Old Job Titles

You may find references to an ancestors occupation on legal or tax records, census forms or even death registrations. Some of the older terms for jobs can be confusing, especially if the trade is no longer even practiced widely.

Being able to accurately translate a job title can be helpful, as it may give you a direction to head for your next piece of information.

Here are some of the occupations that a "common man" might have, and that you might come across in your research. In fact, many surnames have been derived from these old occupational terms.

Be aware though that some of these terms are slang, and may not be used on official documents though census records may have them because enumerators tended to write down occupations as a person called them.

Acater – The person who supplies ships with provisions, food and other supplies. An older version of the modern word "caterer".

Ackerman, Acreman – Someone who works the land, like a ploughman or livestock herder. Not the same as a farmer. An ackerman would provide his services to other landowners.

Apparitor – A lower public official of the ecclesiastical or civil courts. Responsible for summoning witnesses, making arrests and serve summons.

Barker – A tanner, who processed raw hide into leather.

Boniface – An innkeeper or landlord.

Brightsmith – A metal worker.

Burgonmaster – The head of the town, like a mayor or magistrate.
Cooper – Someone who makes or repairs wooden barrels, casks, and tubs.
Costermonger – A peddler who sold fruit, vegetables or fish from a cart or stall.

Daunsel – A commoner who worked with someone of nobility, such as a groom, squire or gentleman-in-waiting.

Drummer – A traveling salesman or sales representative.

Duffer – Someone who sold cheap goods from door to door, or in a general marketplace.

Endholdernn – An inn keeper.

Fleshewer – A butcher, or someone who sold meat.

Furner – A baker, usually the head baker who ran the ovens.

Gatward – a herdsman, one who specifically kept goats.

Grecher – One who runs a store selling food, grocery and household items.

Headborough – A petty police constable, or a local parish officer.

Kedger – Either a fisherman, or someone who sold fish in a market.

Kempster – Someone who combed out raw wool to be used in weaving or spinning, often a job held by a woman.

Ordinary – This occupational term was used for several different jobs. The most common was for someone who ran an inn, restaurant or other kind of public house. It's also used to describe some members of the clergy.

Pistor – Another term for a baker, or someone who just mills the flour.

Porcher – Keeper of pigs.

Raker – A street cleaner, who usually used a rake to clean trash off the street.

Ripper – A person selling fish.

Shrieve / Shriever – A sheriff, or some other form of official law enforcement.

Tipstaff – A policeman or constable. The name comes from the metal-tipped staff they carried. Sometimes also a court bailiff.

Wabster – A weaver or cloth-maker.

Whitesmith – A metal worker who specifically works with tin.
Yeoman – A land-owning farmer. It's generally used to describe a level of status, not really an occupation.