Genealogy Chat

Just found a census record for someone and occupation was

"Mole Catcher"

what are your best ones

(Kathryn not Gary)

Only odd one I have found up to now is a "sanitary tube maker"

Actually mole catching is not that unusual - I caught 4 tonight in our fields and there are local people who make a part time job of it

One of my relatives was listed as a hind which I believe is a ag lab!

Nice job Kathryn, dont fancy that myself

how can you catch a Mole?

Unfortunately with a trap that has to be set carefully in the runs underground that you find with a thin rod. They are killed instantly.

I don't mind the odd one but we have over 200 moles hills and it gets a bit much

night soil man...

emptying the outside loo's!!--- Ugh!!

ewwwwwwwwwww

i could do with a mole catcher in my allotment.
The strangest one i have is a bleeder with leeches and it was a women yuk.
The funniest i have come across just latley is a Goldfish Catcher the mind boggles.

My best so far is a female contortionist.

How about this for an occupation - or not - as the case may be

RG11; Piece: 3738; Folio: 74; Page: 50; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341895.

George Huyton - Occupation - 'to lazy to work'

Gail x

K, I'm shocked...I can't believe you've been murdering poor defenceless moles! I'd be really excited if I found a molehill in my garden!

My grt grt granddad William Pearce (born 1844) was a fossil digger in Cambridge.

Cool I thought, until someone informed me he was actually digging for dung.

Janet

Reseaching my OH's tree we found someone listed in the census as "Keeper of the Mangle" !!
Perhaps they had just one in the village and being it's keeper was a honour...maybe not!

Rob

Well, first you'd need to own the mangle!

http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/m.html reveals "Woman who hired out her mangle. The possession of a mangle, for the use of which a small sum was charged, was, among the poorer class of English cottagers, a common means of earning money."

What a brilliant way of bringing in a bit of extra cash. Bet the cost of the mangle wasn't cheap in the first place though.

Maybe for the next census I should record myself as "keeper of the lawn mower" as I'm always lending it out ;-)

Wheel Tappers Listener

God knows what I'm laughing at because I don't even know what a mangle is, but this thread is funny, funny, funny.


Deb:)

Goodness, Deb, that makes me feel ancient - we had a mangle when I was little.

They were used before the days of washing machines to squeeze water out of clothes before hanging them out to dry. Also known as a wringer.

My very first second-hand washing machine had no spin-dry, just an electric mangle attachment . Should have kept it, I bet it'd be a museum piece now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangle_(machine)

Deb
You must be a young one! A mangle was usually in the back yard of the terraced houses. It was on a cast iron or similar set of legs and about waist height there were two parallel rollers made from wood, with a handle at the end and the washing was washed in a tub below and then fed into the rollers as someone (often a child!) turned the handle and voila! the water was extracted from the washing. There was large sort of screw on the top to tighten the rollers down as they wore away. I remember seeing one of these in action when I was small. I also remember people coming to use it, so perhaps my friends Mum was a "Mangle Keeper"! The washing was washed in a "poss tub" which was a sort of metal barrel and a "poss stick" was used to plunge up and down so the dirt came out. A "poss stick was a sort of sink plunger shape with a long handle and the cup part had holes in so when you plunged it in, the water was forced through the washing and came through the holes, a manual washing machine!
Sorry to drone on but thought this might be of interest. How sad am I!
Carol

Well, thank you Mary and Carol. It's interesting to find out these things.

Ohhh, imagine having to do the washing that way! it's hard enough for me to load the automatic and press the button. I want one that loads itself.....lol


Deb:)

I have someone on my tree who was a "Bone Cropper" - sounded quite gorey until I found out it was something to do with bones for corsetry!

Athena