Occupation of father, 1840

[MacGrigor]

Hello,

This image is available on Ancestry. I can't attach it or a print screen as the resolution is too high.

The christening is in Luddenden, Yorkshire, in 1840. Elizabeth Stockton, parents Henry and Sarah. Henry was a railway contractor and it looks like navigate or something on this record. The family moved around a lot, and were in Aston in 1841, Staffordshire in 1851, and Gloucestershire in 1861.

I'd appreciate any help!

Adam

[avm228]

Navigator

[avm228]

Navigator

Colloquially known as a “navvy”. If you look that word up online you will see the history of the occupation.

[KGarrad]

From wikipedia:

Navvy, a shorter form of navigator (UK) or navigational engineer (US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and earth moving machinery. The term was coined in the late 18th century in Great Britain when numerous canals were being built, which were also sometimes known as "navigations", or "eternal navigations", intended to last forever.

Also used to refer manual labourers working on building railways.

[MacGrigor]

Thanks!