Occupations referred to on this site

Cordwainer : Cotton Baller : Cotton weaver: Footman : Fustion Cutter : Scavenger
Tin Plate Worker : Tinker

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CORDWAINER
A cordwainer (or cordovan) is somebody who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather.
The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in Córdoba, Spain. Historically, there was a distinction
between a cordwainer, who made shoes, and a cobbler, who repaired them. However, this distinction gradually weakened, particularly
during the twentieth century, with the predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired the shoes themselves.

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COTTON BALLER
A 'Cotton Baller' wound cotton thread into balls on a special balling machine. These were used in 'Ball Warping', the oldest system of warping. .

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COTTON WEAVER
Cotton Weavers were exremely common in Manchester and Lancashire towns. A job still recognised in the modern world. .

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FOOTMAN
The name derives from the attendants who ran beside or behind the carriages of aristocrats.
Originally the term, also called running footman, applied to a non-mounted soldier, or foot soldier (infantryman).
Later, just as demobilized officers frequently kept on a good batman as private servant, the word was applied to a household servant,
who usually serves—standing—at meals while the master and guests remain seated.
The first footman is the highest ranking and serves as deputy butler; he acts as butler in the butler's absence.
In a larger household, various footmen may be assigned specific duties, such as the silver specialist,
but usually the footmen perform a range of duties which include serving meals, opening and closing doors, carrying heavy items,
or moving furniture for the housemaids to clean behind. The footmen may also double as valets ...so "jack of all trades" springs to mind!! .

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FUSTIAN CUTTER
A weaver of Fustian Cloth.
A person who lifted and cut the threads in the making of Fustian, formerly a kind of coarse cloth made of cotton and flax.
Now a thick, twilled cotton cloth with a short pile or nap, a kind of cotton velvet ( Heavy Corduroy ).
A long thin knife was inserted into the loops and the threads cut as it was pulled through, stretched between rollers.
The cloth was then brushed to raise the pile.
The plaque shown below on Manchester Road Wilmslow marks the location of a fustian-cutting factory.
This area was once the centre of fustian cutting.
If you wanted your fustian cut you came to Wilmslow. But over time the demand for fustian died away and the trade was lost.

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SCAVENGER
SCAVINGER
The youngest children in the textile factories were usually employed as scavengers and piecers.
Scavengers had to pick up the loose cotton from under the machinery.

This was extremely dangerous as the children were expected to carry out the task while the machine was still working.
Below is an 1840's Illustration of "scavengers and piecers at work"

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Tin Plate Worker
A tinsmith (or tinner, tinker, tinplate worker), is a person who makes and repairs things made of light-coloured metal, particularly tinware.
By extension it can also refer to the person who deals in tinware.
Many young tinsmiths took to the road as peddlers or tinkers in an effort to save enough money to open a shop in town.

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