A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921.
ORDER XXIII.—COMMERCIAL, FINANCE, AND INSURANCE OCCUPATIONS (excluding Clerks)
Sub-order 1.—Commercial Occupations
777.—Costermongers and Hawkers
Back to List of Occupational Codes
- baked chestnut man
; chestnut roaster
- a hawker (q.v.) who roasts chestnuts on a small coke oven, fixed on a hand-truck, and sells them hot to customers.
- barrowman
- general term for any hawker (q.v.) who sells goods from a hand barrow.
- basket woman, basket girl
- a hawker (q.v.) who sells fruit or flowers from a basket.
- book colporteur
- a pedlar (q.v.) who carries books, etc., usually religious literature, in a pack round country districts.
- booth keeper
- sells goods from a temporary stall erected at a fair.
- bumboat man, woman
- conveys fruit, provisions, etc., in a broad, flat-bottomed boat, called a bum-boat, to vessels in port or off shore, to sell to passengers or crew.
- cat's meat man, woman
- sells as cat's meat, pieces of horse flesh, which he has cooked beforehand, usually stuck on skewers, from a barrow, and delivers from house to house.
- chestnut roaster
- see baked chestnut man.
- cockle wife
- see hawker.
- costermonger, costard monger, coster
; fruit seller (street), fruit stall keeper
- a hawker (q.v.) who sells fruit or vegetables (sometimes fish or other commodities) from a street stand, barrow or cart.
- firewood dealer (street), fish hawker, fish wife, flower girl
- see hawker.
- fruit seller (street), fruit stall keeper
- see costermonger.
- hawker, street hawker
; cockle wife, firewood dealer (street), fish hawker, fish wife, flower girl, huckster, seller (crumpet, fern, flower, shell fish, herb, etc.), seller (street)
- sells common commodities, such as fruit, vegetables, fish, flowers, sweets, toys, coal, matches or other wares, by crying them in street or by calling from house to house; is not confined to any one kind of goods, and may vary wares according to season; sometimes pitches a portable stall in street, or displays goods on barrow or in basket; requires a license under the Hawkers Act, 1888, if travelling with a horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden and selling (otherwise than on behalf of dealer) goods (other than fish, fruit, victuals or coal) anywhere than in public mart or fair; cf. pedlar.
- hot potato man
; potato roaster
- sells hot potatoes roasted on a small coke stove fixed on a barrow.
- huckster
- see hawker.
- ice-cream jack
- see seller (ice-cream).
- market salesman, market draper, market man, woman
; smallware stall keeper, stall keeper
- sells goods from a stall or pitch in a public market place.
- market salesman's assistant (market stall)
- looks after stall in absence of market salesman (q.v.); does all porterage work, and generally assists salesman.
- oil hawker
- a hawker (q.v.) who goes round streets with horse and cart carrying a drum of oil from which oil is sold in small quantities.
- packman
- see pedlar.
- pea and pie vendor, pie vendor
- a hawker (q.v.) who boils peas, and heats pies on small portable stove carried on a truck; food is sold hot for immediate consumption.
- pedlar, street pedlar
; packman, petty chapman, seller (match), seller (street)
- a hawker (q.v.) who carries a license under the Pedlars Act, 1871, in which he is defined as one who "without any horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot, and goes from town to town or to other men's houses carrying to sell, or exposing for sale, any goods, wares or merchandise immediately to be delivered, or selling, or offering for sale his skill in handicraft"; no license is required if goods are sold in any public mart or fair, or if goods consist of vegetables, fish, fruit or victuals.
- petty chapman
- see pedlar.
- potato roaster
- see hot potato man.
- rag and bone man, ragman
- buys rags, bones, waste paper, etc., pushing barrow or carrying sack, calling from house to house.
- seller (chip potato)
- a hawker (q.v.) who fries sliced potatoes on a small coke oven placed on a barrow, and sells to passers-by.
- seller (cockle, crumpet, fern, flower, etc.)
- see hawker.
- seller (ice-cream street)
; ice-cream jack
- a hawker (q.v.) who sells ice cream in street, using a specially constructed barrow which includes a refrigerator.
- seller (match)
- see pedlar.
- seller (street)
- (i) see hawker;
- (ii) see pedlar.
- stallkeeper, smallware stallkeeper
- see market salesman.
Back to List of Occupational Codes
From:
A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016. This text is in the Public Domain. 