Has anyone come across a starcher as an occupation?

[Doris49]

Hi everyone

One of my ancestors is described as a starcher on the 1851 Scotland census.  Has anyone come across this occupation before? I am wondering if it may be a mistranscription.

Many thanks

Irene

[mckha489]

Is it a woman?
Isn’t it someone who starches laundry?

[Bee]

"A person in the clothes manufacturing of cleaning businesses who stiffened cloth using starch"

taken from a dictionary of old trades etc

[Mart 'n' Al]

Tongue in cheek, years ago, I can remember Bamber Gascoigne, on University Challenge, talking about "a starcher for ten".

Martin

[Doris49]

Thank you for your quick replies. It is actually a man, so perhaps quite an unusual occupation for a man at this time!

Irene

[Rena]

In the days of fabrics made purely from cotton, linen and wool, both the fabrics and the finished clothing would have some sort of finish, even woollen suits, otherwise they'd look quite limp on the hangers and on the person (a bit like clothing looks limp today)   

My father always wore detached "Trubenised" collars on his shirts but when we married my OH insisted I took his RAF shirt collars to the local "Chinese laundry" - who did a marvellous job of washing and starching them.

On this webpage about halfway down is an image of what the occupation of "starcher" in a factory entailed. http://www.oldandinteresting.com/laundry-starch-history.aspx

[Viktoria]

Good woollen  cloth would not be actually starched,starch is made with boiling water ,diluted and the cloth would have to be immersed.
The front of suits for example would have a lining of quite stiff material , not fused to the wool cloth but as an interfacing, buckram was a frequent choice.
It would be basted ( slip stitched)to the wool material.
The same with the front of woollen top coats.
Cotton, and linen would certainly  be starched  as for example tablecloths and napkins.
Poor quality suits were not so well made  and  an old trick was to rub soap on the wrong side of cheap suiting, to give it some firmness but it did not last long.
Viktoria.

[maddys52]

There are a number of mentions of starchers in newspapers of the day. Generally "clear starchers" seems to apply to laundresses or ladies maids etc, while "starcher" appears quite often as the occupation of men.

Doesn't help with they actually did, but these advertisements seem to imply it something involved in the actual manufacture of materials, another process maybe after weaving?

[Doris49]

Wow - thank you for all the helpful replies.  My ancestor was called James Fraser and he lived at 57 Tomnahurrich Street in Inverness.  I have had another look at the 1851 Census record and it does seem  to quite clearly say he was a starcher.  He was a heckler in the 1841 census!