What is the most interesting occupation in your family tree? (#2)

[platinum]

Hi
Answer to Arranroots  (17/10)

A philosophical instrument maker was actually a maker of scientific, mathematical and astronomical instruments

It's philosophy as in natural philosphy (physics) rather than thinking 

See www.scotsfamily.com/occupations.htm 

[Stevenlfireworks]

I've just found a topical one

listed in the 1851 census as 'an artist in fireworks'

Out of interest, what was the name of your family member who was the artist in fireworks?

[beyondsunrises]

My great uncle was an umbrella maker, which I think is a very unusual and niche job but was apparently a common occupation in the Romany community at the time. Someone who was lodging with his family in the boarding house they stayed in for a bit was also a bee hive maker! (His parents, my great great grandparents, were horse dealers and hawkers - his mother was the first female hawker in the family.)

Not really as unusual, but my great grandmother on the other side of my English family took over the family business from her husband after he died at work. They had a bit of a farming business and owned most of the shops and workplaces in the village too. There's an article from the 1870s in the local gazette about the vicar having a dispute with my great grandmother because he thought she was a "stout and bossy woman". 

[Stanwix England]

My favourite ancestor is the one who was a 'manure dealer'. 

If by some strange circumstance I'm ever granted a coat of arms, I'm going to have "where there's muck there's brass" as my motto in his honour.   

Probably the most interesting one on my husbands side is the jet carver. Not unusual for a man living in Whitby, but it was an industry that had a very brief boom before it dropped out of favour.

[Treetotal]

One of mine was a Binnacle Maker, which was a box for navigational instruments aboard ships.
Another one was a Herbalist and Medium!
Carol

[Erato]

I have a card reader.

[gales]

My Gt Grandfather was a  Silver Comb and Brooch maker.   Skate maker,  Saw maker and  Cutlery manufacturer.   Wonder what he did in his spare time, he had 11 children.

[Keitht]

Don't know whether it counts but I had a maternal ancestor who as a professional silversmith spent the entirety of WW1 in prison for manufacturing his own two bob pieces on an industrial scale and a paternal third great grandfather transported to Australia in 1817 for banknote forgery.

[BumbleB]

I've got a Wesleyan Missionary to South Africa - born 1798 in Tadcaster, Yorkshire.  After leaving the church he became Mayor of Pietermaritzburg.