Ron Jones wrote... >Martin Clark wrote: >> A correspondent tells me that one of her ancestors worked on the canal >> as a "whiteliner". >> >> Does anyone have any idea what this would have been? I assume it >> wasn't someone who paints white lines down the middle of the canal! > >No help, but it looks like an *old* trade. The only refs Google could >russle up were [snip]
Thanks for finding those. There was reference to someone being a "whiteliner and plasterer" which got me thinking that it was related to decorating rather than canals specifically. I thought of someone applying white lime, and found a number of references to people with "whitelimer" as occupation, so "whiteliner" could be a mis-spelling and corruption (a bit like the name Ashton under Lyne). I found the following on Rootsweb - question: "he was a Whiteliner (employer), what is a Whiteliner? Can anybody tell me?" reply: "Could that have been Whitelimer? WHITE LIMER A person who plastered walls using lime and water plaster." <http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BRITISHHOMECHILDREN/2003-0 1/1042231972> Perhaps my correspondent's ancestor was kept busy whitewashing The Bratch! -- Martin Clark Internet Boaters' Database http://www.lock13.co.uk/boats Pennine Waterways Website http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk
