Help with occupation

[Auchencrieff]

My ggrandfather was recorded as a Contract flion spar dressing for his occupation in the 1911 census, living at Ireshopeburn. Can anyone help me find out what he did and where he might have worked. Thankyou

[macintosh]

Possibly something to do with fluorspar mining  in Weardale,  Have you got the spelling correct?


James

[macintosh]

I assume the dressing part of the job is to remove material from the mined product that is worthless such as stones and other minerals.
Fluorspar or fluorite was and presumably still is used in the manufacture of Hydrofluoric acid and as a flux in the steelmaking process, Limestone was another flux used in the same way.

James

[Auchencrieff]

Many thanks for your speedy replies. Previously my ggrandfather had been a shepherd in Scotland so his move to England  is baffling. At first I thought that I must have the wrong family however I do have the correct family.
His daughters occupations are dressmakers and his sons are 'worker sparr dressing ' and 'worker sparr' respectively. I have copied the information exactly as written but I appreciate that may not be correct.
any clarification on occupation and the choice of home would be appreciated.

[macintosh]

As you probably know that part of Wear dale is/was primarily mining lead or feldspar, silver and  other minerals or quarrying with some hill farming, it is possible that the enumerator on the census has had difficulty with a strong Scottish burr and has misunderstood what was said.
Given what you have copied from the Census it is perhaps associated with Fluorite or Feldspar.
His being a shepherd in Scotland isn't so strange in that he moved from  possibly being a lowly paid agricultural worker to an industry that was well established in Weardale, My grandparents  moved from the textile industry in Glasgow to the industry of the North East.
 It looks like his sons joined him in the same industry

James

[Viktoria]

Some kinds of "spar" brought to the surface in lead mining could be used for thickeners for paint, notably barytes, -hence lead paint.Now banned of course.
It could also be used for "harling" which was what it was called in Scotland, in England pebble dashing.
A more modern use is as a lubricant ( just as talc is a lubricant)in such things as oil drills, like those on North Sea oil rigs .
When the lead seams were getting too difficult to mine and at the same time lead prices were dropping, as in about the early 1900`s , the recovery of "Halvans" ie material previously considered waste, became for a short time an industry in its own right.
 At least this is what happened in the South Shropshire lead mines around Snailbeach, which mine was the most productive in the country.
                                                              Viktoria.

[macintosh]

Just a  thought on this topic, It may yield more info if you posted this on to the Durham Board,there are already topics there on lead mining in the Wear dale. Tow Law, Frosterley areas, and of course there is a museum of mining there

JAMES

[Auchencrieff]

Thanks so much for the information.
As suggested I will post my question on the Durham board. Perhaps a trip to the museum would be interesting next time I visit the area. Thanks again.

[JenB]

My ggrandfather was recorded as a Contract flion spar dressing for his occupation in the 1911 census, living at Ireshopeburn.

Is this what was written the actual census form, or what appears on a transcription?

If the latter, you really need to look at the original.

I'd go along some of the other replies, and suggest that he was probably engaged in the fluorspar industry in Weardale.

There was a fluorspar mine close to Ireshopeburn. http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/b912.htm

If you google 'fluorspar + ireshopeburn' you'll get quite a few useful hits.