Thursday, August 28, 2014

Things Worth Knowing ~ Occupations - Part 12

W List of Occupations

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

◦WABSTER - weaver

◦WADSETTER - under Scottish law a creditor to whom a wadset is made; a wadset is a right, by which lands, or other heritable subjects, are impignorated by the proprietor to his creditor in security of his debt

◦WAGONER - wagon or cart driver

◦WAILER - one employed in the mines to remove the impurities from the coal

◦WAINWRIGHT - builder or repairer of wagons

◦WAIT / WAKEMAN - night watchman

◦WALKER / WAULKMILLER - cloth worker

◦WALLER - one who built walls either brick or dry stone, also a person who worked making coarse salt

◦WANTER / WANTCATCHER - mole catcher

◦WARDER -in charge of prisoners

◦WAREHOUSEMAN - in charge of or employee in a warehouse

◦WARPER - set the warp thread on the looms or employed to move boats by hauling on the warps (the ropes attached to the boats)

◦WARRENER - in charge of a portion of land used for breeding rabbits and other small game

◦WASHMAN - tin coater

◦WASTEMAN - checked the old workings for gas and maintaining them in the mines or employed to remove waste

◦WATCH FINISHER - assembled watches and clocks

◦WATCHMAN - town official who guarded the streets at night

◦WATER BAILIFF - official in charge of the fishing rights on a stretch of water

◦WATER CARRIER - carted and sold fresh water

◦WATER GILDER - trapped water fowl

◦WATER LEADER / LEDER / LODER - transported and sold fresh drinking water

◦WATERMAN - worked with or on boats usually on rivers

◦WATTLE HURDLE MAKER - made a type of fence from wattle to keep the sheep in

◦WAY-MAKER - employed to make roads

◦WAY MAN - surveyor of roads

◦WEATHERSPY - astrologer

◦WEBSTER / WEBBER - weaver (originally a female weaver)

◦WEIGHER - worked on the docks to weigh the cargo as it was unloaded

◦WELLMASTER - one in charge of the local well with the responsibility of ensuring clean water for the village

◦WELL SINKER - dug wells

◦WELL WRIGHT - made the winding equipment used to raise the bucket in the well

◦WET GLOVER - made leather gloves

◦WET NURSE - woman employed to suckle tthe child of another (common practice with the rich)

◦WETTER - dampened paper during the printing process or in the glass industry who detached the glass by wetting

◦WHARFINGER - owner of a wharf

◦WHEEL TAPPER - railway worker who checked for cracked wheels by striking them with a long handled hammer and listening for a clear ring

◦WHEELER - wheel maker, attended to the spinning wheel in the textile industry and one who led the pit ponies that pulled the tubs underground in the mines

◦WHACKER - horse or oxen team driver

◦WHEELWRIGHT / WRIGHT - maker or repairer of wagon wheels

◦WHEERYMAN - in charge of a wheery (a small light rowing boat)

◦WHIG - horse driver (Scottish term)

◦WHIPCORD MAKER / WHIPMAKER - made whips

◦WHIPPERIN - managed the hounds in a hunt

◦WHITEAR - hide cleaner

◦WHITE LIMER - plastered walls using lime and water plaster

◦WHITE SMITH - tin smith

◦WHITENING ROLL MAKER - made the whitening used in whitening walls of cottages

◦WHITTAWER - one who made saddles and harness

◦WHITENER / WHITESTER / WHITSTER - one who bleached cloth

◦WHITEWING - streetsweeper

◦WHITSTER - bleacher of cloth

◦WHITTAWER - preparer of white leather

◦WILLOW PLAITER / WEAVER - one who made baskets etc

◦WINDSTER - silk winder

◦WOODBREAKER - one who made wooden water casks

◦WOODRANGER / WOOD REEVE / WOODWARD - in charge of the forest or woods

◦WOOLCOMBER - operated machines that separate the fibres ready for spinning in woolen industry

◦WOOL DRIVER - one who brought the wool to market

◦WOOL FACTOR - wool merchants agent

◦WOOLEN BILLY PIECER - worked in the woolen mills to piece together the broken yarns

◦WOOL MAN /WOOL SORTER / STAPLER - one who sorted the wool into different grades

◦WOOLSTED MAN - a seller of woollen cloth (from worsted man)

◦WOOL WINDER - one who made up balls of wool for selling

◦WORSTED MANUFACTURER / SHEARMAN - one who made worsted

◦WRIGHT - builder or repairer

◦WYRTH - laborer


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