James Bradley's occupation on Census 1861
( Piece 3839 Folio 31 Page 7/8)
was "Trimmer"...
You may have seen old photos of gangs of Trimmers.
These men usually positioned themselves on or nearby a boat/ship/keel, on the dockside, awaiting the coal shutes above, tipping their load of coal into/onto the boat.
Then the men would jump down onto the heap of coal and very rapidly "trim" it, spreading evenly around the corners of the hold. This was to prevent the boat capsizing, as it certainly would through the haphazard tipping of the shutes.
They used very pointed shovels ( a bit like Spades in a pack of cards) to enable access to all areas of the hold.
Then they had to quickly jump clear, before another load came cascading down, and then repeat the process and so on.
As you can imagine these men had to work very hard and quickly, and they could not afford to lose concentration as the possibility of been buried by coal was a constant hazard.
Tough guys indeed.
Michael Dixon
( ex-softy office worker)
