Things Worth Knowing ~ Occupation - Part 9

Q & R Lists of Occupations

This is a list of some occupations of which many are archaic although surnames usually originated from someone's occupation.

◦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 ones

◦RAKER - street sanitation worker

◦RATONER - rat catcher

◦RATTLEWATCH - town watchman

◦RECTIFIER - one who distilled alcoholic spirits

◦REDAR - interpreter of dreams

◦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 tapestry

◦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 rockface

◦ROCKGETTER - rocksalt miner

◦ROLLER COVERER - one who covered the rollers for the spinning process

◦ROLLEYWAY MAN - maintained the underground road in the mines

◦ROLL TURNER - carder of wool, cotton etc into rolls prior to spinning

◦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