I just found out... (Lighthearted thread!)

I like the way school children were referred to as scholars on the Victorian censuses. Sound very academic.

One of my 19th century ancestors was listed in the census as a flyman - he drove a fly for hire, a small horsedrawn vehicle. It was the Victorian equivalent of a mini-cab driver.

My GGF was a white smith. They used lead , so plumbers I suppose.

Spiders taste with their feet!

Of course there were also slaymakers in weaving areas.

And plenty of ~wrights such as arkwright and wainwright (which became surnames).

lizzypopbottle Sun 20-Sep-20 10:54:59
I had never heard of Cordwainers (although I'm sure people from Leicestershire and Northamptonshire will be rolling their eyes!) but they were shoemakers and made new shoes from new leather, as opposed to Cobblers, who originally only repaired shoes.

It was a long time before I found out that a costermonger was a fruit seller. Costermonger has such a dubious ring to it.

An Alnager was a onetime officer in England whose duty it was to inspect and attest the measure and quality of woollen cloth. A sort of early weights & measures.

If you have a fence that is shrubbery and you need it pruning, you might employ a company with the name hayward in their title. A hayward was a fence and hedge inspector.

A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items such as cabochons, engraved gems, and faceted designs.

A wig maker was known as a peruker.

I did local studies as part of my degree. On a walk around a village I went in search of the Chandler's House after finding out that chandler was a person who makes or sells candles and sometimes other items of tallow or wax.

I did a search and reported in the Western Mail newspaper
was an article on the Cordwainers annual pilgrimage to the
Cathedral, this was 1936.

SueDonim

I have a friend whose surname is Cordiner, which I guess might derive from Cordwainer.

Cordier could come from the French corde and maybe came over after 1066. My French physiotherapist had the same name.

Wrong face

You will not believe this. And I promise you I am educated. I asked my husband today why the sun looks the same but isn't as warm now. He said because we're further away. That sounds logical.?
I also found out that the ozone layer is only 30km above. (Radio Times quiz).

Thanks for all the surname snippets ?

Lizzypopbottle says

I've never met or heard of anyone with the surname Cordwainer or Cobbler!

I wonder if James Corden's name originates from it.

Talking of shoemakers. In what seems like another life, I was supposed to teach day release students 'communication skills'. One group was comprised of 'basic boot and shoe operatives' who informed me that they were 'skivers'. I told them that was nothing to boast about, but they informed me that 'skiving' was a process in shoe-making. I always learnt something new from those students!

According to the 1851 census my GGG Grandfather was a cordwainer.
In 1861 he was listed as a bootmaker.

He couldn't have been that good though as he used the services of another bootmaker. In our local newspaper archives it was reported that he'd taken his rival to court for making him a pair of boots one boot being half inch shorter than the other.

i think the word bride came from the one who brews and bakes.
brewing was necessary to make water potable .
i believe cordwainer is related to cordoba in spain, where the leather came from.
i learnt this from the entry plate to a hosp ward, years ago, before they changed them all to, "2W, 3E, 4S, 5N" etc

lizzypopbottle Female occupational surnames include Brewster (female brewer) , and Baxter (female baker) Brewing and baking were originally women's work, like spinning (Can she brew and can she bake, Billy boy, Billy boy?")

I have a friend whose surname is Cordiner, which I guess might derive from Cordwainer.

Brilliant, Anniebach! There are pockets of shoemaker history around England and now one (at least) in Wales. ?

In our Cathedral one of the side Chapels is called ‘The Cordwainers Chapel ,

I didn't know you could eat fuchsia berries until my daughter informed me. Tried one the other day, they taste a bit like cherries.

More proof of the wonder of the internet, BlueSky, as I just looked up Fanny Cornforth too. What a complicated life!

FannyCornforth I didn't know who your name sake was, in fact I believed you made it up! And I thought I was well educated!

So many common surnames were also represented in those shields, too, because these jobs, traditionally, were only done by men. Other occupations up there were Cooper, Fletcher, Brewer, Tailor, Fuller, Carpenter, Butcher, Skinner, Tanner etc. I've never met or heard of anyone with the surname Cordwainer or Cobbler! As far as I know, there's no surname 'Spinster' since that job was only done by unmarried women.

Are you sure they're not bullocks, FannyC?