Things Worth Knowing ~ Occupations - Part 8

 P List of Occupations

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

◦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

◦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 Land

◦PANNIER MAN - fish monger

◦PANNIFEX - somebody who worked in the cloth trade

◦PANSMITH - made pans ie a metal wor

◦PANTER - keeper of the pantry

◦PANTLER - butler

◦PAPERER - inserted the needles into the paper ready for sale in the needlemaking trade

◦PARDONER - seller of indulgences

◦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 ground

◦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

◦PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER - one who made scientific instruments

◦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 woman)

◦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

◦PIPER - innkeeper

◦PISTOR - baker

◦PIT BROW LASS - female worker who worked on the surface of the mines

◦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 felting

◦PLEACHER / PLAICHER / PLATCHER / PLASHER - hedge layer

◦PLOWMAN - farmer

◦PLOWWRIGHT - maker or repairer of plows

◦PLUMASSIER / PLUMER - made or sold plumes, ornamental feathers

◦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 postillion

◦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

◦PRENTIS - apprentice

◦PRECEPTRESS - school mistress

◦PRICKER - witch hunter, pattern maker or a horseman

◦PRICK LOUISE - tailor

◦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

P List of Occupations

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

◦PUGGER - produce clay paste by treading like grapes, usually women and children in brick manufacturing

◦PLUMBUM WORKER - plumber

◦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