occupation help

[kylejustin]

my ancestor richard william morton, was a coach trimmer and harness maker
in london, soho in the 1830's to 1850's.

this info comes from census and baptism, as well as birth records.
can someone explain wat his exact role was?
and would i be able to find out anything about him and his job?

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

A coach trimmer would make up and fit all the soft furnishings in any horsedrawn vehicle. Obviously the quality and standard of fittings might vary enormously depending on the type of vehicle being fitted up and the future role of that vehicle. The coach trimmer would work with both leather and softer fabrics, but I suppose some might work virtually exclusively with leather, depending on the type of work carried out.

A harness maker would make the bridles etc etc for horses. This occ often goes with the saddle makers trade, but no reason a coach trimmer couldn't do it.

I'm not sure if there was some specialist angle that would cause a coach trimmer to make harnesses but not saddles, or a special reason he was making the harnesses at all??

[kylejustin]

thats the weird thing merry, in 1840 and 1842, he was a coach trimmer.
thats the birth and baptism records.

then in 1842 for a baptism he was a harness maker.


and 1843 with more baptisms he also a harness maker.

but the census always says coach trimmer

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

Maybe it's a case that he was brought up to one trade but carried out another?

My great-great-grandfather is a Master Butcher on his marriage cert, death cert, death cert of his wife and baptism and marriage cert of his daughter, but on the censuses he never had that job (it's 100% the same man!), being
groom, waiter, painter, fly master and cab driver at different dates.

[kylejustin]

wat a busy man!

[kylejustin]

would there be any apprentice like records for this trade? if there were, would they be likely to appear on ancestry through the lma?

[herebedragons]

A harness maker would be working in leather, perhaps the trimming he did for coaches was also the leatherwork ?

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Elderflower]

My Dad was a coach trimmer in the 1950s. He worked for the local bus company and repaired and recovered the bus seats. In later years he worked at the South Wales centre for artificial limbs where he repaired and relined the leather harnesses and sockets for the stump of the leg. The leather was extremely soft and he made a potty chair, for my first child, it was like a proper armchair with removable seat and covered in off-cuts from the white kid leather used on those legs.

He was able to do those things as part of his training so I suppose not much difference from your ancestor. It was all mostly precision sewing by hand.

[kylejustin]

thanx for those ideas. it doesnt surprise me that he would have known his way around coaches, probably knew how to make most things for them, but i was wondering if anyone has heard of apprenticeship records for something like this?
i mean they have them for a few other trades.

[dicole]

We have blacksmiths and wheelwrights who were in business with a brother who a coachpainter and coachtrimmer and the business morphed into vehicle builders where the automobile took over. Originally, in Australia, vehicles were imported as chassis and motor only, and you had your own "coach" or body built locally.

A one-stop-shop for your carriage and horse.

Di