Occupation of Mech on baptisms?

[leslam]

I have an ancestor who around 1820 is variously is given the following occupations at the baptisms of his children:
Trade
Mech (with a superscript after it)
Bricklayer
The term seems to be very commonly used as the are dozens of entries with this occupation in his parish (Old St Pancras London)
Another (related) ancestor also has this term applied He is in Mary-le Bone parish and he is also 'Trade' and 'Victualler' on other entries

Anyone have any ideas what Mech is? I've searched the lists of trades for 1841 census and nothing fits. I had wondered if it was connected with guild/livery or a term used to denote skilled (as opposed to unskilled).

Looking forward to reading your suggestions

 

[sistersue61]

Leslam, could be related to one of the trades using mechanised equipment - the cotton gins were around that time and also the water operated mills were classed as mechanical if you look at any of the Industrial Revolution descriptions and that ran 1780 to 1840 I think, if my rusty history memories serve me right.
Not sure if it will throw any more light on it - what were the industries around the areas at that time?
Sue

 

[Astoness]

hi lesley ive got a dictionary here of old trades.titles and occupations but im afraid that mech is not listed...sorry i couldnt help on this one..

if anyone else would like me to do a look up just let me know..
lyn

 

[ChrisM]

Leslam,

I go along with Sue and would have put money on this being an abbreviation of "mechanic", someone who deals with machinery, probably a skilled man, a craftsman.

I have tried to look up the term in the Oxford English Dictionary which will give old definitions as well as modern ones - but you need a library subscription to do this and mine has expired after a recent house move. Suggest you try it, if your own sub. gives access to the OED.

Chris

 

[leslam]

Thanks for your replies. I had originally suspected that it was a question of Mech = mechanic, but couldn't see how this could be the case. I think that I'm going to have to conclude that they applied the term fairly loosely to mean a skilled man/craftsman - else how can the same person be a bricklayer and a mechanic on baptisms on consecutive years? Maybe it's used like "trade" - because interestingly, the pages that have "mech" on (both for my man and other baptisms) do not use the word "trade" at all.
All the baptism are definitely the same man - same church, same wife's name and same abode.

Thanks again for helping me out with this

 

[maypolebaz]

I'm no expert leslam but I have come across an older, similar word, "mechanician" from time to time.

See what a google search for it gives you.

 

[leslam]

Thanks again for you thoughts on this. Following ChrisM's suggestion, I logged into Birmingham Library and looked at the full OED. Very revealing it was as well, with definitions that had an emphasis on a manual trade or craft and manual work or skill.
It's intersting how our concept and usage of words has changed comparitively recently.

For copyright reasons, I can't attach a copy to this post, but if anyone would like more information, please send me an IM that includes your email address.

It's int