Dictionary of Old Occupations

Click here to return to the index page of the Dictionary of Old Occupations

Definitions of jobs Figure Painter - Flax Heckler

Figure Painter: worked in the pottery industry, responsible for hand painting decorative figures prior to glazing.

Figurer: worked in the pottery industry producing relief figures from moulds for the purpose of decorating pottery.

File Cutter: cut metal blanks to produce files for metalworking or woodworking.

Filibuster: American term for irregular soldiers operating without government authority.

Filler: worked in the textile industry, responsible for filling bobbins. Also refers to a Coal Filler, who filled corves with coal in a mine.

Fine Drawer: a skilled tailor or seamstress capable of invisible mending clothing.

Finisher: operated machinery to polish metal goods.

Fire Beater: a factory worker who tended fires. Sometimes called a fireman.

Fireman: a firefighter, a man tending the fire of a steam engine in any industry, or a naval rank. May also refer to a factory worker known as a Fire Beater.

Fireworker: made fireworks, a very old occupation. Fireworks were used for military purposes as well as recreational.

First Hand: a home based worker in the textile industry, who wove silk on his / her own loom.

Fiscere: archaic term for a fisherman.

Fish Curer: dried, salted and / or pickled fish in barrels ready for transport.

Fish Fag: woman who sold fish.

Fish Hawker: alternate term for a fishmonger. May have worked at a market or in the street as opposed to a shop.

Fish Porter: a porter who transported fish in a fish market or to and from a warehouse.

Fishmonger: then as now, a merchant selling fish.

Fishwife: female door-to-door fish seller.

Fitter: another term for a Joiner, which is a skilled carpenter. (I have one in my family tree). Is also an old term for a mechanic / engineer, or a coal broker.

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

Flagger: laid paving stones for walkways.

Flagger and Tiler: laid roofing stones / tiles.

Flasher: a glassmaker.

Flat Knocker: worked in the pottery industry, responsible for shaking out dust after firing.

Flatman: operated a flat bottom canal boat or river boat transporting goods.

Flatware Maker: worked in the pottery industry making flatware, e.g. plates.

Flauner: sold confectionary.

Flax Dresser: removed straw from flax fibres.

Flax Heckler: pulled flax fibre through combs of tapered steel pins driven into wooden blocks. This is part of flax dressing, which removes some straw and polishes fibres.

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.

Firemen at War: The Work of London's Fire Fighters in the Second World War by Neil Wallington

The fact that London was not burnt to the ground in the Second World War is a direct tribute to the Fire Service of the time. In 1940, incendiaries and highly explosive bombs rained down on London for 57 consecutive nights.

This is the story of that time and of the men and women who worked through some of the fieriest and most dramatic nights of Britain's history.