A fun one that I'm personally familiar with is the Upholder, predecessor to the modern Upholsterer. Back in medieval times, the upholder was a combination furniture and textile producer as well as interior designer and the person who did the banners in castles, bedsheets, etc. Basically anything involving textiles. Over time, padded furniture became the main focus of the trade, leading to what we think of as upholsterers.[1]<p>[1] <a href="https://spruceaustin.com/uncategorized/history-of-the-upholder/" rel="nofollow">https://spruceaustin.com/uncategorized/history-of-the-uphold...</a>
It surprises me that all 10 jobs still exist, while there are several more recent occupations that no longer exist (albeit they were not that common):<p>Milkmen, Elevator operator, Switchboard Operator, Ice Cutter, Bowling Pin Setter, Film projectionist, Lamplighter, Leech collector, Alchemist, Bematist, Redsmith, Daguerreotypist, Town crier
6th to 10th place are interesting:<p>6 – Tailors<p>7 – Notaries<p>8 – Barbers<p>9 – Retailers<p>10 – Stonemasons<p>More notaries than barbers, retailers and stonemasons!
My first reaction at seeing the headline was - I wonder if I could guess these jobs by people's family names, IE: Blacksmith, Cooper, Chandler, Brewer, Baker, etc.
"Town Crier" suggests by name that a town needed only one. And, maybe, tolerated only one.<p>I guess "gossip" was everybody's job, like textile production, so nobody's. According to ACOUP, all female members ("the distaff side") of almost all households spent any time not devoted to other tasks on spinning thread or yarn, albeit less so after the spinning jenny spread after 1200.
It's interesting to think about what my life might have been like if I had been born 500 years earlier. I think carpenter or stonemason are what I would have been most interested in. But I really love books, so maybe I would have ended up in the clergy. Thank goodness I was born now.