Dictionary of Old Occupations
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Definitions of jobs Cotton Singer - Coxswain
Cotton Singer: operated a machine designed to singe cloth in order to remove lint.
Cotton Winder: worked in the textile industry, wound cotton thread.
Cotton Yarn Gasser: de-fumigated raw cotton prior to use in the textile industry. Raw cotton from India was fumigated with methyl bromide to preserve it from pests.
Cotyler: alternate spelling of Cutler, who made or sharpened cutlery including knives, swords and edged tools.
Coucher: worked in a paper mill, transferring sheets of damp pulp off wire cloth moulds and placed them onto felt blankets to speed up the drying process.
Countour: worked in a merchant's counting house.
Countryman: refers to a person living or working in the country, such as a Farmer or other agricultural worker.
Couper: an alternate spelling of Cooper, who made barrels etc., or a livestock dealer.
Couple Beggar: the common dictionary definition is one who married beggars to one another. May be a derogatory term for an itinerant priest performing marriages for the lowest classes of society.
Coupler: a railway worker who connected carriages to one another or a person working in a coal mine coupling corves together. See Corfer for further information.
Courant Boy: a boy who delivered newspapers.
Couranteer: French term for the proprietor of a newspaper, a reporter or journalist.
Coureur des Bois: a French-Canadian trapper and fur trader operating without permission in the wilder areas of North America during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Court Factor: alternate term for a Court Jew, a Jewish moneylender to noble houses.
Court Fool: a jester.
Court Jew: a Jewish moneylender or businessman handling the finances of non-Jewish noble houses.
Court Roller: record keeper in a court of law.
Courtier: attended the court of a monarch.
Cover Maker: worked in the pottery industry, making covers for dishes.
Cover Maker of Holloware: produced covers or lids for hollow items such as pots and kettles in the pottery industry.
Cow Herd: kept a herd of cattle.
Cow Leech: veterinarian.
Cox: abbreviation of Coxswain, a helmsman.
Copyright: Jane Hewitt. This dictionary is authorised for use on www.familyresearcher.co.uk only.
Coxswain: in charge of navigation and steering on a boat or ship.
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.
The Mill Girls: Moving true stories of love and loss from inside Lancashire's cotton mills by Tracy Johnson
'I dragged my heels all the way to the mill. ‘I can’t do it!’ I sulked. Mother sighed and shook her head. My heart sank. Of course, I’d seen the mill hundreds of times before, but now it was different – now, I was going in. I’d never seen a place so depressing; I wanted to cry.'
With tales from hardworking Audrey and mischievous Maureen to high-spirited Doris and dedicated Marjorie, The Mill Girls is an evocative story of hardship and friendship from when cotton was still king.
Through the eyes of these northern mill girls, we are offered a fascinating glimpse into the lives of ordinary women who rallied together, nattered over the beamers and, despite the difficult conditions, weaved, packed and laughed to keep the cotton mills spinning.
