Subjects: Occupations and professions
Early cause papers seem less likely to give the occupation of litigants, but later causes indicate that a range of people from all walks of life came before the consistory court.
Alderman
EDC 5/1580/3 – Hugh Rogerson, a witness for the plaintiff, was an alderman of Chester and kept a shop there
Clerk
This was the general term for a member of the clergy at the time.
EDC 5/1575/3 – John Vawdrey and Richard Vawdrey contra Ralph Calveley
EDC 5/1580/3 – John Nutter
EDC 5/1580/11 – Richard Hall, the defendant in this cause, was a Fellow of Manchester College
Joiner
EDC 5/1587/8 – John Ledsam, the younger, was a joiner from Holt
Preacher
Clergy who described themselves as ‘preacher’ were often associated with radical reformist views, and even by the end of the century some clergy did not preach regularly, or at all, but read prescribed homilies.
EDC 5/1580/3 – John Nutter
EDC 5/1591/2 – Andrew Brednam M.A., vicar of St John’s in Chester
Shearman
Shearing was an important part of the finishing process of woollen cloth. The nap of the woven cloth was raised with teasels and then clipped with shears so that the surface was even (Norman Lowe, The Lancashire Textile Industry in the Sixteenth Century, (Chetham Society, Manchester, 1972), pp. 38-39). There was a separate guild of Shearmen in Chester by 1467 (J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden and M V J Seaborne, ‘Economic infrastructure and institutions: Craft guilds’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker and C P Lewis (London, 2005), pp. 114-124. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp114-124 [accessed 26 November 2022]).
EDC 5/1580/5 – Thomas Wilson of the city of Chester was described as a ‘sheareman’.
Shopkeeper
EDC 5/1580/3 – Hugh Rogerson, a witness for the plaintiff, kept a shop in Chester and was an alderman of the city
Swordbearer
EDC 5/1580/5 – James Banester was described as ‘swordbearer’, one of the principal officers of the mayor of Chester
Tanner
There was an important trade in cattle and skins from Ireland through Chester and before the Reformation the Tanners’ company maintained a light in St John’s church. (J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden and M V J Seaborne, ‘Economic infrastructure and institutions: Craft guilds’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker and C P Lewis (London, 2005), pp. 114-124. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp114-124 [accessed 26 November 2022]).
EDC 5/1591/2 – Henry Aneon, senior
Under miller
In EDC 5/1580/10 it was suggested that a water mill was so noisy while it was working that comments by one of the witnesses could not be heard. This mill was used for grinding corn.
EDC 5/1580/10 – Anne Jackson contra Anne Jones, wife of Thomas Jones