how can travellers be in the bricklaying business?

[chafox]

 I recently found more instances of members of my hawker  and traveller families calling themselves  bricklayers.
There was a van in  a meadow in 1881, in which there were dealers in earthenware, hawkers and bricklayers living together.

How does this use of the term bricklayer difffer from what we call bricklaying today? What exactly were they doing?

Terry

[rebekahm28]

If it was 1881, it wouldnt be a deal different!

[BlandTree]

You don't give any names, dates or locations. 

I am currently looking at Goughs in the Thringstone area of Leicestershire in the early 1800s.  They were hawkers and travellers but one branch emigrated to Yorkshire and became brick makers.

Does any of this tie in with your research?

Malcolm

[NEILKE]

hope this will be of help traveler's these days tend to work on road tarmacking and small jobs like repairing peoples drives.But i would have thought in them days their be no reason why they couldn't be bricklayers moving from one job to another similar to a jouneyman who moved to different places with in their area so they would were there skills were needed.

[BlandTree]

Sorry to disagree NEIKE, but a journeyman did not, necessarily, move "to different places within their area so they would be where their skills were needed".   

Men who wished to follow a skilled trade first became apprentices and were taken on solely to learn the trade.  They received no pay but board and lodging was provided, though often this was very meagre.   When they had finished their apprenticeship, which could be upwards of seven years, if there was a vacancy within the guild for a qualified person, they became journeymen.   This simply meant that they could work for payment. The name is taken from the French 'journee' meaning a day and they were paid daily for their work. They were the basic level of skilled worker.  Today one might hear, for example, a carpenter referred to as a journeyman joiner, meaning that his work is very 'run of the mill' or, ordinary.   

If a vacancy occurred for a top level worker in their chosen trade, they would be asked to provide a special example of their work.  This was called a master piece and, if it was good enough they would be elected a master craftsman.  At this level they were paid for jobs done and would employ journeymen to help with the work, paying them daily and, if the work was not up to standard the journeyman would be paid off and told not to report for work the next day.

[behindthefrogs]

hope this will be of help traveler's these days tend to work on road tarmacking and small jobs like repairing peoples drives.But i would have thought in them days their be no reason why they couldn't be bricklayers moving from one job to another similar to a jouneyman who moved to different places with in their area so they would were there skills were needed.

This is a complete misinterpetation of the term journeyman.  A journeyman was a skilled worker who had completed his apprenticeship.  Originally he would have been paid by the day which explains the derivation of the term from the French journee meaning by the day.  He would not yet have established himself as a master tradesman who usually had his own business, but would be employed by a master often the one with whom he served his apprenticeship.  It is extremely unlikely that he would be travelling around.

David

Sorry I am repeating what Blandtree said as i was interupte by a phonecall.

[Maggott]

I wonder if working in brickyards was something that travellers did, rather as they tarmac drives today?  Just a thought, because my Davis connections (who were Gipsies) settled and found work in the Reigate brickyard towards the end of 19th cent.  This gives us families of travellers in differernt parts of the country all doing something other than the usual traveller 'cottage' industries.  And I suppose that the  19th cent building boom was also a boom for the brick industry & they took on a lot of new staff 
Maggott

[honey-roma88]

I too have found bricklayers aplenty among my ancestors. They also worked as rag and bone men, hawkers, watercress sellers etc but then worked as bricklayers. I suppose when labour was needed in an area where they were settled for a while they would take up the job. I can't think of any particular connection except that I suppose it was casual labour and could be done anywhere unlike an office job.

[BlandTree]

Hmm... there are so many examples given in this thread that I am beginning to suspect that there is some connection between being a traveller or hawker and moving on into the brick making industry, but I don't buy into the 'brick making = road mending' theory.

In the case I am researching the family moved from its roots in Leicestershire and worked up through Yorkshire to Roecliffe brickyard, where they settled.  The first generation worked up through the ranks to become Manager of this brickyard and the second generation did likewise and even moved to nearby brickyards which they also managed.

This is a significant move up the social scale... but why?  And what is the connection between Travelling and settling down to make tiles and bricks? 

BlandTree