Dictionary of Old Occupations

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Definitions of jobs Clower - Coast Waiter

Clower: alternate term for a Clowter or Nailor.

Clown: a peasant, villager, or a person who worked the soil.

Clowter: a Cobbler or a Nailor.

Club Collector: visited homes every week to collect payments into a savings program where people made regular small contributions towards expensive future purchases. Such schemes still exist today.

Club Proprietor: managed a member’s only clubhouse, e.g. a gentleman’s club. Such clubs date back to the 18th century.

Coachman: drove a horse drawn carriage, e.g. a hackney carriage driver.

Coachstand Waterman: an attendant stationed at a coach stand, providing water to water horses used for travel. Not to be confused with the other type of Waterman who transferred passengers over rivers in Britain.

Coal Backer: literally humped sacks of coals around on their backs as they loaded and unloaded coal barges on the canals.

Coal Burner: alternate term for a Charcoal Burner.

Coal Dealer: coal retailer.

Coal Drawer: another term for a Hurrier; a woman or child working in a coal mine, hauling carts or wagons of coal through tunnels.

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

Coal Driver: guided horses pulling carts of coal through coal mine tunnels. Often a job for an older child.

Coal Filler: filled corves with coal in a mine.

Coal Getter: alternate term for a Hewer in a coal mine.

Coal Heaver: responsible for unloading coal from carts once they reached the mine surface.

Coal Hewer: alternate term for a Hewer, working at the coal face in a mine.

Coal Higgler: itinerant coal seller.

Coal Hurrier: alternate term for a Hurrier, a child or woman working in a mine hauling coal.

Coal Leader: delivered or sold coal door to door. May be seen on census records as Coal Leader and Higgler.

Coal Loader: a coal miner.

Coal Master: person in overall charge of a coalmine.

Coal Porter: a physically demanding job, carrying sacks of coal.

Coal Runner: worked in a coal mine as a cart attendant.

Coal Thruster: another term for a Hurrier; a woman or child working in a coal mine, pulling carts or wagons of coal through tunnels.

Coal Trapper: child working in a coal mine, responsible for opening and closing trapdoors to allow Hurriers (Coal Drawers and Coal Thrusters) to pass along the tunnel.

Coal Trimmer: stationed inside a ship, responsible for shovelling coal around inside the hold in order to balance the load.

Coalman: drove a horse and cart along the streets, selling coal for use in domestic homes.

Coal-meter: usually a London based occupation, a licensed official responsible for measuring coal.

Coal-whipper: unloaded coal from transport ships.

Coast Surveyor: alternate term for a Coast Waiter, an early term for a customs and excise officer.

Coast Waiter: an officer working in a customs house, supervising the loading and unloading of goods for shipping.

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.

Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese

Coal has transformed societies and shaped the fate of nations. It launched empires and triggered wars. Above all, it fuelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain, propelling the rise of a small rural kingdom into the greatest commercial empire in the world.

Taking us on a rich historical journey that begins on the banks of the river Tyne, Barbara Freese explores the profound role coal has played in human history and continues to play in today's world.

The first half of the book is set in Britain and tells how coal transformed Britain and ushered in the industrial age. The rest of the book looks at America and China, at the birth of the unions and the closing of the mines, and at the energy industry today. With oil prices on the rise and no end in sight to our insatiable appetite for energy, the world is turning again to coal.