Do you have corkcutter ancestors?

[corkcutter]

Still interesting to see though.  Thanks Richard.
Cheryl

[suzey68]

Hi

I have a Charles Dean 1841 southwark as a corkcutter later tailors clerk back to a cork cutter and eventually a tailor in 1891.
His father in Law John Crown was a cork cutter between 1841 and 1861 in Lambeth and Southwark.
John had a son William who was also a corkcutter in 1841.

I will PM you with the full details

Sue

[corkcutter]

Thanks Sue.  These are now indexed.

Cheryl

[corkcutter]

Hurray, my corkcutter website is now complete.

Search the index for your ancestors or read all about corkcutting.

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Cheryl

[corkcutter]

Hello everyone,  Re the website, people using Internet Explorer as a browser are getting some rather large text and ugly layouts at present.  It is being attended to and should improve shortly.  The site is still accessible to IE though if you can put up with it.

Cheryl

[Fesnyng]

Hurray, my  website is now complete.

Search the index for your ancestors or read all about corkcutting.

I look forward to hearing from you.  link removed 2018

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl

Congratulations on the website.  The piece is comprehensive and very well written.  It has satisfied my curiosity about the trade.  From the descriptions you give it is difficult to imagine why people stuck to it, although my g-grandfather did so all his working life.  It must have had its compensations, although none of his children followed him (baker, factory foreman, two plumbers, publican, etc.).

I think I have another one for your index.  I mentioned when I sent details of my g-grandfather, Frederick George  Martin, that his wife Elizabeth was left alone in Portsmouth with her first four children in the 1871 census.  The form shows that living in the same house at 39, Plymouth St., Portsea Island, Hants., was another cork cutter named John James Spencer and his wife Sarah.  He was born c1820.  In 1861 he was cork cutting in London.  In 1881 and 1891 he is found following the trade just across The Solent from Portsea in Binstead near Ryde on the Isle of Wight.  Sadly, by 1901 he is a widower in the Isle of Wight Union Workhouse.

Hope this helps
Regards
Brian

[corkcutter]

Thanks Brian,  I will enter him on the website.  Keep in touch.

Cheryl

[Fesnyng]

Hello Again Cheryl

PS  The 1881 census viewed on Ancestry.com gives the option of searching by occupation (it seems to be the only census that offers this facility).  On a whim I entered "Cork Cutter" and nothing else.  I got 1,327 entries (including my g-grandfather).  I only checked a few of them, but they all seem to be cork cutters, one of who was a 17 year old girl called Elizabeth Hart, listed as "Machinist (Cork Cutter)".  It would be a real labour of love to trace them all through other censuses to see if they persisted with the trade.

Regards
Brian

[Fesnyng]

PPS  87 of them were women.

Brian