Sculcoates – Engineer

[mutchall]

If someone was described in an allegation for a marriage licence as an engineer in 1792 at Sculcoates, near Kingston-upon-Hull, what would bring him there and what would he be working on?

Apparently he couldn’t sign his name, so I would exclude civil engineer or Royal Engineer, but belonging to the Corps of Military Artificers or being an Engine Smith are tempting explanations.

Also, there's someone who was born in Stourbridge, West Midlands and who I highly suspect to have migrated to Sculcoates by 1807 and to have become a Cowkeeper. Would the reason be that he had retired after service in the Royal Navy or Merchant Navy, which I'm not currently aware of, or would other reasons induce him to move there?

[Rena]

I've had to look up the origins of the word "engineer" - my family were mechanical engineers (fixing things together) but not in that century lol. 

" ... the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, when an engine’er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to "a constructor of military engines." In this context, now obsolete, an "engine" referred to a military machine, i. e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult)."

When I was young there were engineering companies galore in Hull making all manner of things, but having surfed I can't see one that was set up in the 18th century.  There were plenty of windmills in the Sculcoates area and although a millwright was the main craftsman who could turn his hand at anything, he would have employed a less qualified worker to do run of the mill type jobs so your ancestor might have been engaged in fixing machinery that needed repairing. 

As steam boilers were gradually replacing the energy produced by wind/water mills in the 18th century, I personally think the man maintained steam engines which were massive things.   Hull was a magnet for people who needed work and it could be that a soldier could have been stationed in Hull at any time and decided to find work in that town when he returned to civilian life.

You might find something of interest on Paul Gibson's site :-
  http://www.paul-gibson.com/trade-and-industry/oil-seed-crushing.php

This page indicates there was a military presence, plus of course the navy.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Hull/HullHistory/HullHistory5.html