Things Worth Knowing ~ Occupations - Part 11

T, U & V Lists of Occupations

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

◦TABLER - boarding house operator

◦TACKLER - an overlooker of power loom weavers

◦TAILOR - one who made or repaired clothes

◦TALLOW CHANDLER - made or sold candles

◦TALLY CLERK - kept count of goods arriving or departing from warehouses, docks etc

◦TALLYMAN / TALLYFELLOW - one who sold goods that were paid for in installments

◦TAN BARK STRIPPER - collected the bark that was used in the tanning process

◦TANNER - leather maker

◦TAPER WEAVER - one who made the wicks for candles

◦TAPITER / TAPICER - one who wove worsted cloth

◦TAPLEY - One who puts the tap in an ale cask

◦TAPSTER - bartender or barmaid

◦TAR BOY - applied tar (as antiseptic) to sheep when they were nicked by shearers

◦TASKER - reaper

◦TASSELER - one who made tassels used in furnishings or nobleman

◦TAVERNER - innkeeper

◦TAWER / TAWYER - white leather maker

◦TEAMER / TEAMER MAN / TEAMSTER - person in charge of a team of horses

◦TEEMER - person who emptied grain from the cart or who poured the molten steel into the moulds

◦TENTER / TENTERER - one who stretched the cloth on a machine while it was drying or looked after and maintained the machine used in the process

◦TEXTOR - weaver

◦THACKER - thatcher

◦THATCHER - one who covered roofs with straw or reeds

◦THIRDBOROUGH - an underconstable

◦THRESHER - one who separated the grain from the husks and straw

◦THROWSTER - one in the textile trade who twisted the strands of fibre together into yarn

◦TICKNEY MAN / WOMAN - sold earthenware from town to town

◦TIDE GAUGER / SURVEYOR - monitored the state of the tide

◦TIDESMAN / TIDE WAITER - customs official

◦TIEMAKER - one who made wooden railway ties

◦TIGER - small groom or pageboy in livery

◦TILER - one who put tiles in place either on the roof or floor

◦TILLER - farmer

◦TILLMAN - plowman

◦TIMES IRONER - servant responsible for ironing the daily newspaper

◦TINCTOR - dyer

◦TINKER - traveling repairman

◦TINNER - tin miner, tinsmith

◦TINTER OR TEINTER - artists who performs tinting

◦TIPPER - one who put the metal tips on arrows etc

◦TIPPLER - kept an ale house

◦TIPSTAFF - policeman

◦TIREWOMAN - female dresser, especially in the theater

◦TIXTOR - weaver

◦TOBACCO SPINNER - maker of cigars

◦TODHUNTER - employed by the parish to hunt foxes

◦TOE RAG - who worked at the docks as a corn porter

◦TOILINET MANUFACTURER - made toilinet (a kind of quilting)

◦TOLLER / TOLLGATE KEEPER / TOLLIE / TOLMAN / TURNPIKE KEEPER - worked at the toll gate to collect fees for use of the road

◦TONSOR - Latin for barber

◦TOOL HELVER - made tool handles

◦TOPMAN - sailor who works in the ship's rigging

◦TOP SAWYER - upper man in a saw pit

◦TOPSMAN - head cattle drover

◦TOUCH HOLER - one who worked in the gun manufacturing industry

◦TOW CARD MAKER - one who made tow cards, used in the textile industry

◦TOWN CHABERLAIN - one who looked after the towns affairs

◦TOWN CRIER - one who made public announcments in the streets

◦TOWN HUSBAND - employed by the parish to collect the money from the fathers of illegitimate children for their upkeep

◦TOWNSWAITER - customs man

◦TOZER - worked in the wool mills employed to tose or tease the cloth

◦TRAMMER - young person who worked in the mines

◦TRAMPLER - lawyer

◦TRANQUETER - person who made hoops

◦TRANTER - peddler

◦TRAPPER - employed in the mines to open and shut the doors for the miners

◦TREEN MAKER - made domestic articles from wood

◦TREENAIL MAKER - one who made the long wooden pins used in shipbuilding

◦TRENCHERMAKER - made wooden boards or platters for serving food from or cutting and slicing food on

◦TRENCHERMAN - cook

◦TREPANGER - one who used a circular saw to cut timber

◦TRIMMER - trims a ship by re-arranging its cargo

◦TROACHER - pedlar

◦TRONER - weighing official at the markets

◦TROTTER / TROTMAN / TROTT - messenger

◦TROUCHMAN / TRUCHMAN - interpreter

◦TROVER - smuggler

◦TRUGGER - one who made long shallow baskets

◦TUBBER - one who made tubs and barrels ie a cooper

◦TUBMAN - English barrister

◦TUCKER - cleaner of cloth goods

◦TUCKER IN - maid who attended the bedroom and "tucked in the bedclothes"

◦TURNER - gymnast, lathe worker

◦TURNKEY - prison warder or jail keeper

◦TURNSPIT - one who operated the spit handle

◦TWEENIE / TWEENY - maid who worked "between the stairs" she assisted the cooks and the housemaids

◦TWISTER / TWISTERER - one who operated the machine used for twisting yarns and threads together

◦TWIST HAND - one who operated a lace machine

◦ULNAGER - one appointed to examine the quality of woollen goods to be sold

◦UPHOLDER - upholsterer and also a seller of secondhand goods

◦UPRIGHT WORKER - chimney sweep

◦VALET - male servant that attended a nobleman or gentleman

◦VALUATOR - who valued objects

◦VENATOR (VENUR) - huntsman

◦VASSAL - servant of the lowest order

◦VATMAN - one who put the paper pulp into the moulds in paper-making industry or worked with vats e.g. in beer and wine making

◦VERDERER - official in charge of the royal forest

◦VERGER - one who worked with the priest in the running the church

◦VERGE MAKER - one who made the spindles used in clocks and watches

◦VERRIER - glazier

◦VESTMENTMAKER - one who made the gowns worn by priests

◦VICTUALER - seller of food/drink

◦VIEWER - one who worked at the mines in a managerial capacity

◦VILLEIN - one who paid dues to the lord of the manor in return for use of the land

◦VINTAGER - grape farmer, wine maker

◦VINTNER / VINTER - wine merchant

◦VIRGINAL PLAYER - player of a musical instrument similar to a harpsichord

◦VULCAN - blacksmith