy; he adds to the roles played by secondary and incidental characters without losing focus on BabyBarista and his circle of friends and rivals; he offers insight into the arcane and insular world of the barrister without playing-down dark satire.
BabyBarista and The Art of War focuses on BabyBarista's death march through his year-long pupillage, a final-stage apprenticeship during which law graduates gain work experience with practicing barristers and compete with other pupils to for a position as a barrister in an established chambers. He describes the process in his diary of his first day:
[T]he ordeal through which the Bar Council continues to force its brightest and best.... A sort of upper-class reality show in microcosm every one of your foibles will be analysed and where a blackball system exists so that if you annoy one person, you're out. [Y]ou're playing to the lowest common denominator. Attempting to be as inoffensive as possible in the sound knowledge that it won't be the votes in favour that get you in but the lack of votes against.The novel's principal characters come to life without intrusive exposition. BabyBarista is spare with details of his own situation, but what he provides to his friend, Claire, to his mentor, OldRuin, or directly to us serves to illuminate the financial desperation which drives him to succeed in his pupillage both by displaying his own merits and by subtly destroying his fellow pupils' chances. His three (later four) co-pupils seem at first to be mere caricatures of familiar personalities — Worrier is details-obsessed to the point she's unable to function professionally; BusyBody's instinct to be everywhere, to have her hand in every project, and to be all things to all people makes her a whirl of unproductive but frenzied activity; TopFirst's stellar academic achievements and social connections mask a wicked soul. As time goes by, however, these characters acquire greater depth and by the time a fourth pupil-competitor joins the fray, all of their behaviors become understandable. This is not to say that they, or BabyBarista necessarily, become invariably sympathetic characters, but they become real, something mere caricatures cannot be.
BabyBarista's pupillage experiences provide some startling criticisms of the practice of law generally and the pupillage system particularly. BabyBarista and his mother have essentially locked themselves into a high-stakes wager that, against exceptionally-long odds, BabyB can complete his climb from modest origins to lucrative barristers' chambers. As he nears that objective, the added (often unreasonable) financial pressures of the pupillage year heighten his sense of desperation and drive him to trade what he knows to be right for expedient gains or short-term personal or professional advantage. He laments that "[I]t's no different to bear baiting or cock fighting. They plunge us into debt before we get here and then leave us to fight it out, Deathmatch style." Later, after a particularly appalling incident, he warns that "[W]hatever you do, don't let the lawyers start worrying about getting paid. However much they protest otherwise, it's there in their mind. Not even at the back of their mind." His experiences highlight a system which seems designed in part to focus pupils' and barristers' minds on their own finances rather than clients' best interests and to effectively filter out those without independent means from the practice of law.
The practicing barristers who mentor BabyBarista illustrate both the best and worst aspects of legal practice. OldRuin provides an aspirational view of the lawyer as a professional, held by others and himself to a higher standard of conduct; he is at times unrealistic about the realities of modern legal practice and unwilling to challenge its more base practitioners, but he also offers some insights which should make clear to all of us who practice law that ours is a profession and not merely a business. TheBoss is a cautionary tale from start to end; he behaves unethically and cowardly, but even he becomes more real as we come to understand that he is like a Ghost of BabyBarista Yet to Come (apologies to Dickens). TheBoss is in many ways the product and victim of the finance-obsessed side of legal practice which afflicts BabyBarista; whereas BabyB sees the riches of practice, rightly or wrongly, as his and his mother's salvations, for TheBoss it has become a damnation, trapping him into an increasingly-desperate cycle of misdeeds to perpetuate his lifestyle and social position. In lesser hands, characters like OldRuin and TheBoss would be like the stereotypical angel and devil perched on the protagonist's shoulders, whispering in his ear, but Kevan writes his secondary players far less clichéed.
As I've said, though, BabyBarista is not a flawless novel. Structurally, the ending is a bit too abrupt and convenient; considering how effectively Kevan paced and plotted his novel to that point, he could have arrived at his destination with greater style and less haste. More broadly, while Kevan ventures beyond the constraints of his successful blog, he doesn't venture very far beyond. It seems that BabyBarista's chambers are meant to be at least somewhat representative of other chambers and of the larger bar. Nonetheless, the exclusive focus on the misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance within BabyBarista's chambers without even passing looks at others' (despite his extensive interaction with Claire and other pupils in the shared library and elsewhere) creates an impression that BabyB's chambers are an aberration. This tends to undercut the universality of his struggles and experiences, diminishing them as broader commentaries on pupillage and legal practice. Those on the inside of the profession, barristers particularly, will relish the satirical elements but may find it somewhat too easy to dismiss Kevan's deeper criticisms when his satire strays a bit too far in places into broad comedy. If readers find Kevan's insights into the practice of law easier to dismiss for these reasons, that's an opportunity lost; these issues deserve to be considered and discussed seriously.
It's churlish of me to note that what Kevan's done, he's done very well, but to then mark him down a bit for expanding on an excellent blog but not transcending it. Please understand, however, that this is the criticism of someone who greatly enjoyed BabyBarista and The Art of War and recommends it highly, but who can still imagine how much more it might have been.
BabyBarista and The Art of War
By Tim Kevan
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (2009)
Paperback (288 pages)
£7.19 (Amazon.co.uk)
But don't just take our recommendation. Read the reviews by our English friends, John Bolch, CharonQC, and Geeklawyer, and then go buy the book. Don't shatter this puppy's dream!


text:
Movie Guide
Director: Alex Gibney. With Bethany McLean, various Enron executives, voice of Peter Coyote. (110 min.)
Sterritt **** Spellbinding documentary about the rise and fall of Enron, which aspired to be the world's leading business until it was sabotaged by its leaders' outrageous financial fraud. If you followed this scandal as it unfolded you won't learn much new here, but as real-life stories go, this is as riveting - and as revealing about the dark side of American business - as they come.
Director: Sydney Pollack. With Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Sydney Pollack. (123 min.)
Sterritt *** See review.
Director: Nigel Cole. With Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet, Kathryn Hahn, Kal Penn. (107 min.)
Sterritt * This is a story about the on-and-off romance of a young man and woman over several years. Why don't they just settle down with each other and save us all 107 minutes? The movie never quite makes that clear. What's the point of the picture, except to allow Kutcher fans occasional peeks at acting talent he usually keeps hidden?
Director: Jorge Furtado. With Lázaro Ramos, Leandra Leal, Pedro Cardoso, Luana Piovani. (125 min.)
Sterritt *** A photocopy clerk falls in love with a woman he spies on across the street, and his desire to impress her leads to risky business that eventually turns criminal. Furtado's comic thriller is a telling commentary on modern avarice in Brazil and elsewhere, which touches on everything from "The Simpsons" to "Rear Window" along the way. Too bad it runs out of ideas before the overlong story is over. In Portuguese with subtitles.
Jun-Hwan Jeong. With Ha-kyun Shin, Yun-shik Baek, Jeong-min Hwang, Ju-hyeon Lee. (118 min.)
Sterritt *** A demented man tortures his former boss, convinced he's protecting Earth from an alien invasion. Very inventive, but stay away if you can't stomach over-the-top violence. In Korean with subtitles.
Director: Andrew Douglas. With Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Philip Baker Hall, Rachel Nichols. (89 min.)
Sterritt *** Here's what happens when a good Long Island house goes bad. Not to mention a family, a baby sitter, and a doorknob with a mind of its own. This remake stays close to the eponymous 1979 horror movie it's based on, except for being precisely 10,000 times as scary.
Director: Bille Woodruff. With Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell. (105 min.)
Staff ***1/2 Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) tries her own hand at beauty-shop bliss and far outshines and out-styles her counterparts from the hit movie, "Barbershop." Packed with clichés and all the regular plot twists and turns, the film has grander moments that offer a real depth that overshadows the more formulaic elements. By Elizabeth Owuor.
Directors: Wong Kar Wai, Steven Soderbergh, Michelangelo Antonioni. With Alan Arkin, Gong Li, Robert Downey Jr., Luisa Ranieri. (104 min.)
Sterritt **** Three short movies with sexual themes by filmmakers of extraordinary interest. The best is "Equilibrium" by Soderbergh, about a man being analyzed by a distracted shrink. Next best is "The Hand" by Wong, about a Hong King tailor in love with a client. "The Dangerous Thread of Things," about a man involved with two women, shows the aging, ailing Antonioni still vigorously probing his lifelong theme of existential isolation. All are tactfully filmed by current standards. In English, Mandarin, and Italian, with subtitles.
Director: Bobby & Peter Farrelly. With Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Jason Spevack, Kadee Strickland. (101 min.)
Staff *** Lindsey, a hard-working city woman, starts dating Ben, a sweetly attentive school teacher during Boston's winter. Come Spring, a different side of Ben emerges. The one devoted to the Red Sox with an obsessiveness - not to mention geekiness - matched only by costumed Trekkies at a sci-fi convention. Lindsey soon realizes that Ben is too wedded to the baseball team to ask her to marry him. A date movie that should appeal to both men and women, "Fever Pitch" uses gentle comedy to explore the nature of compromise in a relationship. By Stephen Humphries
Director: Kevin Rodney Sullivan. With Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoë Saldaña, Judith Scott. (106 min.)
Sterritt * Updated version of the 1967 hit "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," which broke cultural ground by putting Hollywood's stamp of approval on interracial marriage. The trite and contrived remake, about an African-American woman whose father has trouble accepting her white fiancé, is almost too flat and stilted to sit through, much less be inspired by.
Director: David Duchovny. With David Duchovny, Téa Leoni, Robin Williams, Zelda Williams. (97 min.)
Sterritt * Duchovny makes his film-directing debut with this unpersuasive comedy-drama about a man recalling his troubled adolescence, including his relationships
with his unstable mom, a mentally challenged janitor, and a prostitute who hollers advice to him from a window in a Greenwich Village house of detention. The cast is likable, but the package rarely seems genuine.
Major Dundee: The Extended Version (Not rated)
Director: Sam Peckinpah. With Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Senta Berger, Warren Oates. (126 min.)
Sterritt *** Augmented with 12 minutes of previously unseen footage - and a whole new music score to replace the original one, which Peckinpah hated - this reissue brings the 1965 western closer than ever to the full version that was slashed by its studio before its release. It's not a masterpiece, but its story of Civil War enemies banding together for battle against Indian warriors and French soldiers packs an occasional wallop.
Director: John Pasquin. With Sandra Bullock, Regina King, William Shatner, Enrique Murciano. (115 min.)
Staff ** After posing as a beauty contestant, Agent Gracie Hart (Bullock) is too recognizable to work undercover so she becomes the FBI spokesmodel. She and her bodyguard (King) can't stand each other, but when the pageant's emcee (Shatner) and Miss United States fall into the hands of kidnappers, the agents must team up to save them. It's a variation on the buddy-film genre, but otherwise there's not much new here. It may be time for Bullock to swear off sequels. By M. K. Terrell.
Director: Adam Shankman. With Vin Diesel, Lauren Graham, Brad Garrett. (91 min.)
Staff ** Hardened Navy commando Shane Wolf (Diesel) gets the most challenging assignment of his career: protecting the children of an assassinated scientist from agents seeking the top-secret program he was working on. Fortunately, the combination of the bodyguard's military discipline and hidden soft side give the family children the tough love they need. The Disney-like plotting is too predictable for most adults and teens, and violence puts it off-limits for young children, but 8- to 11-year-olds should find the slapstick amusing. By M.K. Terrell.
Director: Todd Solondz. With Ellen Barkin, Matthew Faber, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alexander Brickel. (100 min.)
Sterritt **** The controversial Solondz strikes again with this indirect sequel to "Welcome to the Dollhouse," focusing on a 13-year-old girl whose desire to get pregnant sends her into a strange odyssey away from her family and friends. Having several actresses (and an actor) portray the heroine is just one of the drama's weirdly absorbing strategies. Like all this adventurous filmmaker's work, it's truly one of a kind.
Director: Hideo Nakata. With Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, Sissy Spacek, David Dorfman. (111 min.)
Sterritt *** More about the insidious video that kills its viewers if they don't copy it and pass it to another victim. Subtler than "The Ring" and scarier than "Ringu," the Japanese thriller that started it all, this is sequel-spinning with a vengeance. Watts is wonderful, and the story's forsaken-child theme still has plenty of horrific power.
Director: Chris Wedge. With the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge. (89 min.)
Sterritt ** The animated adventures of a young robot with big ambitions, and an old robot who's been kicked out of his own business by a profit-hungry upstart. The visuals are spectacular, but the screenplay is trite, intermittently vulgar, and not funny.
Director: Breck Eisner. With Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy. (127 min.)
Sterritt * American adventurers (McConaughey, Zahn) search for a Civil War ship that's wound up buried in an African desert, teaming up with a humanitarian physician (Cruz) and stumbling on a plague of toxic chemicals in the process. The action thriller takes place in Nigeria and Mali, which are little more than exotic backdrops for standard buddy-movie maneuvers - lots of chasing, shooting, and wise-cracking; little of anything else.
Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez. With Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, Jaime King. (126 min.)
Sterritt ***Interlocking stories of crime, revenge, and horror based on Miller's comic books and graphic novels. The cast is excellent and the computer-generated visuals are consistently stunning. Too bad the narration sounds like a string of clichés from creaky old detective novels, and that the movie never comes within hailing distance of a moral perspective on its hyperviolent material.
Director: Mike Binder. With Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Evan Rachel Wood, Mike Binder. (118 min.)
Sterritt ** A mother and her four daughters cope with bitterness and confusion after her husband abruptly vanishes from the household. Allen and Costner give admirably understated performances as the woman and her eccentric next-door neighbor, but the story feels more cleverly contrived than deeply felt.
Director: Shane Carruth. With Shane Carruth, David Sullivan. (77 min.)
Staff ** The dialogue in "Primer," a film about two engineers who cook up a time-travel machine in their garage, includes more mumbo-jumbo scientific jargon than an entire season of "Star Trek." Your only hope of deciphering what the characters are saying is to activate the English subtitles option. Even then you'll find yourself straining to follow the plot's convoluted paradoxes once one of the engineers secretly begins using the device for his own twisted ends. The story's willfully oblique narrative mars an innovative indie - filmed for a mere $7,000 in Texas - that scores points for its ideas about the perils of wanting to relive the past. By Stephen Humphries


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May 8, 2009: A new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928 and its peak is still four years away, after a slow start last December, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Even so, Earth could get hit by a devastating solar storm at any time, with potential damages from the most severe level of storm exceeding $1 trillion. NASA funds the prediction panel.
Solar storms are eruptions of energy and matter that escape from the sun and may head toward Earth, where even a weak storm can damage satellites and power grids, disrupting communications, the electric power supply and GPS. A single strong blast of solar wind can threaten national security, transportation, financial services and other essential functions.
The panel predicts the upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a daily sunspot number of 90. If the prediction proves true, Solar Cycle 24 will be the weakest cycle since number 16, which peaked at 78 daily sunspots in 1928, and ninth weakest since the 1750s, when numbered cycles began.
The most common measure of a solar cycle's intensity is the number of sunspots—Earth-sized blotches on the sun marking areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that solar storms will occur, but a major storm can occur at any time.
"As with hurricanes, whether a cycle is active or weak refers to the number of storms, but everyone needs to remember it only takes one powerful storm to cause expensive problems," said NOAA scientist Doug Biesecker, who chairs the panel. "The strongest solar storm on record occurred in 1859 during another below-average cycle similar to the one we are predicting."
The 1859 storm shorted out telegraph wires, causing fires in North America and Europe, sent readings of Earth's magnetic field soaring, and produced northern lights so bright that people read newspapers by their light.
A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a storm that severe occurred today, it could cause $1-2 trillion in damages the first year and require four to ten years for recovery, compared to $80-125 billion that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.
The panel also predicted that the lowest sunspot number between cycles—or solar minimum—occurred in December 2008, marking the end of Cycle 23 and the start of Cycle 24. If the December prediction holds up, at 12 years and seven months Solar Cycle 23 will be the longest since 1823 and the third longest since 1755. Solar cycles span 11 years on average, from minimum to minimum.
An unusually long, deep lull in sunspots led the panel to revise its 2007 prediction that the next cycle of solar storms would start in March 2008 and peak in late 2011 or mid-2012. The persistence of a quiet sun since the last prediction has led the panel to a consensus that the next cycle will be "moderately weak."
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is the nation's first alert of solar activity and its effects on Earth. The Center's space weather experts issue outlooks for the next 11-year solar cycle and warn of storms occurring on the Sun that could impact Earth. SWPC is also the world warning agency for the International Space Environment Service, a consortium of 12 member nations.
As the world economy becomes more reliant on satellite-based communications and interlinked power grids, interest in solar activity has grown dramatically. In 2008 alone, SWPC acquired 1,700 new subscription customers for warnings, alerts, reports, and other products. Among the new customers are emergency managers, airlines, state transportation departments, oil companies, and nuclear power stations. SWPC's customers reside in 150 countries.
"Our customer growth reflects today's reality that all sectors of society are highly dependent on advanced, space-based technologies," said SWPC director Tom Bogdan. "Today every hiccup from the sun aimed at Earth has potential consequences."
Spaceweather.com -- daily predictions of space weather issued in language lay people can understand


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WASHINGTON — In an effort to free American captive Bowe Bergdahl before the bulk of US forces leave Afghanistan this year, the Obama administration has decided to try to resume talks with the Taliban and sweeten an offer to trade Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Army sergeant, current and former officials said.
Five members of the Afghan Taliban who have been held at Guantanamo for years would be released to protective custody in Qatar in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and is thought to be held in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, an allied insurgent group.
To refresh the American offer, which has been on the table for more than two years, senior officials from the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and other agencies decided within the past month to allow the simultaneous release of all five men. Taliban representatives had objected to the previous plan to release the prisoners by ones or twos as a test of Taliban and Qatari intermediaries' ability to make sure the men did not return to militancy.
Two people familiar with the decision stressed that it was the Taliban that broke off negotiations nearly two years ago and that the United States has kept the door to talks open since then. The renewed offer has not been formally made, and no State Department or other officials have immediate plans to travel to Doha, Qatar, where any contact facilitated by the Qatari government would take place.
The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said last week that US officials are eager to get the soldier back.
''He's been gone too long,'' Kirby told reporters during a briefing Friday. ''We want him back. We've never stopped trying to bring that about. He's never far from anyone's mind here.''
Officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline parts of a strategy they described as a last-ditch effort to engage the Taliban.
The mid-January decision by officials at the level of deputy secretary would confine any new talks to the prisoner issue. Negotiations would not attempt wider engagement with the Taliban on a host of issues related to the future of Afghanistan. US officials had once hoped to use the prisoner exchange as a means to build confidence for those larger discussions, which would also have involved the Afghan government. Now, Washington is primarily focused on getting Bergdahl home.
Officials at the Pentagon said last month that they had obtained a new video of Bergdahl, the first evidence US officials have seen in nearly three years that the soldier remains alive. They had long been seeking evidence that Bergdahl was still living, because of reports that he had attempted to escape once and because of concerns about his health, a US official said. The United States intercepted the video before its makers intended to release or broadcast it, the official said.
Bergdahl, an army infantryman assigned to a unit from Alaska, was taken captive after walking off his base in the eastern province of Paktika, a decision that confounded his comrades and commanders in Afghanistan. The US military launched a massive manhunt, fearing it would be nearly impossible to find him if his captors smuggled him into Pakistan. The Taliban soon took credit for capturing him and offered to release him in exchange for $1 million and 21 Afghan prisoners.
The Taliban broke off talks before they ever really began in 2012, and an effort to resurrect negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government last year ended in an embarrassing shambles. A political office promised to the Taliban was readied in Doha but closed two days after it opened in June amid a row over the raising of a flag the Taliban used when it ruled Afghanistan prior to the 2001 US invasion.
Taliban representatives remain in Doha, and the office is a de facto political headquarters.
Separately, the Pentagon has examined the feasibility of trying to negotiate Bergdahl's release directly with the Haqqani network, which is part of the broader Taliban insurgency but operates separately. The network is widely believed to be holding the soldier in Pakistan, two others familiar with that exploratory effort said.
Preliminary studies have looked at whether the Haqqanis would engage in talks to trade Bergdahl for Haqqani prisoners captured by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and held at a prison adjacent to Bagram air base, one current and one former US official said.
The United States is holding a ''handful'' of Haqqani prisoners in Afghanistan, one official said. The exact number has not been disclosed.
At one point in 2012, US officials tried to feel out the Haqqanis through a senior member of the network held at Bagram, but there was no response, one official said. Another person familiar with the effort said similar exploratory planning was done to test whether the Haqqanis might be paid off or otherwise enticed to let Bergdahl escape.
There is no ''actionable'' intelligence on Bergdahl's location, one official said, and a US military rescue mission has long been effectively ruled out.