pimp maker

[Davran]

A bit tongue in cheek this one! I'm pretty sure the enumerator should have put 'pump maker', but it did give me a laugh!

A few doors down the road lived a woman whose occupation was 'derive living by a mangle'. (I suppose the modern equivalent would be 'derives living by a tumble-dryer'.) I imagine her customers would have come to her - otherwise she would be hauling her heavy mangle from house to house. It must have been a very modern appliance in 1861 and what a boon to those who did their washing by hand - we really don't know how lucky we are these days with our washing machines, etc.

[Frank W]

Hi Davran

The best definition of "Pimp maker" so far as Census occupations are concerned is "a maker of firewood bundles" which is probably why many of them lived with or nearby to local wood sawyers. Very difficult to find in the usual lists of occupations in the Census. We had a thread on this in the Rootsweb UK Census Helpers list earlier this year, and Viv Pyner found the Google entry.

Regards.........Frank W

[Peter Goodey]

As Frank W so rightly points out, a pimp maker, or bavin maker, "makes up bundles of waste wood in coppices or forests for use as fuel".

Source - Dictionary of Occupational Terms, Ministry of Labour, 1927.

[Ed McKie]

I regularly pass a small factory/workshop which has a sign "pimp my ride"
I have no idea what they are on about :-) I doubt that it is as useful as firewood.

cheers..Ed

[Frank W]

Thanks for the ref link Peter. A Google entry gives:
"A very useful Dictionary of Occupational Terms is available on CD from the Open University. This CD reproduces the 1927 Ministry of Labour guide to occupational terms used in the 1921 census. Although this is a 20th century publication, many of the terms are unchanged from their 19th century usage."

The "pimp my ride" appears to be Newspeak for "Let us Customize your Car" and the great majority of Google entries for "pimp" relate to this.
Regards..........Frank W

[Davran]

Aha - I was wrong again! (Don't tell the family - I tell them I'm always right!) Thanks everyone - my 'occupations' source is obviously not up to scratch.

[malcolm]

Thanks for the ref link Peter. A Google entry gives:
"A very useful Dictionary of Occupational Terms is available on CD from the Open University. This CD reproduces the 1927 Ministry of Labour guide to occupational terms used in the 1921 census. Although this is a 20th century publication, many of the terms are unchanged from their 19th century usage."

"A Google entry" !! I'd much prefer you gave the credit to GENUKI :-)

That page also now includes a link to the newly restored (it has been offline for a while) Gendocs page on Glossary of Ranks, Professions, Occupations & Trades and to a broadly similar page by Rodney Hall.

= Malcolm.

[Frank W]

"A Google entry" !! I'd much prefer you gave the credit to GENUKI :-)

Guilty M'lud. It was indeed copied from the very page of GenUKI that you quoted (which was reached by a Google search on the Publication's title.)
The OU link was taken directly from a Google entry.
Regards............Frank W