Flax Industry in Cockermouth, Cumberland

[kevinf2349]

Hello everyone,

I come to the font again in the hope that someone can decipher the occupation of a gentleman in 1842 in Cockermouth, Cumberland. I think the first word is Flax....then it looks like dref something. A google search didn't help me much.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Kevin

[bbart]

Flax dresser

Wiki describes it as "a worker who separated the coarse part of flax or hemp with a hackle"

[bbart]

In case this is the confusion, the f is really a "long s".  Take a peek here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s

[goldie61]

I'd agree with 'Flax dresser' - with a pretty fancy capital F for Flax, and as bbart says, the classic long 's' in the middle of 'Dresser'.

[Skoosh]

 Cumberland. like Lanarkshire & Lancashire, was involved in linen production but changed over to cotton. The poet Burns was sent by his father to Irvine to learn the flax-dressing but fortunately the heckling-shed burned down, to the poets delight, & he returned home. 
The scutching & heckling of flax were very unhealthy processes!

Skoosh.

[goldie61]

Cumberland. like Lanarkshire & Lancashire, was involved in linen production but changed over to cotton. The poet Burns was sent by his father to Irvine to learn the flax-dressing but fortunately the heckling-shed burned down, to the poets delight, & he returned home. 
The scutching & heckling of flax were very unhealthy processes!

Skoosh.

Is that where we get 'heckle' - as in heckle a speaker or a politician from Skoosh?
Seems similar to 'tease', which was also something to do with fibres - possibly tease wool fibres, but also make fun of somebody?
Etymology?

[Mike in Cumbria]

Is that where we get 'heckle' - as in heckle a speaker or a politician from Skoosh?
Seems similar to 'tease', which was also something to do with fibres - possibly tease wool fibres, but also make fun of somebody?
Etymology?

Probably, but with another possible derivation.

heckle (v.)
early 14c., "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle;" from heckle (n.) or from related Middle Dutch hekelen. Figurative meaning "to question severely in a bid to uncover weakness" is from late 18c. "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OED]. Presumably from a metaphor of rough treatment, but also compare hatchel "to harass" (1800), which may be a variant of hazel, the name of the plant that furnished switches for whippings. Related: Heckled; heckling.

[Skoosh]

goldie, a wee goldie of "Red Hackle!" was the very thing! 

Skoosh.

[kevinf2349]

Hi everyone,

Many thanks for the answer and especially for the back fill on the job. Much appreciated.

Kevin