Occupations and Professions in your family

[giannineo]

I have a brother who is an Agronomist. .not a lot of them about

[AL CAPONE]

i've a mate who is a pincher

[boydi]

Hi All

I have a relative who's occupation is listed as Van Man. Was he a driver? Any ideas.

Thanks
Ruth

[Christopher]

Hiya Ruth,

When was that relative of yours listed as a Van Man During the Troubles in the 1970s there were jokes going round Belfast about people being rear gunners in milk floats.

Members who wonder what their ancestors and more recent relations did in the shipyards may be interested in this series of photographs of thirty one Shipyard Trades which are part of The Vickers Photographic Archive on The Dock Museum, Barrow-in-Furness website. The pictures show burners, caulkers, drillers, fitters, plumbers, rivetters, signwriters and welders at work as well as showing some of the kit required for their various tasks. 

Does anyone know if there is a similar series of photographs online showing what the people did in the Belfast Mills or will we have to look for a Lancashire site to see what happened in the mills there?

Christopher

[coralc]

Christopher , My Da was a carpenter, and worked in the Ship yards for a wee while after the war (He often reckoned he was one of the few who did!) He'd been apprenticed to a cousin, in the buildings, and been kept hard at it, so it came as a shock to him to discover that in the yards you needed to make job last out a bit , when the job was done, so were the tradesmen! He always swore that job delineation was so strict the man who hammered in the right hand nails would'nt have dreamt of touching the left hand ones! He used to tell us about a fella that put his day in carrying a plank from one end of the ship to the other, and back again ! Any more stories out there?  Coral

[Christopher]

Coral,

Many, if not all, of those stories your Da told you are true.

It's just as well women rearing families didn't apply the same principles of demarcation as their menfolk did in many industries throughout Britain and Ireland. If the guys had been more flexible in their attitude to their work we might well still have a good industrial base in this country. Now we are attempting to rectify the situation but it's far too late. The government are planning to raise the school leaving age to eighteen. The last time there was a raise was in 1972. I think entering industry as an apprentice at a younger age will qualify as remaining at school.

Chris

[eddiec]

I have a relative who's occupation is listed as Van Man. Was he a driver? Any ideas.

He may noy have been a driver but a helper. One of my first jobs was as a Van Boy... I helped the driver deliver bread for Mothers Pride.

Coral... there are plenty of stories like that and more... and all of them true!! I've personal experience of a few

[boydi]

Hi all

my van man, Thomas Patrick Foley, born 1879, Whitworth Lancashire, (father Irish) living 7 Scotland St South Smithfield, address was from the 1911 Belfast Census. He (age 32) was supporting a wife, elderly father-in-law & a baby son. No trace of Foley's on any street directories after.
Both Margaret & Thomas Patrick Foley died in Scotland in 1918 & 1930.
Not sure what was happening in Ireland then, so even tho way before your 1977 date could "things" have been happening in 1911.
Sorry to have gone on but not sure what was happening in Ireland when.

Ruth

[Bull-ant]

Hiyiz

My da on leaving the royal navy got a job for a short while at H&W  The papers I still have described his job as a doper.  hmmmmmmmmmmm.   I know he spent most of his time up high on rigging or scaffolding.  I,m pretty sure people didn,t do drugs back then but I still have no idea what a doper does.

Merv

[murielc]

 
  Hello everyone,  What a great site, I just joined and was wondering if anyone knows what a Scavengeer Overseer would of been??  My Grandfather was listed in 1911 census for Belfast as a Scavengeer Overseer for the Belfast Corp.
  Thanks hope someone knows 

 researching-Gibson, Campbell, Maguire, Walker

[MaryLennon]

 
  Hello everyone,  What a great site, I just joined and was wondering if anyone knows what a Scavengeer Overseer would of been??  My Grandfather was listed in 1911 census for Belfast as a Scavengeer Overseer for the Belfast Corp.
  Thanks hope someone knows 

 researching-Gibson, Campbell, Maguire, Walker

Hi Muriel

Originally meaning "street sweeper", the word scavenger is also used for animals that consume already dead organic life-forms. Scavengers are useful to the ecosystem by feeding on and therefore breaking down dead animal and plant remains. The remains that are left behind by the scavengers are then used even further by decomposers.

http://www.crimeculture.com/earlyunderworlds/Contents/Glossary.html

see broom-man

Mary

[giannineo]

Merv,may have been a painter,but some dopers were pattern makers /leather dressers.
Muriel,the word scavenger is used still today in Dundee as a binman/road sweeper and shortened to "scaffy".
    T'would tie in with Mary's definition.Scavengeer Overseer would possibly have been the foreman of the roadsweepers/binmen.

[Bull-ant]

Merv,may have been a painter,but some dopers were pattern makers /leather dressers.

Hey G,
What exactly is meant by leather dresser You dont mean he dressed in leather gear much the same as rubber dubbers
Merv

[giannineo]

Merv;A person who prepares leather....nothing more kinky than that....can you imagine a leather fetishist in the shipyard

[Bull-ant]

Merv;A person who prepares leather....nothing more kinky than that....can you imagine a leather fetishist in the shipyard

Not for very long