Do you have corkcutter ancestors?

[Amy K]

Hi Corkcutter,

Glad you were please with the entries. It is well worth consulting the orginal edition of the Police Gazette as the details published typically included a physical description, including height, build, facial shape and complexion, shape of nose and mouth and colour of hair and eyes. The date and place of desertion would be stated together with details of what he was believed to be wearing at the time. Of particular value are the notes which can cover a variety of matters such as the number of previous desertions, unusual physical characteristics (pock marked, scar on right thigh, sun & seven stars on right arm etc.) and occasionally a suspected destination.

The Police Gazette can be viewed at the National Archives (HO75) and at the Newspaper Library at Colindale. It can also be ordered from the LDS.

Best Wishes

Amy

[corkcutter]

Dear Amy,

I shall now make a point of browsing the Gazette next time I'm at the PRO.  Thanks for the information

Corkcutter

[corkcutter]

Hello,
If you are trying to contact me after reading the article in Practical Family History - here I am.  Click on "reply" to let me know details of your corkcutting ancestors.

Cheryl

[ern]

Hallo

My G/Grandfather was a corkcutter in the Bethnal Green area
He was William Watts Born circa 1820
My 1st Sighting of him as a corkcutter was his marriage cert
11th Mar 1844, of full age living at, Cumberland St Shoreditch
He was on the 1851, 1861, 1871 census at 31 Barnsley Street, Bethnal Green. with his wife and family, although on the '71 census he had remarried.In the 1881 census he in the Whitechapel Union Workhouse.
 His son William was also a corkcutter but is shown on the 1901 census as a cockcutter
 Ernie Smith

[brummie]

My Gt Gt Gt Grandfather was a cork cutter who lived in Uttoxeter.  His name was George Froggatt who married Elizabeth Lacy on 9/7/1821 in Stoke on Trent.  He had a son also named George (christened 1824) born in Uttoxeter who became a journeyman shoemaker and moved to Northampton (do not know when) and married Louisa Sturges in 1858 at St Sepulchre, Northampton.

Do you have any record of him - would cork cutting be part of the shoe trade or was it making cork for bottles?

I would be grateful for any information, if not specifically about George Froggatt but about corkcutters in general and please feel free to add him to your index.  I have given you all the information I have about him but if you have any questions you think I may be able to help with just ask.

[corkcutter]

Thank you for the information.  I did not have George senior or junior before, nor does their surname crop up anywhere else on my index.

There was a connection between shoe making and cork as components of shoes, such as heels, had been made of cork for centuries.  "Corkcutter and pattenmaker" is a common term of description in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.  I have come across shoemakers who cut cork when business was slow.  Usually, however, the trades were separate, with the shoemakers relying on the corkcutters to supply them with what they needed.  A great deal of a corkcutter's work was making bottle stoppers.

The July issue of "Practical Family History" magazine has an article by me in it which gives a lot of information about  the trade.  There is also a special mention of Uttoxeter, as this was an unusual centre for corkcutting (being neither a port or main town).  There is an exhibition about corkcutting in Uttoxeter at the Heritage Centre until 31 July.  Joy Dunnicliff's  booklet "Uttoxeter and Cork" is also mentioned, though I am afraid your ancestor is not named in it.

Please contact me again if you need to now anything else.

Corkcutter

[stewart_M]

Hi Corkcutter

My great great great grandfather was a corkcutter.  His name was Charles Gearey, an Irishman, but all I know about him is from his son's (my great great grandfather's)marriage certificate. 

Although the Gearey's were Irish they lived in Lambeth and corkcutter is the profession listed for Charles at the time of his son's wedding - 1884.

I would love to know if you already hold his name in your index and if so, whether you have any other information on him as I know no more than what I've already told you.

Stewart

[corkcutter]

Hi Stewart,

Thank you for your enquiry.  Unfortunately I don't have any Geareys or Gearys on the index at the moment (though yours has now been added).  There were several corkcutting firms in Lambeth in the 1880s.  It is likely that your ancestor was an employee, rather than a master, and records are not so plentiful on these.

If I come across any references to Gearey in the future, I will contact you.

Best wishes

Corkcutter

[Athenalaz]

Hi Cheryl

Found these forums by doing a search on Cork Cutter as I was curious to find out what exactly that meant. After reading all these posts, I now know!

Saw that you were asking for anyone with cork cutters in their ancestry so thought I'd add mine to your collection:

William Sanger born circa 1790 (don't have a definite place of birth, but he married in Bedminster, Somerset so possibly he came from there or Wilts - tons of Sangers in the West Country).  He had at least 6 children - all of whom state their father's profession as "Cork Cutter" on marriage certs - and he was deceased by 1848, possibly by 1841 when his children were living alone in London. His sons didn't carry on with their father's profession - all but one of them became tin plate workers.

If you happen to have any info on any Sanger cork cutters, I'd be glad to hear about it.

Regards - Leah