Genealogy Chat

I have on my Grandfathers sisters birth certificate that my Great Grandfather was a Skin Dyer Journeyman. I've always assumed that he worked in the leather trade but am I right? Would there be any other possibilities? He was living in Shoreditch/ Hoxton area at the time.He's also variously described on later certificates as Tavern Cook, Chef and Kitchen Porter (s'pose he got the chef bit just 'cos he was French!)

I would think that this is exactly what he did - worked in the leather industry dyeing the skins. A journeyman meant that he worked on what we would call 'piecework' in other words, he was paid for each job that he did, not a fixed wage per week. My grandfather's birth certificate gave his father as a 'Journeyman Plumber'.

Thanks Angela, I know that that area was near the heart of the fur trade back then but I didn't want to jump to conclusions, they're usually wrong when I do. Seems odd that someone would go through an apprenticeship and then change their occupation. I wonder how people felt about having a consumptive Cook/ kitchen porter?

Maybe the leather industry went into decline and he had to look for other work?

Perhaps thats why he had to change - the leather work would have been hard manual labour. Perhaps, as he was French, he knew someone in the restaurant business who gave him a light duties job.

Or maybe he was injured at work and couldn't do the hard manual jobs any more.

Its quite funny really. On my grandparents marriage certificate it states their fathers occupations as French Chef and Fishmonger, they were such snobs. The occupations were Kitchen porter and Fish barrow boy! Still s'pose fish monger sounds like he had his own premises and was not as common sounding.