* What occupation is this?

[Peter Collier]

Can anyone determine what this chap in Gloucester is a foreman of?

Screenshot 2022-01-23 173652.png (120.07 KiB) Viewed 1869 times

It's from the 1881 census for Barton St Michael in Gloucester (RG11/2536, fol. 111, p. 37, Sch. 205, William BROWN)

[brianlummis]

Foreman Corn Merchant maybe?

[tatewise]

Looks like 'Corn Merchant' to me too.

Peter, as usual with these things, it helps to include other parts of the document so we can compare similar letters in other words written in the same hand.

[Martin Tolley]

1881 FMP transcription says Foreman Cornmerchant.
In 1871 he's a Corn porter and in 1891 a Foreman corn porter.
An interesting website https://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/Dockers.html about Liverpool docks gives an account of the work (and character) of corn porter lumpers whose life seems a bit hard.

[mjashby]

One possible alternative given the construction of the first word: Flourman Corn Merchant, i.e. someone who sold flour for a Corn Merchant.

Mervyn

[AdrianBruce]

... Flourman Corn Merchant, ...

Interesting! But so far as I can see, that's an "e" before the "m" in the first word - though deciding where the letters start and end is tricky. And I read the vertical immediately after the "F" as a florish to the "F" rather than a letter "l".

But it does illustrate the difficulty of navigating the up and down letters like n, m, r, etc (Minims?)

[mjashby]

Adrian,

You could well be right but, as already mentioned, single words in isolation from wider examples of the hand can be problematic and the 'l' in the first word didn't appear like any naturally flowing flourish to me. However, that he worked in a Corn Merchant's (whether the same or different employers) over a considerable period, working his way 'up' from a Porter to Foreman doesn't seem to be in any doubt based on the other Census entries described in one response. Perhaps, if the there were any children born/baptised around the same time, it might be possible to find some further evidence of the occupation(s) undertaken over time.

Mervyn