Looking for information on the occupation of a "BILL POSTER" My great-grand-father, James Young Pattison (1851 - 1908) lived in Aberdeen and was a bill poster and eventually became the manager of the North of Scotland for the General-Bill-Posting Company. I would like to get an indication of the nature of his work, who the General-Bill-Posting Co. was, and where I might find information about this type of job. Michael Ball 1903-100 Quebec Ave Toronto, ON, M6P 4B8 mdball@sympatico.ca

M D BALL wrote: > Looking for information on the occupation of a "BILL POSTER" > > My great-grand-father, James Young Pattison (1851 - 1908) lived in > Aberdeen and was a bill poster and eventually became the manager of > the North of Scotland for the General-Bill-Posting Company. > > I would like to get an indication of the nature of his work, who the > General-Bill-Posting Co. was, and where I might find information > about this type of job. In this context, a "bill" is an advertisement, and a bill poster or bill sticker was employed to stick such advertisements on walls and hoardings. This was not always done with the permission of the owners of the walls, who then put up notices of their own, reading "Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted". That, in turn, led to graffiti and lapel-badges bearing messages like "Bill Stickers is innocent", or "Free Bill Stickers". I don't know about the "General Bill-Posting Company", but it sounds as if he became an Advertising Executive. Gavin Bell