Jonathan Scottpicks some of the key sites for blacksmiths and related occupations
There are numerous words that can be grouped under the term ‘metalworker’. The word vulcan, for example, was often associated with a blacksmith or metalworker. A clipper clipped the edges of coins, melting down the fragments to make counterfeit money. A millwright was traditionally a carpenter who built and maintained windmills and watermills, but it came to be a term for anyone who maintained industrial machinery. And a metal man maintained underground rails and tunnels in coal mines.
If you see an unfamiliar term in a record, it’s a good idea to check a dictionary of old occupations. Try genealogist Jane Hewitt’s dictionary at familyresearcher.co.uk/glossary/ Dictionary-of-Old-Occupations-Index.html, or the digitised official Dictionary of Occupational Terms compiled by the Ministry of Labour from the 1921 census (doot.spub.co.uk).
Finally alongside the homeworking tinker and traditional village smith, there are thousands more who were employed in vast factories and foundries, the records of which may well survive at the local county archive.
SCOTTISH POST OFFICE DIRECTORIES
w digital.nls.uk/directories Trade directories are among the most useful sources for metalworkers. Although they won’t mention workers employed in large factories and foundries, any owners, smaller specialist concerns and workshops are relatively likely to appear. This National Library of Scotland site gives free access to more than 700 Scottish directories (1773–1911). The search facility at digital.nls.uk/directories/browse/ is primarily for surnames, but the best way to search by occupation is to scroll down and click the hyperlinks for ‘Scotland’, ‘Counties’ or ‘Towns’. Here you can select individual volumes, from where you can then click the ‘Search within’ box, and trawl by trade, occupation or keyword. See the ‘Go Further’ box on page 39 for sites with directories for the rest of the UK.
MODERN RECORDS CENTRE
w warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc If you can’t find any employment records for your metalworking ancestor, it might be worth seeking out trade unions. The University of Warwick’s Modern Records Centre holds the largest collection of trade-union archives in the country. This includes the Trades Union Congress (TUC), as well as hundreds of regional and specialist unions. Here you can research the lineage of each union, discovering when it was formed
