Dictionary of Old Occupations

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Definitions of jobs Glassman - Grazier

Glassman: alternative name for a Glazier.

Glazier: supplied, cut, installed and replaced glass windows.

Glover: made or sold gloves.

Gloveress: a female glove maker.

Goat Carriageman: drove a single horse carriage.

Gobar: worked in a jobbing house, a wholesale merchant house buying imported goods to sell to retailers.

Gold Beater: made gold leaf.

Gold Smith: made items out of gold. The surname Goldsmith derives from this ancient occupation.

Gong Farmer: the lucky person responsible for emptying privies and cesspits. They were only allowed to work at night, faced restrictions on where they could reside (because of the smell of human waste), and risked death by asphyxiation. Amusingly, the word 'Gong' means 'To go'. See Tony Robinson's book The Worst Jobs in History for more information about a Gong Farmer.

Gong Scourer: another name for a Gong Farmer.

Gongfermor: another name for a Gong Farmer.

Gongfermour: alternative spelling of Gongfermor, meaning a Gong Farmer.

Gooseherd: person who tended geese.

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

Gorseman: supplied gorse, which was used for cattle feed.

Grace Wife: 16th century word for midwife.

G.P.: General Practitioner, i.e. a doctor. The term dates back over a century.

Graffer: Notary or Scrivener.

Grainer: painted imitation grain pattern of wood or marble to decorate items.

Granger: farm steward.

Graver: an engraver, of things such as seals or gold. The surname Graver derives from ‘a digger of graves or ditches’.

Grazier: a pastoral farmer, producing livestock rather than crops.

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 Worst Children's Jobs in History by Sir Tony Robinson

In The Worst Children's Jobs in History Sir Tony Robinson takes you back to the days when being a kid was no excuse for getting out of hard labour. This book tells the stories of all the children whose work fed the nation, kept trains running, and put clothes on everyone’s backs, over the last few hundred years of Britain’s history.

No longer will you have to listen to your parents, grandparents, uncles, neighbours, and random old people in the Co-op telling you how much harder they had it in their day. Next time you find yourself in that situation, ask them if they were a jigger-turner or a turnip-picker in their young day. No? An orderly boy, perhaps? A stepper? Maybe they spent their weekends making matchboxes? Still no? Then they have no idea about the real meaning of hard work.

With profiles and testimonies of real kids in rotten jobs, this book will tell you things you probably didn’t want to know about the back-breaking, puke-inducing reality of being a child in the past.

For more gruesome history facts discover Bad Kids: The Naughtiest Children in History.

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