Carter carm

[Sharron]

I might seem really dense here, and I'm sure it's something very obvious, but ..............

I have a lot of carters amongst my ancestors, and frequently, on the census return, under occupation, it will say "carter carm".

What does "carm" mean? It often looks as though it's been written in later.

For instance, John E. Longshaw, born 1860 in Birkenhead is on the 1901 census, living in Park Street, Birkenhead. His occupation is listed as "carter (contractors)" and then above the word 'carter', at an angle to the original text, is the word "Carm". I have been told that it could be an abbreviation of "carman".

Anybody put a dumb blonde out of her misery?

[Geoffers]

I have a lot of carters amongst my ancestors, and frequently, on the census return, under occupation, it will say "carter carm"......His occupation is listed as "carter (contractors)" and then above the word 'carter', at an angle to the original text, is the word "Carm".
The census was used for administration rather than something created for family historians in centuries to come. As such, the census books are full of odd marks made by clerks putting information into categories. You'll often see lines by ages - presumably a clerk marking each entry as he worked through it.

Occupations were classified by type and using standard descriptions. and so you'll find words (often abbreviated) written by an occupation, in a different hand. This has what has happened here, in the census you've been using, your carters have been classified as carmen. So someone has worked through a census, making these notes for either himself (or another clerk down the line) to then add up the numbers of people in different types of employment.

Geoffers