The
development of Crook: a glossary |
| Bellman |
A
person employed as a watchman. |
| Benzol oil |
A highly flammable
oil which can be used as fuel. |
| Cholera |
An intestinal
infection, spread by drinking contaminated water. It causes violent diarrhoea
and vomiting and, if untreated, causes death. |
| Coal tar |
A thick black
liquid which can be used for roofing, waterproofing or insulating. It can
also be used in the production of dyes, drugs etc. |
| Coke |
Coke is made
from coal by burning the coal in closed ovens or furnaces. It can then be
used as a different type of fuel, which burns a lot hotter than coal. |
| Coke burner |
The coke burner
is a person involved in the process of turning coal into coke. |
| Coke drawer |
The person
who removes the coke from the coke ovens. |
| Coke filler |
The person
who puts the coal into the coke ovens so it can be made into coke. |
| Colliery agent |
The person
who acted for the coal owner, managing all of the coal owner's collieries. |
| Colliery Brakesman
Assistant |
The brakesman
attends to the winding engine, which moves the cage up and down the pit
shaft, to allow workmen to go down the pit and coal and workmen to come
to the surface. |
| Commerce |
The buying
and selling of goods, particularly on a large scale. |
| Corporal punishment |
To be punished
by being hit, for example with a ruler or a cane. |
| Deformities |
Injuries or
other damage done to the body. |
| Deputy overman |
The overman
is in charge of all the colliery workings. He is responsible for safety
down the mine, for where each miner works, and keeps an account of the coal
extracted and wages due. |
| Drift marker |
Drifts are
cut into the coal to explore the seams - to find out what coal is like.
Drifts are sometimes driven into stone to access new seams of coal, or because
the coal seam changes direction. |
| Enclosure
maps |
Maps which
were drawn up when land was enclosed by Act of Parliament. The maps are
very detailed, and you can find out who owned the land and what it was used
for. You can also find roads and rights of way. |
| Fireclay |
A clay used
for making bricks. |
| Furnace man |
Someone who
looks after the furnace to make the coke. He may also be responsible for
a furnace, or large fire, placed underground, near a shaft in a colliery,
to assist ventilation. |
| Hawker |
Someone who
travels around buying and selling things, for example pots and pans, clothes
pegs or scrap metal. |
| Hewer |
The man who
cuts the coal out of the coal face underground. A hewer has to be strong
and fit, especially when he had to cut the coal out with a pick axe. |
| Household |
A family unit
living in a house. Sometimes on the census you will find more than one household
in a single house - people sometimes had to share accommodation. |
| Immigration |
To enter and
settle in another region or country different to the one in which you were
born. |
| Industrialisation |
The development
of industry on a large-scale. |
| Journeyman |
A skilled
worker, who has completed his apprenticeship, but who still works for another
craftsman, rather than working for himself. |
| Migrant |
A person
who moves to another town, region or country in search of work, a better
way of life etc. |
| Migration |
The movement
of people from one place to another. |
| Milliner |
Someone who
makes hats |
| Moravians |
A Protestant
church, originally founded in Saxony in 1722 by emigrants from Moravia,
now part of the Czech Republic. |
| Non-conformist |
Someone or
something (like an institution) which does not follow the established church,
in this case the Church of England. |
| Onsetter |
The person
who puts the full tubs in and takes the empty tubs out of the cage at the
shaft bottom in the pit. |
| Pawnbroker |
If you are
short of money, you can pawn something to the pawnbroker. This means the
pawnbroker gives you money, for example, for a ring, for a few days or a
couple of weeks. At the end of the few days, you pay him back and get the
ring back. If you cannot afford to repay him, then the pawnbroker keeps
the ring and can sell it. |
| Rollerway
man/Rolleyway man |
The roller
way or rolley way is the horse road underground in a colliery. The rollerway/roller-way
man looks after the road and makes sure the coal tubs can move back and
forwards as quickly as possible. |
| Sanitation |
A whole
series of measures designed to safeguard public health. It can include sewage,
provision of water, drainage etc. |
| Sulphate of
ammonia |
A by-product
of coke production, sulphate of ammonia is rich in nitrogen and sulphur
and is often used as a fertiliser. |
| Tithe maps |
Tithe was
a payment to the rector of the parish church of a tenth of your produce,
for example hay, corn, eggs, etc. In the 19th century this was changed to
a money payment. Tithe maps and schedules were drawn up of each parish to
show who owned/occupied the land, what the land was used for, and how much
tithe each person had to pay. |
| Trapper |
The trapper
was a little boy who had to open and close a trap door underground, to let
the tubs of coal through. Traps were part of the coal mine's ventilation
system. |