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Old Occupations


Back Washer 

Back'us Boy 

Backmaker 

Backster 

Badger




Badgy Fiddler 

Bagman 

Bagniokeeper 

Bailie, Bailiff
Baillee Or
Baillie

Bairman

Bal Maiden

Balancer


Baler 

Balister 

Ballad Monger 

Ballard Master 

Ballast Heaver

Baller, Baller
Up 

Band Filer 
 
Bandster 

Bang Beggar

Banker 


Banksman


Barber


Barber Surgeon 


Bard

Bareman 

Barge Mate 

Bargee,
Bargeman

Barilla
Manufacturer

Barkeeper 

Barker,
Barkman 

Barleyman

Barm Brewer 

Barmaster 


Barrel Filer 

Barrowman 

Bartoner

Basil Worker 

Basketman 


Bass Or Bast
Dresser

Bathing Machine
Proprietor

Batman

Batt Maker 

Battledore Maker

 
Baven Maker 
 

Baxter 

Bayweaver

Bead Piercer 

Beadle

Bead(s)man

Beamer


Bearer 


Beater 


Beaver 

Bedel(l) 

Bedesman



Bedman 

Bedral 

Bedwevere 

Beekeeper,
Beemaster

Beeskep Maker 

Beetler 


Belhoste 

Bell Hanger 

Belleyetere

Bellfounder 

Bellman 



Bellowfarmer 

Bellows Maker 

Belly Builder

Belter 

Bender 

Besom Maker 


Besomer 

Besswarden

Biddy 

Bill Poster 

Billiard-Marker 

Billier 

Billiter

Billyman 


Binder

Bird Boy 

Bird Catcher 

Birds Nest Seller


Birlyman 

Black Borderer 

Black Tray
Maker

Blacking Maker 

Bladesmith

Blaxter 

Bleacher 

Blemmere 

Blentonist 

Blindsman


Block Maker 

Block Printer 

Blockcutter 

Blocker 


Bloodletter/
Bloodman 

Bloomer 

Blower 




Blowfeeder 

Blue Dyer Or Maker

Bluestocking 



Bluffer 

Boarder 

Boarding Officer

Board Liner


Boardman 


Boardwright 

Boatman 


Boatswain




Bobber


Bobbin Carrier 

Bobbin Turner 

Bobby 

Bodeys Maker 

Bodger


Body Maker 

Boiler Maker 

Boiler Plater 

Boilermaker 

Boll

Bolter 

Bondager 

Bondman 

Bondsman 

Bone Button Turner

Bone Lace Maker

Bone Mould
Turner 

Bone Picker 

Bonesetter 

Boniface

Book Gilder 

Book Keeper 

Bookholder 

Bookman 

Boonmaster

Boot Closer 

Bootbinder 
 
Boothman 

Borler 

Borsholder

Botcher 

Bottiler 

Bottle Boy 
 
Bottler 


Bottom Knocker

Bottom Maker 

Bottomer 
 

Bowdler 

Bower 

Bowker

Bowler 


Bowlman /
Bowlwoman 

Bowlminder 

Bowyer

Bozzler 

Brabener 

Brachygrapher 

Braider 

Brailler

Brake(s)man


Brasiator 

Brasiler 

Brass Cutter 

Brass Finisher

Brass Founder 

Bratman 

Brayer 

Brazier 

Breach Maker

Breakman 

Brewster 

Brickburner 

Brickman 

Bridewell Keeper

Bridgeman
Bridger 
 
Brightsmith 

Broad Cloth Weaver

Broad Cooper

Broderer 

Brogger 

Broiderer 

Broom Dasher 

Broom Squire

Brotherer 

Brouge Maker 

Brow Girl 

Browderer 

Brownsmith

Buck Washer 

Buckle Tongue
Maker 

Buckler,
Bucklesmith 

Buckram Maker


Buddleboy 


Buffalo Soldier 

Bullwhacker 

Bumboat Man 

Bummaree


Bummer 

Bunter 

Bureler 

Burgess 

Burgomaster

Burler 

Burler Mender 

Burleyman 

Burmaiden 

Burneman

Burye Man 

Bushel Maker 

Busheler 

Busker 

Buss Maker

Butner 

Butter Carver 

Button Burnisher

Butty 

Bylawman

A person employed to clean the wool in the worsted manufacturing industry. 

A kitchen servant, (from "back of the house"). 

A person who made "backs", vats, tubs, a Cooper. 

A baker. 

[1] A 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). 
[2] A corn miller or dealer. 
[3] An itinerant food trader.

A boy trumpeter in the military. 

A travelling salesman. 

A person in charge of a bath house or brothel. 

An officer of the sheriff, a land steward acting on behalf of the Landowner or Landlord.
In Scotland a magistrate of the burgh, also looked after the fishing rights on certain
rivers.

A pauper, beggar. 
 
A female mine worker who worked on the surface (aka Pit Brow Lass). 

A person employed in the coal mines to operate the "balance" which is a slope with a
pulley at the top where empty coal tubs pulled full tubs up the slope. 

A person who bales of hay. In the mills it was a person who bailed wool or cotton goods. 

An archer most commonly a crossbow-man. 

A person who sold printed ballads on the street. 

The person in charge of loading the ballast into the hold of empty ships. 

A person who loaded ballast into the hold of empty ships. 

A person who assisted the potter by measuring out the balls of clay. 


A metal worker in the gun making industry. 

A person who bound the wheat sheaves after harvest. 

An officer of the parish who controlled the length of stay of any stranger to the parish.

A person who dug trenches and ditches to allow drainage of the land, placing the surplus
earth in banks around the edge. 

A person employed in the mining industry being in charge of the cages at the pit head.
Sometimes known as a BANK MANAGER or BROWMAN. 

A man who cuts men's hair and shaves beards, a men's hairdresser. See also BARBER
SURGEON. 

A Barber prior to the 18c also a Surgeon. In the 18th century, an Act was passed that
limited Barbers to hair-cutting, shaving, dentistry and blood letting 

A poet or minstrel.

A beggar or pauper. 

A Naval officer. 

A person who worked on or owned and operated a barge.


A person who made barilla, a substance obtained from burning saltworts, the resulting
mixture of sodium salts being used in the glass and ceramics industry. 

Another name for a toll-keeper. 

A person who tanned leather using the bark of trees, later the term was also used for a
person employed to attract attention at fairgrounds by shouting details of the attraction. 

See BYLAWMAN. 

A person who made yeast. 

The arbiter of disputes in the lead mining industry. They were also in charge of the
standard measure for the ore. 

A person employed in the gun manufacturing industry. 

A person employed in the coal mines to push the barrow from the pit face to the shaft. 

The person in charge of the monastic farm, also known as a barton.

A person who worked with sheep and goat skins. 

A person who made baskets, and furniture from wicker, also a person employed to
empty the basket of coal being offloaded from the colliers into the barges. 

A person employed in dressing fibre or matting. BATHING MACHINE PROPRIETOR


A person who owned and hired the changing huts used at the seaside in the 18c by
bathers. 

An officers servant in the army. 

A person who made the wadding used in quilt and mattress making. 

A person who made the beaters used on clothes, carpets, etc., to remove the dust. Later
they made the paddles used in washing machines. 
 
A maker of kindling. A bavin (or baven) is a thin piece of wood or split, with the end
wittled and curled with a knife and used for kindling. 

A baker.

A person who wove bay (a fine woollen fabric also known as baize).

A person employed to drill the holes in beads. 

An officer of the parish whose principle duty was to keep order, also was the town crier. 

See BEDESMAN. 

A person employed in the textile trade to wind the warp on the roller before putting it on
the loom. 

A person who worked underground carrying the coal to the bottom of the pit shaft and placed it in the containers for uplifting to the surface. 

A person who cleansed and thickened the cloth by treading it underwater with fullers
earth, aka Fuller. 

A person who made felt used in hat making. 

See BEADLE. 

[1] A person employed to pray for his employer. 
[2] The inhabitant of an almshouse / poorhouse / hospital. 
[3] A tenant employed by the manor for a specific service.

A sexton. 

In Scotland, a minor church official. 

A person who made the webbing for bed frames, also a person who wove quilts. 

A person who kept bees for their honey. 


A person who made beehives. 

A person who operated a beetling machine, used in the textile trade for embossing
fabric. 

A tavern keeper. 

A person who installed bells in churches. 

A bellfounder.

A person who made bells. 

[1] A person employed as a watchman or town crier. 
[2] A person who worked for the post office and collected letters for the mail coach by
walking the streets and ringing a bell. 

A person who was responsible for the care and maintenance of the church organ. 

A person who made bellows used for organs or blacksmiths fires. 

A person who built and fitted the interiors of pianos. 

See BELLFOUNDER. 

A person who cut leather. 

A person who made brooms made of a bundle of birch twigs bound onto a handle which
was a thicker and roughly straight branch of the same wood. 

A person who sweeps with a besom, also possibly used to describe a BESOM MAKER. 

A person appointed by the parish to look after its animals.

A female servant usually of Irish stock. 

A person who put up notices, signs and advertisements. 

A person who attends on players at billiards and records the progress of the game. 

See BILLYMAN. 

See BELLFOUNDER. 

A person who operated a Billy Roller, a machine used in the cotton industry to prepare
the cotton for spinning. 

A person who bound items e.g. books, hats etc. 

A person employed to scare away birds from crops. 

A person who caught birds for selling. 

A person who sold birds nest collected from the wild complete with eggs, these were
then hatched by domestic birds and sold as pets.

In Scotland a ground officer or parish arbiter. 

A person who made black edged stationery for funerals. 

A person who made Japanned trays. 


A person who made polish for shoes. 

A swordmaker or knife maker.

See BLEACHER. 

A person who bleached cloth or paper pulp. 

A plumber 

A water diviner 

A person employed by the Post Office to deal with incorrectly addressed letters and
parcels.

A person who engraved the blocks used in the printing trade. 

A printer who used wooden blocks for printing. 

See BLOCKER. 

[1] A person who made wooden blocks used in the hat trade. 
[2] A person who laid down the blocks on which a ships keel was laid. 

A person who used leeches for letting blood. This was thought to be a cure for many
ailments.

A person who produced iron from ore, a bloom smithy. 

[1] A glass blower. 
[2] A person who operated a "blowing machine" used to clean and separate fibres in the
textile trade. 
[3] A person who operated the bellows at a blacksmiths. 

A person who fed the fibres into a "blowing machine". 

A person who worked with blue dye used by calico printers and laundries to stop the
white materials from discolouring.

A nickname for a female writer. The Blue Stocking Society met in about the 1750s to
talk about literature, etc, some of the men wearing ordinary blue stockings. It now
means a woman who has or affects literary tastes and learning, though it is hardly used. 

An innkeeper or landlord of a tavern or public house. 

A person who was provided with accommodation and meals. See LODGER 

A person who inspected ships before entering port. 

[1] A worker who covers cardboard with plain or ornamental paper by hand, using paste
and brush,   [2] passes cardboard into a pasting machine.

[1] A truant officer who checked school attendance. 
[2] A tenant of manorial land who paid rent by maintaining the manor's table. 

A person who made tables and chairs aka carpenter. 

A person who worked on a boat, predominately on rivers and canals. Also the name
given to a boat repairer. 

A ship's officer. In Anglo-Saxon times Boatswains actually commanded ships. By 17c
the Boatswain had sunk in social and professional standing. He was especially
responsible for riggings and ground tackle, and kept the ship's stores of cordage, sails
& associated gear.

[1] A person who polished metals. 
[2] A person who helped to unload fishing boats.

A person who worked in spinning and weaving sections of the mills. 

A person who made the bobbins used in the spinning and weaving industry. 

A nickname for a policeman, usually of constable rank. 

A person who made bodices for women’s garments. 

A craftsman who made wooden chair legs and the spars. They usually worked in the
actual woodland that they cut the timber in. 

See BODEYS MAKER. 

A person who worked with metal in any industrial setting. 

A person who made rolled iron plate used to make boilers for steam engines etc. 

A craftsman who worked with metal in any industrial setting. 

A person who looked after power looms in the weaving industry. 

A person who sifted meal. 

A female worker on a farm who was bonded. 

A person bonded to a master for the purpose of learning a skill or trade. 

A person who stood bond or surety for another where a bond was required by law. 

A person who made buttons using a lathe.


A person who made pillow lace. 

A person who made the moulds for button manufacturers. 


A person who collected rags and bones aka Rag and Bone Man. 

A person who set broken bones. 

An Innkeeper.

A person who decorated books with gold leaf.

A person who looked after the accounts for businesses.

The prompter in the theatre.

A student.

A surveyor of roads with the responsibilities of maintaining and repairing the road.

A person who worked in the shoe trade stitching together all the parts of a shoe upper.

A person employed to operate the machines which bound footwear.

A corn merchant.

A person who made cheap coarse clothing.

A regional name (Kent) for a constable.

A tailor or cobbler. 

See BOTTLER. 

A pharmacists assistant. 

A person who made leather containers for holding liquids e.g. wine flasks or water
bottles. 

A sagger makers assistant in the pottery industry. 

A person who moulded the bottoms for saggers in the pottery industry. 

A person who worked down the pits moving the ore etc to the bottom of the shaft for
removal. 

A person who worked with iron ore. 

See BOWYER.

A person who bleached yarn. A local term in some parts of Lancashire for a butcher.

A person who made bowls and dishes. Also a term used for people who made the
rounded part of spoons before casting. 

A dealer in crockery. 


A person in charge of the vats used for washing raw wool before processing. 

A person who made bows used in archery.

A parish constable. 

A weaver. 

A shorthand writer. 

A person who made cord by twisting threads or strips of leather. 

A person who made girdles.

[1] A person who operated the winch at the pit head. 
[2] A person who operated the braking mechanism on trains and trams. 

A brewer of ale. 

A dyer.

A person who made copperplate engravings. 

A person who polished brass goods.

A person who cast brass. 

A rough garment maker. 

A person who ground things up in a mortar. 

A person who made or repaired household items made from brass. 

A person who made the breach for guns.

A bricklayer. 

A female brewer. Later, the term became non gender specific. 

A brickmaker who used a kiln to make bricks. 

A bricklayer. 

The person in charge of a lock-up or jail.

A toll keeper at bridges. 


A person who worked with tin. 

A person who operated a wide loom. 


A person employed as a go between for the brewery and the innkeepers.

An embroiderer. 

A wool merchant. 

An embroiderer. 

A dealer in brooms. 

A person who made brooms from birch.

An embroiderer. 

A shoemaker. 

A female employed at the pit head. 

An embroiderer. 

A person who works with copper or brass.

A laundress. 

A person who made the metal points that go in the holes of a belt. 


A person who made buckles. 


A person who worked with buckram (used in stiffening materials) e.g. belts, lapels and collars.

A person employed to use and maintain the vats used in the lead and tin mines for
washing the ore. 

A soldier serving in a black regiment in the US Army in the West. 

An oxen driver. 

A person who met ships at anchor, with goods for passengers and crew to purchase. 

A person who acted as middle man between the wholesaler and the retailer at the fish
markets. They would purchase the fish for reselling to the retailer.

An army deserter. 

A person who collected rags and bones. 

A person who made borel, a woollen cloth with a coarse feel. 

A person who represented a borough at official levels. 

A Mayor of Dutch or Flemish town.

A quality inspector for clothing. 

A skilled finisher of woven fabrics. 

See BYLAWMAN. 

A chambermaid or lady-in-waiting. 

A carrier of barm or water for brewers.

A grave digger. 

A cooper.

A tailor's helper.

A hair dresser.

A maker of guns.

A person who made buttons. 

A person who made imprints in butter pats. 

A person who polished buttons. 

The person who negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labour. 

An official of the manorial courts who enforced the courts orders.


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