Occupation or location?

[zenobia37]

Hi can anyone guess as to the last words of this, from Wakefield parish records in 1729? It isn't a place name I recognise locally so I wonder if it could be an occupation?

[Geoff-E]

Could he have been working for the local hunt as a Dog Whipor?

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/whipper-in

[zenobia37]

Thanks, it does look like dog whipor doesn't it? I've just seen that churches employed people to drive dogs away during services, so it could be one or the other. I'm not aware of a 'hunt' connection but I'll keep an eye out for one.

[JenB]

The penultimate letter is 'e' not 'o'.......so 'wiper' ? ?

[venelow]

According to an Old Occupations site a Dog Whipper:

"Drove dogs away from the church. The dogs would be attracted by the custom of nailing fox tails to the church door as proof for collecting bounty on them."

I wonder how long it took before they thought of finding somewhere else to nail the fox tails?

Venelow

[Greensleeves]

I wonder how long it took before they thought of finding somewhere else to nail the fox tails?

Venelow

Am just thinking of the conversation.  "It costs a lot of groats to keep a Dog Whipper.  Wonder if we could manage without one."

"Well, the trouble is that they are attracted by the fox tails nailed to the church door.  We could, of course,  take them down and find somewhere to put them."

"What?  Move the fox tails?  We've always had fox tails nailed to the church door.  Who do you think you are, coming here, wanting to change things......"

 

[Rena]

It's been really interesting in reading about the dog whippers, which I originally thought were part of the fox hunting fraternity.

I found this on a Wikipedia page:-

"One of the last recorded dog whippers was one John Pickard, who was appointed to Exeter Cathedral in 1856. A small room in the cathedral is still known as the Dog Whipper's Flat.

A dog whipper's whip survives in St. Anne's Church, Baslow, Derbyshire and a dog whipper's pew is preserved in St. Margaret's Church in Wrenbury, Cheshire. A notable carving of a dog whipper removing a dog with his whip can be seen in the Great Church of St. Bavo in Haarlem."

[stanmapstone]

At one time, men and working dogs were constantly together, even on Sundays, and at the parish church measures had to be taken to deal with noises and fights which inevitably disturbed the solemnity of the occcasion.
At Grappenhall in Cheshire the vestry ordered "... that the wardens of the parish shall cause the church during the time of divine service be kept clear from all dogs and bitches by hiring a person to whip and drive them out of the church."; and in the vestry minutes for Wrexham an entry for 1663 states that "hee that keeps ye dogs out of church is ordered to have 2/6 quarterly and 5/- for arrears"
Persons appointed to perform this duty were known as dog whippers, knocknobblers, or sluggard walkers.
From "The Sutton Companion to Churches" by Stephen Friar.

[bbart]

From the Yorkshire Bishop's transcription of burials, a much easier version to see dog(g) whipper:
Burial 01 Jun 1772