Completed. thanks.What on earth is a 'Pump Sinker'?

[Barbara348]

Hi,

Just come across a possible family connection to someone who shows on the 1911 Census  as being a 'Pump Sinker'.

What on earth is that?

Can anyone enlighten me please?

barbara.

[geniecolgan]

Did he work in a mining area?

Sump pumps were used in mining.

[Lydart]

Or possibly the person who installed pumps into wells ??

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Barbara,

I have a "well sinker" in my lot.  Used to be an important profession, before water came in pipes from the reservoir.

See this topic too:
Topic: Well Sinkers of the world unite!
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,215893.0.html

Perhaps someone knows better. If not I will take a guess that a pump sinker worked with a well sinker together, so that once the well was dug, the water could be pumped out.

see also:

Water was got from a pump in the kitchen. Mr. Bronte wrote in his diary: -In September, 1847, I got the well cleaned by a pump-sinker annd two men ...  

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4454309

Bob

[Barbara348]

Thanks all for your help.

geniecoglan,

Yes,he did live in a mining area so that is a possibility.

Lydiart & Berlin -Bob,

I think the Pumps & Wells could be very likely because he worked as a Skinner in a Tannery, so it probably got really messy and maybe they had a Well on site.

Thanks again

Barbara.

[stanmapstone]

From "A Dictionary of Occupational Term" A Pump Sinker; well sinker; well borer; well driller; digs out with a pick and shovel, clay, gravel, etc. down to impermeable stratum, e.g. chalk to sink a shallow well for water drawing with winch and bucket, or for village pump, etc;


Stan

[behindthefrogs]

A pump sinker only had to drill a hole wide enough to take a pipe down to the same depth as a well sink would have gone.  A pipe was then inserted and and a pump used to raise the water up the pipe.  Many houses built around 1900 had such pumps possibly installed before mains water was connected.

In the 1950s my grand mother would use water from the pump for washing the clothes because it was softer and so required less soap powder.

David 

[stanmapstone]

Brontė Society transactions, Volumes 8-9‎ - Page 140
Mr. Bronte wrote in his diary: "In September, 1847, I got the well cleaned by a pump sinker and two men for five shillings."

Stan

[alpinecottage]

I think the Pumps & Wells could be very likely because he worked as a Skinner in a Tannery, so it probably got really messy and maybe they had a Well on site.

In the late 1970s, I was working for the Water Authority in Nottingham and I went to a tannery there to measure the groundwater level in the well they had on site.  It was a fascinating experience as the factory seemed to be in a time warp - it was like a factory you might see in an episode of a Dickens novel - Victorian brickwork, uneven floors, huge vessels for tanning and dyeing the hides (they use a lot of water, not only for cleaning), a real rabbit warren of a place.  Even the staff seemed Dickensian - they referred to the managers as Mr Robert and Mr David, the two brothers who owned and ran the business.