Dictionary of Old Occupations

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Definitions of jobs Bead Piercer - Besswarden

Bead Piercer: bored the holes in beads.

Beadle: a Parish constable, or a Parish official used to keep the peace or as an usher at weddings.

Beadsman: a person paid to pray for the soul of his employer.

Beamer: threaded the warp yarn onto the loom in preparation for weaving.

Bearer: worked in a coal mine moving coal from the coal face to the shaft ready for lifting to the surface.

Beater: thickened and removed oil and dirt from woollen based cloth by treading it in a solution of water mixed with fuller's earth. The occupation is also known as a Fuller.

Beatster: fishing net mender (usually a woman).

Beaver: used fur from the beaver to produce hat making felt.

Beck: abbreviation of Becker, a baker.

Becker: Middle English term for a baker operating an communal oven or employed by a large household.

Bedel: alternate spelling of Beadle, a parish constable or official.

Bedesman: another name for a Beadsman.

Bedman: church caretaker or Sexton.

Bedral: church official (Scotland).

Bedwevere: quilt weaver and webbing maker for use on bed frames.

Bee Skep Maker: made beehives, which were woven basket on the inside and often thatched on the outside to keep the bees warm.

Beetler: a textile industry worker who used a beetling machine to emboss fabric.

Belhoste: inn keeper.

Bell Hanger: hung bells in church bell towers.

Bell Maiden: surface worker at a tin mine.

Copyright: Jane Hewitt. This dictionary is authorised for use on www.familyresearcher.co.uk only.

Bellfounder: made bells in a foundry.

Bellman: - a Town Crier, a Watchman or a person who collected coach mail by ringing a bell which attracted people’s attention.

Bellowfarmer: repaired bellows-powered church organs.

Belly Builder: produced and assembled piano interiors.

Belly Roller: operated a machine that rolled and smoothed the surface of the leather / hide taken from the cow’s belly.

Benchman: a type of Sawyer.

Bender: person who cut leather.

Besom Maker: made besom brooms (what modern people call 'Witches Brooms') from short tree branches tied to a wooden stale or handle.

Besswarden: a Parish official who managed livestock.

This dictionary is my own work, and copyright Jane Hewitt. I sometimes find unauthorised (i.e. stolen) copies of my website content appearing on other people's websites. If you should read a group of identical glossary definitions elsewhere on the web, consider whether such sites are reputable or not.

First Steps to Bell Ringing: Being an Introduction to the Healthful and Pleasant Exercise of Bell Ringing in Rounds and Changes, Upon Church Bells (Classic Reprint) by Samuel B. Goslin

The appreciation and successful issue of the first edition of this work is duly acknowledged by the Author, as well as the many expressions of approval from persons at home and in foreign parts.

It is a source of satisfaction and gratification to know that the attempt has produced a large amount of interest, and has also been the means of producing some ringers in several of our Colonies, as well as working up a desire for and supply of other productions, such as the second edition of Banister's Change Ringing, Wigram's new, better, and enlarged Change Ringing Disentangled, and Snowdon's Rope Sight, which are worthy of a place in every bell student's and every ringer'slibrary.

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