R

 

rack maid(en). Female tin mine worker who sorted ore from rock.

racker. Medieval official torturer.

radknight. A tenant who was a good horseman and gave service as a horseman to his lord.

raddler. Hedge-maker using interwoven branches.

raff seller/man. Second hand goods dealer, particularly of a maritime nature.

raffia man. Maker of straw or grass goods.

rag (and bone) man. Person who collected and paid for rags and bones from householders (usually with a horse and cart).

rag cutter. Cloth or paper industry worker.

rag gatherer. Low grade cloth mill worker.

ragged school teacher. Usually a voluntary position, organising schools for poor children in the 1800s.

railer. Manufacturer of wooden rails for trucks and trolleys to run on in pits, etc.

railway carrier. Someone employed to deliver goods by road, either to or from a railway station.

railway guard. Person in charge of railway goods carriage who would also signal to the driver (with a whistle and flag) when it was safe for the train to leave the station.

railway porter. Railway worker, once employed in great numbers to carry the baggage of train passengers without charge.

raiser. Person who moulds the bodies of fountain pens in a factory.

raker. In the days before organised street cleaners, a raker was often employed to rake rubbish which had been left in the street into heaps. Often the heaps were simply buried in soil.

ramillie maker. Maker of wigs characterized by having a pigtail.

ramskin baker/seller. Person who baked and/or sold ramskins, a kind of cake made from pastry and cheese.

ramson seller. Someone who collected and sold wild garlic.

rand maker. Manufacturer of thin shoe inner-soles made from cork etc., and called a rand.

rapper. Someone in industrial areas who had the job of waking shift workers by knocking on their doors.

rapperee. An Irish plunderer.

raree show man. Street entertainer who carried a miniature show around in a box.

rashling. A term once used to describe a person who was always expected to act rashly.

rat catcher. General term for a person who would rid houses, etc. of any vermin. He often used a ferret for this work.

rattler, rattlewatch. Town crier.

reader. One of a department of men and boys in a newspaper office who occupied the reading room and had the job of reading the first print of the newspaper to check for printing and spelling errors. The trade began to die out in the early to mid 1960s.

reaper. Someone who harvests crops or cuts grass, generally with a sickle or scythe.

rebroccator. Shoe repairer.

rector. In Latin manuscripts means ‘guardian’ and virtually the same in modern English. As a clergyman, the rector received tithes of one tenth of all crops grown in the parish.

rector regis et regni. Regent (literally ‘Guardian of the King and Country’).

red herring curer. Someone who smokes fish (but not herring) to be sold as ‘red herrings’.

redsmith. ‘Red gold’ craftsman.

redware maker. Potter who makes plain undecorated baked pottery for household/industrial use.

reeder. Collector/seller/ manufacturer of common ditch weeds for various household purposes.

reedmaker. Maker of reeds for musical instruments. Also a tapestry worker.

reeler. Used in many trades particularly textiles.

reeve. Overseer of the manor. Originally a lowly position but later developed into a powerful one.

refa. Anglo-Saxon official who acted as warden or sheriff. The title developed into the word reeve – an overseer of lands.

refectioner. In an abbey a kind of head waiter/master of ceremonies. In charge of staff who handled crockery and catered for ordinary meals and special occasions.

regardant villein. A special kind of villein who was permanently linked to one manor.

Regina. Queen (used also for ‘Queen of the May’ at Maytime celebrations).

register keeper. Keeper of marriage registers, who was often a marriage house keeper. (See under that entry.)

registrarius. Registrar.

regrater. A person who bought and sold provisions in the same market.

regular canon. A canon who lived in a religious house like a monk, but still carried out duties attached to a cathedral (see also canon and secular canon).

relayer. Travelling maintenance supervisor working on the railways.

relict. Usually signifies ‘widow’, less commonly ‘widower’.

renderer. Someone who made dripping from raw animal fat. Also applied to anyone who performed any service.

renter(er). Specialist sewer who repaired or restored valuable cloth such as in tapestries by stitching edges together without turning them over to form a risen seam.

rentier. Also known as a ‘tenant in chief’. He was a powerful leaseholder of land who lived off the rents of his tenants.

repousser. Decorative metal worker.

reredos builder. Builder of a primitive type of fireplace from large flat stones, particularly in Scotland.

rereward. A guard who defends from the rear (e.g. a soldier at the end of a column).

restio, restionius. Rope/string maker.

retainer. Same as vassal.

revelus. Pedlar.

Reverend. Used for all clergy in early records (even non-conformist ministers). When in conjunction with Mr. (Magister) or Dr. (Doctor), this often indicated that the clergyman was a college graduate.

revolus. Pedlar.

Rex. King.

ribbon man. Itinerant ribbon seller. Also a member of an Irish Roman Catholic society.

ribbon weaver. Worker who operated a machine making silk ribbons.

rick man/stacker. Builder of hay ricks (hay stacks).

rickmaster. Cavalry officer.

riddler. Sifter or sorter (used in many trades).

riding officer. A Customs and Excise officer who patrolled on horseback, sometimes with the assistance of mounted dragoon soldiers.

rifter. Agricultural worker.

rigger. Ship worker dealing with the rigging. Also block and tackle operator.

rigging monkey. A ship’s boy who climbed the rigging carrying out various tasks.

Rightboy. Same as ‘Leveller’.

ring spinner. Cotton machine worker.

rip maker. Basket weaver who specialised in rips, small wicker baskets for the carrying of fish.

ripator. Reaper or grass cutter.

ripery worker. Worker in the cheese making industry.

 

Ripery worker. The process of making cheese was once all completed by hand. The ripery worker was employed in the final stages when cheese was `set away’ to be ripened. The full process from warming the milk to ripening is shown in this old illustration dating from around 1920.

 

ripper, rippier. Fish seller.

river finder. Same as mudlark.

rivet hammerer. Part of a two man team who rivets large steel girders together. The other team member being the ‘holder-on’.

robot, robut. Production worker in a fruit canning factory (probably the origin of the word ‘robot’).

rock maker. Manufacturer of long sticks of a hard confectionery with letters which appear all through the bar.

rock salt miner. See under salt miner.

rocker. A nursery maid.

rockman. User of pneumatic drill in a quarry.

rodder. Fish processing industry worker who places a metal rod through rows of fish.

rogatorius. Beggar. (The word ‘rogue’ comes from this word.)

rogue. Officially defined as ‘a person wandering about without being able to give good account of himself’.

rogue spotter. Someone in a bottling plant that watches the filled bottles on a conveyor belt and extracts any ‘rogues’ (i.e. badly filled or damaged ones).

roller mill worker. A factory worker in the early days of the mechanisation of flour production.

rolley man. Same as rully man.

rollway man. Mine worker.

roman cement worker. Worker in a fine cement factory.

root beer seller. Someone who sold beer made from root ginger, dandelions or other crop roots.

root seller. Street vendor of root vegetables, etc.

roper. Rope maker/net maker.

 

A ropemaker of the 18th century. Ropers such as the one in the picture above, were self employed, often working with other members of the family to supply ropes to local farmers etc. Some were farmers themselves, often working in a spare field or paddock, whilst others performed the work as a secondary means of income. In coastal areas where more rope would be required, quite large roperies, or rope-walks were established. These provided employment for local men. Though the remains of the old roperies are now largely untraceable, some towns retain the name `Ropery’, `Rope-walk’ or `Ropers Walk’ in the names of modern streets.

 

ropery owner. Same as ropewalk owner.

rotar(ius). Wheel maker.

rotocraft pilot. Pilot of an autogiro or helicopter.

rotularius. Official notary.

rouper. Auctioneer.

rover. Wool trade worker. Also a merchant seaman or gypsy.

rubber presser. Specialised work as carried out by a presser in a metal works or factory. (Once used extensively in motor part manufacture.)

rubber seller. An 18th century branch of the haberdashery trade. The rubber seller sold brushes and leather rubbers which were used to rub up the raised fibres or nap on velvet hats and clothing.

rubber up. Generally a cab driver deprived of his licence who made a casual living by polishing the brass on other cabs and cleaning their upholstery. Also known as a buckman or buck giver as the use of a wet leather was known as ‘giving out buck’. The American expression ‘to earn a buck’ may derive from this expression. (See also buck.)

rubbler. Quarry worker.

rulley man. Driver of a flat wagon or dray used for delivering heavy objects such as barrels, blocks of stone etc. (See also drayman.)

rumourer. A reporter of news (but not via a newspaper).

runner. Policeman (see under Bow Street Runner). Also a Victorian refuse collector who worked in a team using one cart. Also a messenger (see bookies runner).

running dustman. See under runner.

running patterer. Also known as a flying stationer. A street salesman of paper products who was continuously on the move.

running repairer. A fitter or mechanic who carries out minor repairs whilst the machinery is still in service, particularly such a worker in the tramway industry.

rupetra. Roper maker.

ruptarius. A freeman who sold his skills as a mercenary soldier.

rush gatherer. Collector of rushes for carpeting, weaving or for use in rush lights.

rush light maker. A blacksmith specialising in making holders for rushes soaked in fat or oil and used for lighting purposes when candles were expensive, absent or scarce.

rusk maker. Baker of rusks, a very light type of biscuit.

rusticus. Country dweller.