This Foldout collects the entries for some of the Jobs and Occupations which have been recorded in the district
A |
The term is widely used in censuses and other records.
Many of these were recorded prior to the Industrial Revolution
In the 12th century, the Warren family were appointed to oversee
ale houses.
In 1393, Richard II decreed that ale houses should have a
pictorial sign so that the ale-conner could recognise the
establishment
Anyone who is responsible for distributing charity to the needy, or
someone in charge of petty cash
See
Annatto
The adjective is armigerous
B |
See
Tenter
An Act of 1697 required anyone who received parish relief to wear a
badge with the letter P – for pauper – sewn to their clothes.
These people were known as badgers, and were licensed by the
Quarter Sessions and recorded in Badgers' Recognisances.
The badge was a distinguishing mark, and designed to discourage
fraudulent beggars as people began to move from the countryside
into the towns.
Any pauper who refused to wear the badge was liable to be committed
to prison for 3 weeks' hard labour.
Any parish officer who gave relief to a poor person who was not
wearing a badge could be fined 20/-.
Badge wearing was compulsory until the law was repealed in 1810.
See
Cadger
The name was often qualified by adding the name of the product
sold: egg badger, potato badger, and so on.
The word is also used as a surname and in place names – often
spelled as Bagger – and is recorded around 1300.
See
Badger Lane, Brighouse and
Cadger
The name was also used for someone who was in charge of
a brothel
The word is now used for the person who oversees the reversing of
vehicles out of building sites
Someone who was in charge of the lift cage in a mine
The striped red and white barber's pole reminds us of the blood and
bandages of the surgical practices.
See
Powler
See
Warper
Someone who makes and repairs iron objects
See
Grave
Bondmen were not allowed to live outside the manor without licence
from the lord.
Where permission was given an annual chevage was payable to the
lord by the bondman.
A bondman could not take legal action concerning rents or tenure
against the lord.
When a bondman died, his property passed to the lord of the manor;
the relatives could buy the property on payment of an entry
fee to the lord.
The word is also used to mean an apprentice who was bonded to a
master for the purpose of learning a skill or trade.
See
Slave
See
Bondman
See
Borough Treasurer of Brighouse,
Borough Treasurer of Halifax,
Borough Treasurer of Rastrick,
Borough Treasurer of Todmorden and
Town Clerk
In the 19th century, the terms botanist and medical
botanist were used for a herbalist.
Brewster sessions were a special Quarter Sessions meeting
which licensed inn-keepers and keepers of alehouses
See
Good brother
C |
See
Badger,
Cadge and
Cadger Lane, Brighouse
Later, the term was used for anyone who carried out research,
particularly for use in elections or sales
Corn chandlers and tallow chandlers are encountered
See
Copeman
It can also mean someone who works in the printing industry
Later, someone who made cakes and sweets.
See
Confectionery
See
Tranqueter
See
Chapman
The word comes from Córdoban, after the leather
products of the Spanish city of Córdoba.
See
Clicker
Under an Act of 1752, coroners returned abstracts of inquests to the
Quarter Sessions in order to claim their expenses.
These returns are preserved in the sessions files and include the
date of the inquest, the name of the deceased and the verdict of the
jury.
These are public records and there is a 75 years' closure period on
them.
See
William Barstow,
John Brigg,
John Brigg,
Coroner's Court, Halifax,
J. F. Dearden,
Thomas F. Dearden,
George Dyson,
George, Brighouse,
Halifax Town Hall,
John Hargreaves,
Ernest Hatton Hill,
John Richard Ingram,
Bernard Williamson Little,
Edward Wallace Norris,
William Stansfeld,
Joseph Wood and
Robert Wood
See
Monger
D |
Compare Textor.
There are currently no entries on
the Calderdale Companion
for people with the surname Dexter.
A steward or treasurer
To some extent, Dissenters were tradesmen and workers of the lower
class.
In the 18th century, Dissenters were excluded from membership of
certain bodies, for example, they could not be
a student at Oxford & Cambridge,
a Magistrate,
or
a Member of Parliament.
See
Baptists,
Congregationalists,
Methodists and
Unitarians
The dogs might be attracted by the tails of foxes, and other
animals – which were killed in order to collect a bounty – and nailed
to the church door.
Someone who makes or deals in dry chemicals, such as dyes and colours
for the textile industry
Question:
Is this the same as
a drysalter?
E |
The name continued to be used as alderman
See
Tenter
An executrix is a female executor.
F |
See
Flag Facer
Someone who deals in hides and skins – particularly sheepskins – and
other animal products which were used for making glue, and a
tradesman who prepares skins for the tanner.
See
Monger
See
Cropper
See
Stone dresser
Compare this with freeman
See
Copyholder,
Inholder and
Smallholder
G |
The work is carried out by a garnetter.
See
Shoddy
The sons of a men titled esquire are titled gentlemen.
See
Goodwife
See
Goodman
Aka
Aegyptianus,
Zingarius,
and
Zingari.
True gypsies speak the Romany language and are believed to originate
in South Asia.
H |
See
Brush Makers and
Horn merchant
It is recorded that there were 1057 half-timers working in Halifax in
1917.
The practice became illegal in 1922.
See
Child Labour and
Factory Acts
This is also a surname in some parts of the country
In the 19th century, the term botanist might also mean
a herbalist.
Some local herbalists were
John Anderton,
C. W. Bentley,
John Bull Herbal Remedy Company,
S. Challice,
Prof Fairbairn,
Samuel Fleming,
George Galloway,
Greenwood Hanson,
Henry Hanson,
Mrs Ann Helliwell,
Charles Henry Hitchin,
A. Lambert,
W. Burns Lingard,
M. Ringrose and
Mrs Mary Ann Vowles
See
Badger
Later, it was a mill worker who operated a machine which laid out a
length of cloth into uniform folds of the required length
See
Hair Merchant
It was also a general term for anyone who sold goods from a small
shop or a booth
Huggers wore a leather saddle to protect themselves.
They used a hugging ladder – a ladder with broad rungs set
close together – which made the ascent easier for the worker who
could not use his hands to steady himself as he climbed.
The task was mechanised during the 1800s, although hugging continued
until about 1870.
There were numerous accidents involving huggers and stone workers
See
Mines Act [1842] and
Thruster
They came below yeomen on the social scale.
See
Bordar
I |
J |
It is also an occupational surname mentioned around 1368, and was
common in Stainland
The name may be derived from the German Jæger, a type of
pony which was used as a packhorse.
See
Ailsa O'Fusses
Typically, he travelled widely and worked away from home, and would
have completed his apprenticeship but was not yet a master
of his trade.
Journeymen were members of a guild
See
Yearman
K |
L |
See
Laik
See
Lister
M |
In the 1830s, representatives from Toronto came to England to recruit
stone masons and market gardeners which were in great demand in
Canada.
Many local workers emigrated about this time.
There were many local people involved in gardening and market
gardening – see Local Gardening & Horticulture
See
Journeyman
In several cases, the master-taker was also the local
innkeeper, and would pay the wages to his delvers in his own inn,
ensuring that a proportion of their earnings was quickly returned to
him!
See
Chapman and
Halifax Act [1555]
The word originally meant someone from Milan, and later it can
to mean someone who sold fancy goods from Milan
N |
Many navvies were Irish migrants.
O |
The name was also used for someone who maintains and tunes the looms.
The name tackler is used in Lancashire.
See
Halifax & District Power Loom Overlookers' Society and
Powerloom Overlookers' Club, Todmorden
P |
The name comes from the French palisse meaning a pale
or a fence.
This and associated words are often corrupted to palace
See
Parker Surname
The National Passive Resistance Movement was formed in 1902 by
the Baptist Minister
John Clifford.
There was considerable opposition in February 1904, when non-payment
resulted in seizure of their goods and possesions to the value of the
rate and the costs.
On 23rd June 1905, there was a Passive Resisters'
Demonstration in Halifax with a speech by the Rev
A. T. Guttery.
In 1906, over 170 passive resisters were imprisoned at Wakefield.
See
Joseph Dobson,
Rev Roger Briggs,
Harold Chapman,
Rev William Lawrence and
Rev John Wilkinson
See
Overseer of the Poor and
Roundsman
Later, it was any workman involved in paving paths and roads.
See
Setter
See
Police
A textile worker who joins any broken threads and feeds them into the
machines during the processes of slubbing, scribbling, carding
and spinning.
The intricate task was often performed by women or child workers
See
Culler,
Hayward,
Neatherd and
Pinder
R |
He was responsible for the maintenance of the chancel which was his
private part of the church.
In his absence, the vicar deputised for the rector.
There is now no difference between a vicar and a rector.
A curate is an assistant to the rector
Question:
Does anyone know what the job entailed?
See
Parish Relief
a reducer in a worsted factory
S |
By 1817, 1,170 croppers were out of work in Yorkshire;
1,445 were employed part-time;
763 were employed full-time.
Also a man who sheared sheep
See
Mercer and
Silk industry
See
Silk warper
See
Silk thrower
See
Copyholder
See
Blacksmith,
Brownsmith,
Gunsmith,
Jacksmith,
Smithy,
Sucksmith and
Whitesmith
See
Flag Facer
This may simply to dry the material, or, in some cases, to expose it
to sulphur fumes, or to produce a special surface effect.
The work was done by a stover
See
Smith and
Sucksmith surname
Pronunciation:
Singer rhymes with ginger
T |
See
Chandler
See
Back-tenter,
Engine tenter and
Tenter frame
A testatrix is a woman who writes a will
See
Cooper
A Tyler is a Doorkeeper or Guard at the Lodge
U |
At one point, the ullnagers increased the tax, and a number of
Halifax clothiers – refusing to pay – sold their cloth unsealed;
the ullnager attempted to seize the goods, but the clothiers won the
subsequent court case.
The records are held as Ullnagers' Accounts or Ullnagers'
Rolls.
See
Narrow cloth
At Heath Grammar School, the
Usher
had similar duties to the Headmaster, but received only half the
salary.
Thomas Preston
was Usher – or Ludimagister – at Heath Grammar School
[1671]
V |
W |
See
Enclosures
See
Warner
The male form is Webb.
The etymology is probably Elizabethan-era English.
The final 2 syllables are pronounced as in ginger not as
in singer.
See
Calder House, Sowerby Bridge and
Wharf House, Sowerby Bridge
See
Brownsmith
See
Cheese winder and
Cone winder
Anyone who combs the raw wool during the making of cloth.
St Blaise is the patron St of woolcombers.
In 1853, a letter to the Reynold's Newspaper reported that
See
Bishop Blaise
Henry VIII abolished the practice.
See
Halifax Act [1555] and
Woolshops
A single fleece comprised many different staples and grades of
wool.
The staples of wool were sorted according to quality, colour, length
and fineness.
See
Huntriss family of Halifax,
Wooldriving and
Woolshops
This was a lowly-paid position, but had considerable responsibility
and prestige in the community
the woolcombers of Halifax and its district number about 10,000, with
their wives and children, making a population of nearly 30,000
dependent in that particular branch of labour.
They are in great distress, but the mill owners are making colossal
fortunes
Y |
See
Journeyman
Some clothiers were also weavers and producers of cloth, and some
were merchants.
John Royds was one of the wealthiest clothiers in the
district.
Under the Weavers' Act [1555], clothiers in country districts
were forbidden to keep more than one loom, and woollen weavers were
forbidden to keep more than two looms.
Many clothiers became very prosperous, and many were Quakers.
As the export trade increased through Hull, many local
clothiers moved from Halifax to live at the port.
In the 16th century, John Winchcombe – known as Jack of
Newbury – was probably the most famous clothier in England.
More recently, the term clothier has been used to refer to a
tailor, or a retailer of mechanically produced cloth.
See
Little maker and
Ullnager
A |
The term is widely used in censuses and other records.
Many of these were recorded prior to the Industrial Revolution
In the 12th century, the Warren family were appointed to oversee
ale houses.
In 1393, Richard II decreed that ale houses should have a
pictorial sign so that the ale-conner could recognise the
establishment
Anyone who is responsible for distributing charity to the needy, or
someone in charge of petty cash
See
Annatto
The adjective is armigerous
B |
See
Tenter
An Act of 1697 required anyone who received parish relief to wear a
badge with the letter P – for pauper – sewn to their clothes.
These people were known as badgers, and were licensed by the
Quarter Sessions and recorded in Badgers' Recognisances.
The badge was a distinguishing mark, and designed to discourage
fraudulent beggars as people began to move from the countryside
into the towns.
Any pauper who refused to wear the badge was liable to be committed
to prison for 3 weeks' hard labour.
Any parish officer who gave relief to a poor person who was not
wearing a badge could be fined 20/-.
Badge wearing was compulsory until the law was repealed in 1810.
See
Cadger
The name was often qualified by adding the name of the product
sold: egg badger, potato badger, and so on.
The word is also used as a surname and in place names – often
spelled as Bagger – and is recorded around 1300.
See
Badger Lane, Brighouse and
Cadger
The name was also used for someone who was in charge of
a brothel
The word is now used for the person who oversees the reversing of
vehicles out of building sites
Someone who was in charge of the lift cage in a mine
The striped red and white barber's pole reminds us of the blood and
bandages of the surgical practices.
See
Powler
See
Warper
Someone who makes and repairs iron objects
See
Grave
Bondmen were not allowed to live outside the manor without licence
from the lord.
Where permission was given an annual chevage was payable to the
lord by the bondman.
A bondman could not take legal action concerning rents or tenure
against the lord.
When a bondman died, his property passed to the lord of the manor;
the relatives could buy the property on payment of an entry
fee to the lord.
The word is also used to mean an apprentice who was bonded to a
master for the purpose of learning a skill or trade.
See
Slave
See
Bondman
See
Borough Treasurer of Brighouse,
Borough Treasurer of Halifax,
Borough Treasurer of Rastrick,
Borough Treasurer of Todmorden and
Town Clerk
In the 19th century, the terms botanist and medical
botanist were used for a herbalist.
Brewster sessions were a special Quarter Sessions meeting
which licensed inn-keepers and keepers of alehouses
See
Good brother
C |
See
Badger,
Cadge and
Cadger Lane, Brighouse
Later, the term was used for anyone who carried out research,
particularly for use in elections or sales
Corn chandlers and tallow chandlers are encountered
See
Copeman
It can also mean someone who works in the printing industry
Later, someone who made cakes and sweets.
See
Confectionery
See
Tranqueter
See
Chapman
The word comes from Córdoban, after the leather
products of the Spanish city of Córdoba.
See
Clicker
Under an Act of 1752, coroners returned abstracts of inquests to the
Quarter Sessions in order to claim their expenses.
These returns are preserved in the sessions files and include the
date of the inquest, the name of the deceased and the verdict of the
jury.
These are public records and there is a 75 years' closure period on
them.
See
William Barstow,
John Brigg,
John Brigg,
Coroner's Court, Halifax,
J. F. Dearden,
Thomas F. Dearden,
George Dyson,
George, Brighouse,
Halifax Town Hall,
John Hargreaves,
Ernest Hatton Hill,
John Richard Ingram,
Bernard Williamson Little,
Edward Wallace Norris,
William Stansfeld,
Joseph Wood and
Robert Wood
See
Monger
D |
Compare Textor.
There are currently no entries on
the Calderdale Companion
for people with the surname Dexter.
A steward or treasurer
To some extent, Dissenters were tradesmen and workers of the lower
class.
In the 18th century, Dissenters were excluded from membership of
certain bodies, for example, they could not be
a student at Oxford & Cambridge,
a Magistrate,
or
a Member of Parliament.
See
Baptists,
Congregationalists,
Methodists and
Unitarians
The dogs might be attracted by the tails of foxes, and other
animals – which were killed in order to collect a bounty – and nailed
to the church door.
Someone who makes or deals in dry chemicals, such as dyes and colours
for the textile industry
Question:
Is this the same as
a drysalter?
E |
The name continued to be used as alderman
See
Tenter
An executrix is a female executor.
F |
See
Flag Facer
Someone who deals in hides and skins – particularly sheepskins – and
other animal products which were used for making glue, and a
tradesman who prepares skins for the tanner.
See
Monger
See
Cropper
See
Stone dresser
Compare this with freeman
See
Copyholder,
Inholder and
Smallholder
G |
The work is carried out by a garnetter.
See
Shoddy
The sons of a men titled esquire are titled gentlemen.
See
Goodwife
See
Goodman
Aka
Aegyptianus,
Zingarius,
and
Zingari.
True gypsies speak the Romany language and are believed to originate
in South Asia.
H |
See
Brush Makers and
Horn merchant
It is recorded that there were 1057 half-timers working in Halifax in
1917.
The practice became illegal in 1922.
See
Child Labour and
Factory Acts
This is also a surname in some parts of the country
In the 19th century, the term botanist might also mean
a herbalist.
Some local herbalists were
John Anderton,
C. W. Bentley,
John Bull Herbal Remedy Company,
S. Challice,
Prof Fairbairn,
Samuel Fleming,
George Galloway,
Greenwood Hanson,
Henry Hanson,
Mrs Ann Helliwell,
Charles Henry Hitchin,
A. Lambert,
W. Burns Lingard,
M. Ringrose and
Mrs Mary Ann Vowles
See
Badger
Later, it was a mill worker who operated a machine which laid out a
length of cloth into uniform folds of the required length
See
Hair Merchant
It was also a general term for anyone who sold goods from a small
shop or a booth
Huggers wore a leather saddle to protect themselves.
They used a hugging ladder – a ladder with broad rungs set
close together – which made the ascent easier for the worker who
could not use his hands to steady himself as he climbed.
The task was mechanised during the 1800s, although hugging continued
until about 1870.
There were numerous accidents involving huggers and stone workers
See
Mines Act [1842] and
Thruster
They came below yeomen on the social scale.
See
Bordar
I |
J |
It is also an occupational surname mentioned around 1368, and was
common in Stainland
The name may be derived from the German Jæger, a type of
pony which was used as a packhorse.
See
Ailsa O'Fusses
Typically, he travelled widely and worked away from home, and would
have completed his apprenticeship but was not yet a master
of his trade.
Journeymen were members of a guild
See
Yearman
K |
L |
See
Laik
See
Lister
M |
In the 1830s, representatives from Toronto came to England to recruit
stone masons and market gardeners which were in great demand in
Canada.
Many local workers emigrated about this time.
There were many local people involved in gardening and market
gardening – see Local Gardening & Horticulture
See
Journeyman
In several cases, the master-taker was also the local
innkeeper, and would pay the wages to his delvers in his own inn,
ensuring that a proportion of their earnings was quickly returned to
him!
See
Chapman and
Halifax Act [1555]
The word originally meant someone from Milan, and later it can
to mean someone who sold fancy goods from Milan
N |
Many navvies were Irish migrants.
O |
The name was also used for someone who maintains and tunes the looms.
The name tackler is used in Lancashire.
See
Halifax & District Power Loom Overlookers' Society and
Powerloom Overlookers' Club, Todmorden
P |
The name comes from the French palisse meaning a pale
or a fence.
This and associated words are often corrupted to palace
See
Parker Surname
The National Passive Resistance Movement was formed in 1902 by
the Baptist Minister
John Clifford.
There was considerable opposition in February 1904, when non-payment
resulted in seizure of their goods and possesions to the value of the
rate and the costs.
On 23rd June 1905, there was a Passive Resisters'
Demonstration in Halifax with a speech by the Rev
A. T. Guttery.
In 1906, over 170 passive resisters were imprisoned at Wakefield.
See
Joseph Dobson,
Rev Roger Briggs,
Harold Chapman,
Rev William Lawrence and
Rev John Wilkinson
See
Overseer of the Poor and
Roundsman
Later, it was any workman involved in paving paths and roads.
See
Setter
See
Police
A textile worker who joins any broken threads and feeds them into the
machines during the processes of slubbing, scribbling, carding
and spinning.
The intricate task was often performed by women or child workers
See
Culler,
Hayward,
Neatherd and
Pinder
R |
He was responsible for the maintenance of the chancel which was his
private part of the church.
In his absence, the vicar deputised for the rector.
There is now no difference between a vicar and a rector.
A curate is an assistant to the rector
Question:
Does anyone know what the job entailed?
See
Parish Relief
a reducer in a worsted factory
S |
By 1817, 1,170 croppers were out of work in Yorkshire;
1,445 were employed part-time;
763 were employed full-time.
Also a man who sheared sheep
See
Mercer and
Silk industry
See
Silk warper
See
Silk thrower
See
Copyholder
See
Blacksmith,
Brownsmith,
Gunsmith,
Jacksmith,
Smithy,
Sucksmith and
Whitesmith
See
Flag Facer
This may simply to dry the material, or, in some cases, to expose it
to sulphur fumes, or to produce a special surface effect.
The work was done by a stover
See
Smith and
Sucksmith surname
Pronunciation:
Singer rhymes with ginger
T |
See
Chandler
See
Back-tenter,
Engine tenter and
Tenter frame
A testatrix is a woman who writes a will
See
Cooper
A Tyler is a Doorkeeper or Guard at the Lodge
U |
At one point, the ullnagers increased the tax, and a number of
Halifax clothiers – refusing to pay – sold their cloth unsealed;
the ullnager attempted to seize the goods, but the clothiers won the
subsequent court case.
The records are held as Ullnagers' Accounts or Ullnagers'
Rolls.
See
Narrow cloth
At Heath Grammar School, the
Usher
had similar duties to the Headmaster, but received only half the
salary.
Thomas Preston
was Usher – or Ludimagister – at Heath Grammar School
[1671]
V |
W |
See
Enclosures
See
Warner
The male form is Webb.
The etymology is probably Elizabethan-era English.
The final 2 syllables are pronounced as in ginger not as
in singer.
See
Calder House, Sowerby Bridge and
Wharf House, Sowerby Bridge
See
Brownsmith
See
Cheese winder and
Cone winder
Anyone who combs the raw wool during the making of cloth.
St Blaise is the patron St of woolcombers.
In 1853, a letter to the Reynold's Newspaper reported that
See
Bishop Blaise
Henry VIII abolished the practice.
See
Halifax Act [1555] and
Woolshops
A single fleece comprised many different staples and grades of
wool.
The staples of wool were sorted according to quality, colour, length
and fineness.
See
Huntriss family of Halifax,
Wooldriving and
Woolshops
This was a lowly-paid position, but had considerable responsibility
and prestige in the community
the woolcombers of Halifax and its district number about 10,000, with
their wives and children, making a population of nearly 30,000
dependent in that particular branch of labour.
They are in great distress, but the mill owners are making colossal
fortunes
Y |
See
Journeyman
Some clothiers were also weavers and producers of cloth, and some
were merchants.
John Royds was one of the wealthiest clothiers in the
district.
Under the Weavers' Act [1555], clothiers in country districts
were forbidden to keep more than one loom, and woollen weavers were
forbidden to keep more than two looms.
Many clothiers became very prosperous, and many were Quakers.
As the export trade increased through Hull, many local
clothiers moved from Halifax to live at the port.
In the 16th century, John Winchcombe – known as Jack of
Newbury – was probably the most famous clothier in England.
More recently, the term clothier has been used to refer to a
tailor, or a retailer of mechanically produced cloth.
See
Little maker and
Ullnager
©
Malcolm Bull
2019
Revised 17:02 /17th February 2019 / mmj84 / 174969
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