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Some Special Interests => Occupation Interests => Topic started by: silkies on Friday 14 October 11 15:47 BST (UK)
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I have a certificate with a mans occupation as " Posserman" any one have an idea of what it was/is/are?
Silkies
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A posser is a stick used to beat or ‘poss’ clothes in a washing tub. There does not appear to be an occupation with this name. Can you post an image?
Stan
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Maybe he made possers? every household had one- not a bad business to be in, I'd have thought.
Or perhaps he worked in a laundry, doing the possing himself.
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I also have a person who is listed as a Posserman - but then helpfully says Flour Mill after the word, and somebody has then overwritten "Miller" on the census so I assume its a job within a Flour Mill.
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Is it this one?
Stan
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From the Stamford Mercury - Friday 17 January 1902
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The nearest occupation in "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms" appears to be a Washerman who was in charge of a series of machines for cleaning grain by wet processes, as distinguished from a screensman who cleaned grain by a dry process.
Stan
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Not sure if this is relevant?
A posser was historically a tool used for possing or mixing laundry while hand washing it. Possers come in various forms, there is usually a vertical pole with a handle bar at the top but the base can be conical, with three (or more) legs or sometimes a flat disk.
And, from world-grain.com:
Bagging equipment manufacturers can provide: dust tight bag clamps; bag transfer devices to move the filled bag from the filling spout to the closing system without opening the bag again; interlocked access points; and automatic, motorized height adjustment on conveyors and bag possers, which help settle product in the bag.
From Millsarchive.org:
Posser
Used for filling sacks. A suspended lever carries a wooden or metal ring with sack hooks at one end. Has sufficient leverage to enable the sack to be shaken manually. Steam mills had power driven-possers.
And finally, from flourmilling.co.uk:
Posser A bumping device to assist filling of sacks.
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Can't say if it's the same one as the one I saw in Census since you've not included any details of the person / place it refers to.
Is it this one?
Stan
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And finally, from flourmilling.co.uk:
Posser A bumping device to assist filling of sacks.
That seems to be the answer for what a Posserman does :) It is surprising that the Oxford English Dictionary does not have that definition.
Stan
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Can't say if it's the same one as the one I saw in Census since you've not included any details of the person / place it refers to.
Is it this one?
Stan
I should have said his name is John Goode
Stan
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Posser. — An ordinary flour packer by which the flour is not forcibly packed. http://www.rootschat.com/links/01gce/
I think he should be more properly called a Flour Packer "......packs flour more closely into sack with a punch, or a bumping machine, operated by a foot lever...." part of the job description for a Flour Packer from "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
Stan