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Brentford Occupations A-Z

This page includes notes about occupations you may come across, for example in censuses, parish records, trade directories and wills. The final column, "Resources", includes links to external sites, books, articles and also to useful pages this site.

Please get in touch if you can contribute any information about a particular occupation.

OccupationDetailsResources
ArtistMaybe the river, canal boats or proximity to London attracted artists?J M W Turner

J T Fairs

Laurence Perugini

Auguste Ballin

BargemanSee LightermanAs Waterman
Basket makerMade baskets for transporting fruit & veg (& other goods?) to market; Brentford had osier beds which provided the raw materials"Riverside Crafts & Industries", James Wisdom, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1985

Photos of the Dawes family basket making business, 306 High St from Andy Dawes

Basket and pottle makers in Brentford, 1851

Beer seller See Landlord
Boat builder E C Jones, Brentford boat & barge builder

"E C Jones, Brentford boatbuilder", Pam Vernon-Roberts: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2007

Much more information / photos about the E C Jones business prepared by Pam Vernon-Roberts is available at the Local Studies room, Chiswick Library

"Riverside Crafts & Industries", James Wisdom, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1985

BrewerBrentford Breweries included the Beehive Brewery & Royal Brewery"Royal Brewery Brentford", Neil Chippendale: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2005

"Brentford & Chiswick Pubs", Gillian Clegg, published by Tempus, 2005

Brick maker "Brentford brick-makers and potters", Val Bott: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2011
Butcher Lockyer family notes

Warden family letters 1874

Clockmaker3 watch / clockmakers living at High Street addresses in 1851; in 1901: 2 watchmakers and a watch repairerPhotos: Gaydon clock and Gaydon family history
Upjohn clock
Family details Honeybone & Pearce at 231 High Street
Parsons at 282 High Street
Commercial TravellerLinked manufacturers and wholesalers to retailersTravelling salesmen in Britain 1890s-1930s is a useful resource (thanks to Val Bott for sending link)
CouncillorBrentford Local Board formed in 1874Local councillors from 1874, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1896 and 1908, thanks to Janet McNamara, much more to follow
Doctor British Medical Journal Archive can be searched on-line, 1840-2009; registration is free; includes obituaries and biographical snippets

List of Brentford medical men from 1839 to 1940

Excise man Excise Service details
Excise Service in Brentford
Fireman  "Fire! 300 years fire fighting in Brentford", Diana Willment, Dandelion Publications, 2003
Brentford Fire Station at 53 High Street
List of Brentford firemen, 1879
Photo of ten Brentford Volunteer Fire Brigade, 1890, 'Brentford As It Was'
Photo of firemen, 1894
Photo of firemen, 1944
Funeral cortege of Frank Davis, 1948
Funeral cortege of Frank Davis, 1948 (2)
Clarnico Fire Brigade, London E15

Fisherman1851 census includes 3 Thames fisherman who lived on the High Street; no fishermen recorded in 1891/1901 censuses of the High Street"Riverside Crafts & Industries", James Wisdom, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1985
GardenerLikely to have worked in a Market Garden rather than a private propertyBeach's jam article by Janet McNamara includes notes on 19th century fruit growing

Growth of Brentford Market by Janet McNamara

Gas workerBrentford Gas Light and Coke Co. had extensive premises at the east end of BrentfordThe Brentford Gas Company, Eric Kenward, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1981
Landlord (Pub) George & Florence Diggins ran the Rising Sun during WW2

Reeve family memories from WW2 of the Bull and Barge Aground

Brentford pubs poem

Brentford beer sellers and publicans

List of Brentford pubs

Laundress Crown & Jersey Laundry staff, 1933
LightermanWorked on barges, carrying goods or wares up and down the river and from cargo ships to shoreAs Waterman
Market traderBrentford market operated at various sites before moving into a purpose built building in 1893Knight family, including links

Growth of Brentford Market by Janet McNamara

Militia manA tradesman might also have joined the Middlesex MilitiaFamily which included aMiddlesex Militia man
Nurse, WW1 Family Tree, April/May 2005
Nursery gardenerSeedsmen, growers and sellers of plants, trees etc rather than sellers of produce"Some Brentford Nursery Gardeners", Val Bott: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2008

Val Bott's blog: Nursery Gardeners gardening in Thames-side parishes 1650-1850

Policeman Charles Cox was a Brentford PC

Family Tree, August 2005

Brentford Police Station was at no. 60 then no. 42 until the 1960s

John Oman Mumford was Sub-divisional Inspector at the old Brentford Police Station in the 1890s

Postal worker 'Archive Photo Series Brentford' includes 1904 photo of staff at the Brentford Post Office (p61)

Postcard 1908+ showing PO and boy workers, at new St Paul's Road site

Photos with a possible PO connection: please can you help with names?

Potter "Brentford brick-makers and potters", Val Bott: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2011
Publican See Landlord
Pupil See Schoolmaster
Railwayman Family Tree, February 2005
Sales Rep As Commercial Traveller
Scholar SeeSchoolmaster
Schoolmaster See Rothschild School links

findmypast includes Teacher's Registration Council Registers 1914-1948 (subscription required)

SeedsmanA developer and seller of varieties of fruit, vegetable and flowering plantsSee alsoNursery gardener
Soap workerThames Soap Works, Ferry LaneThe Thames Soapworks of Brentford, Ted Crouchman, Brentford and Chiswick Local History Journal No 5 (1996)
Soldier 

Photo of Crimean War soldier, mid-1850s

Includes photo of 3rd Regiment Dragoon Guard, early 1860s?

WW1 Soldier

WW1 Sergeant

WW1 Army Major

WW1 records

1925 photo includes men in the Middlesex Regiment

Surgeon See Doctor
Teacher See Schoolmaster
Undertaker Family Tree, December 2005
Wardrobe dealersSellers of second hand clothes, not wooden furnitureSee "Nellie's Book": The Early Life of Victoria Wood's Mother by her son Chris Foote Wood (elder bro to Victoria Wood)
Watchmaker See Clockmaker
WatermanLicensed to navigate and pilot passenger vessels on the River Thames Is there a Thames Lighterman in your family? by John Kite

Docklands Ancestor: includes lists, history, images...

"My Ancestors were ... Thames Watermen" by James W. Legon pub. 2008 (Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd, Second Edition; £7.50

"The bargemen of Brentford", David Blomfield: Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 2007

"Riverside Crafts & Industries", James Wisdom,Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1985

The Past of Brentford's Waterways, by Elizabeth Wood, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1985

Brentford Barge Owners, by Elizabeth Wood, Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society Journal 1981

findmypast includes records of Thames watermen and lightermen 1688-2010 (subscription required)


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Published 2008; last updated July 2012