What is a 'Carryer' in the early 1700s

[clayton bradley]

One of my ancestors was a carrier from 1718 onwards. He was the carrier for the lords of Dunkenhalgh Hall, in this case Lady Catherine Petre. He was granted a messuage and had a house, originally grand, but had seen better days. The previous tenant was given an annuity to leave the messuage for Abraham. All of which sounds as though a carrier in a grand house was quite important. He started off in the kitchen at the hall, then did labouring jobs, before becoming the carrier, so they must have decided he was a responsible person. I tried to work out which days he went to Preston as they had two market days, but I couldn't find any pattern to the payments. One of his side jobs was delivering annuity payments to Lady Catherine's retired elderly female servants. Abraham bought all sorts of strange things, soft soap for when her ladyship came in the summer, mousetraps for the nursery for Lady Catherine's son, scythes and sharpening stones for cutting the grass on the bowling green and regular orders of groats for the poor, food for the family etc. He took china, documents and other things to Preston for transport by stagecoach to Lady Catherine in Cheam or Ingatestone. Everything Abraham did was documented by the steward in the accounts which the Petre family deposited at Lancashire Record Office. I am grateful to them, claytonbradley

[TonyD]

Thank you Clayton Bradley.
Paints a very interesting picture. It strikes me that being a 'carrier' in that era meant that one had a wider view and experience of the world than most people.

[Redroger]

A carrier was a highly responsible job requiring a high degree of honesty, and potentially extremely dangerous in view of the less settled state of the country in the 18th century.

[TonyD]

Thank you RedRoger.
Your statement appears to have some underlying authority. Any chance you can expand a little?

[Redroger]

Sure,hope this helps, the provision of any kind of service transporting articles for another person involves the carriers to have a high degree of personal integrity and honesty if it is to be successful.Traditionally postal service have been provided by the state, in Britain from at least 1660 with the General Letter Office formed in  the reign of Charles II. Carrying of articles became more regulated in the 19th century with the coming of the railways, and the extension of parcels services to the Post Office. More personal local transport of goods would be done by the local carrier.
Prior to the mid 19th century the country was much less settled and police services were to say the least rudimentary, social deprivation after the extensive wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries led to a very high incidence of criminal activity not least highway robbery.

[TonyD]

Thank you again, Redroger.