RootsChat.Com
Some Special Interests => Occupation Interests => Topic started by: Beavances on Tuesday 22 November 11 21:05 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone suggest what a 'merino painter' would do? This appeared as the occupation of someone on my search and I have wondered about it for ages! He was living in Bradford at the time 1840's so am assuming it was linked with wool trade - but what?? Would appreciate any suggestion!
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Hi - was this entry in a census, and if so can you give details (or post an extract of the page) so that Rootschatters can see the enumeration in context?
If the entry was not in a census but in some other record - what occupation was given for the relevant person in the 1841 and/or 1851 censuses?
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I've been doing a little research and merino is a type of wool, I'm wondering if 'Merino Painter' translates to wool dyer.
On another note when i googled wool painter I did see some interesting articles regarding latch hook which is a craft that has been around for years, from what I read people would take home small lengths of wool from the mills that could not be used and use them in latch hook to make rugs.
Just a thought......but either could be totally wrong
Michelle
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Could it be Merino Sorter? A Merino Sorter sorted merino wool, a fine long stapled wool, suitable for combing.
There were also Sorters who picked over heaps of waste materials and sorted them into small heaps according to kind, colour, grade and condition, they were sometimes specifically designated according to the waste sorted e.g. merino sorter, rag sorter, linen sorter etc. From "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
Stan
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Hi Thanks for all your suggestions - I think the image does say 'merino painter' and not sorter. I have tried to paste in the image but can't make the link work. If you have access to Ancestry the info. appears n the 1841 census - just type in Henry Pullan born 1817 and he will be the first one on the list.
I too have wondered if it is some sort of link to dying but can't understand why they wouldn't have put that as that term i.e merino dyer
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Have you been able to find Henry on the 1851 cencus to see what his job title is there?
Michelle
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He was a clerk in 1851: HO107/2308/490/3.
He was a warehouseman when he married Martha Riley at St Paul's, Shipley on 2 April 1837...
...and a bookkeeper when daughters Eliza (born 1 Nov 1837) and Isabella (born 24 Feb 1839) were baptised at Bradford Cathedral on 10 Apr 1839.
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Have just had a look at the 1841 and agree Merino Painter.
I checked through some more pages as all the occupations are related to the local mill and wool.
I found another Painter, written exactly as it is for Henry.
(right side of page on page 11)
Pat ...
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It is Merino Printer. See http://www.rootschat.com/links/0hhd/
Stan
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Well done that man Stan ;D
I had decided it was printer, then enlarged it and used my magnifying glass, changed my thoughts back to painter.
I guess the other chap I found on same listings was a printer too ::)
Pat ...
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Wow - you lot are amazing! Thank you for all your efforts. I had no idea it was possible to see the census returns in such detail - how did you do that?
Although I do agree with Suffolkmawther I think it was a painter (and not printer)as the letter 'r' is formed differently in the word merino . Thank you also to AVM228 because I didn't know he was a warehouseman when he married - (I have never sent for the certificate). I have found out quite a lot of information about him but have neglected these early details so thank you once again. I think the term merino painter must be as Michelle79 says it must be something to do with dying the wool.
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I think the term merino painter must be as Michelle79 says it must be something to do with dying the wool.
The census entry is clearly Printer, the second letter is not an "a" it is an "r", the top of the letter "r" is slightly shorter than the "r" in Merino. I thought I had proved from the other example that it is Merino Printer, you can find no reference to a "Merino Painter" anywhere, either in Google Books, old Newspapers, or occupational lists. It probably refers to printing patterns on Merino Damask
Stan
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This is Worsted Weaver from the same census, look at the "r". The enumerator had not much time to copy the schedules into his book, so his handwriting would not be consistent.
Stan
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The Penny Cyclopaedia, 1843, describes Merino as a fine woollen twill, sometimes printed. http://tinyurl.com/dxot9lx
Askan
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This item in The English Cyclopaedia, 1867, may be relevant, even if not in vogue until about 1846. http://tinyurl.com/c8sewhh
“Embroidery, as a handicraft employment, is in our day singularly affected by changes of fashion. About the year 1846, embroidered dress-pieces for ladies came into vogue; and in a short time there was employment for 2000 hand-embroiderers in London alone, and many thousands in Scotland and Ireland. A pattern was printed in outline on the merino or other material; the stuff was then distributed by travelling agents; and after the embroiderers had worked it, the agents re-collected it. Such dresses are now (1859) nearly out of fashion, and embroidery (as a regular branch of trade) is chiefly applied to window curtains, table-covers, valences, borderings, and other furniture fabrics.”
Askan
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Thank you for the references and I can now see that you are right - he was a merino printer, the explanation of the handwriting and the entries in the reference material made it really clear and I, at last, understand what he did. Thank you to all who responded to my question.