Courtesy of the census
It wasn’t until 1841 that a person’s occupation had to be entered on the UK Census—before then, it was simply an anonymous headcount that took place each decade. Unsurprisingly, some job titles, when written down without context and presented to an outsider, sound completely ridiculous, especially when they’re jobs that existed in the 1800s, but that’s essentially what this list contains: some particularly odd-sounding occupations as declared in the Census in 1881, collated four years later in the snappily-titled The Companion to the Almanac; or Year-Book of General Information for 1885, in a chapter named The Occupations of the English People . Enjoy.
All-rounder
Barker
Bat-printer
Bandler
Bear-breaker
Beatster
Blabber
Black-picker
Block minder
Bomb setter
Branner
Brazil maker
Budget bummer
Bull-dog burner
Bullet pitcher
Busheller
Butt woman
Buttoner-up
Camberel maker
Canbreaker
Carriage straightener
Cheeker
Chevener
Chivier
Clapper carrier
Combwright
Coney cutter
Crowder
Crutter
Cullet picker
Cut looker
Cut-jack maker
Dasher
Dirt refiner
Doctor maker
Dogminder
Doler
Duler
Egger
Fagotter
Faster
Firebeater
Flatkeeper
Fluker
Footmaker
Forwarder
Gin maker
Glan rider
Grafter
Hackneyman
Hawk-boy
Horse marine
Hoveller
Idle back maker
Impression maker
Iron bolster maker
Keel-bulley
Lasher
Learman
Lurer
Maiden maker
Marbler
Moleskin shaver
Muck roller
Notchturner
Off-bearer
Oliver man
Orange raiser
Painted Front maker
Pastefitter
Patent turner
Peas maker
Piano puncher
Ponty sucker
Ransacker
Riffler maker
Sad-iron maker
Sand badger
Scratch brusher
Shore woman
Sparable cutter
Spilch dealer
Spittle maker
Spragger
Sprigger
Swift builder
Tawer
Temple maker
Tharme maker
Thimble picker
Thurler
Tingle maker
Toother
Townsman
Trowler
Walkflatter
Westerman
Wheel glutter
Whim driver
Whitster