Platelayer & Cottager

[JS Lewis]

Hi All,

If anyone can shed any light on these occupation's it would be much appreciated..

Firstly, I found my great grandfather working at Minera Lime Works in 1891 employed as a 'Platelayer'. I have assumed this to have something to do with the laying of railway tracks, but despite trawling through google & a couple of sites listing occupations, have failed to confirm or disconfirm this.

Secondly, my wife's 3rd g,grandmother has been located in 1838 with an occupation of 'Cottager'. I am instantly drawn to the term 'cottage industry' as in working from home. Am I correct?

[Peter Goodey]

A platelayer worked on laying and maintaining railway track.

A cottager was originally a lower rank of the peasantry (below Husbandman I think) - a smallholder. There would be some land and possibly common rights but probably no more than enough for some subsistence farming. By the 19th century it might imply no more than living in a tied cottage.

[Geoffers]

[Firstly, I found my great grandfather working at Minera Lime Works in 1891 employed as a 'Platelayer'. I have assumed this to have something to do with the laying of railway tracks, but despite trawling through google & a couple of sites listing occupations, have failed to confirm or disconfirm this]

Don't foget that many heavy industries maintained their own railway lines for transporting goods and that these linked into the national system - so the Lime Works could well have employed platelayers, drivers, firemen, etc.

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire