Ruth - I don't think that "team" refers to the people employed by a team owner, but simply to the animals. The Oxford Dictionary defines a team as firstly a 'set' of draught animals: two or more oxen, horses, etc. harnessed to draw together, and by extension, the whole stock of horses (or other beasts) belonging to one owner or stable. This would still fit with the references you've found to contractors, vanmen, etc. Graham On 22/11/2013 22:55, Ruth J wrote: > Further to the recent mailings re Henry Jones, team owner, in Birkenhead I've become curious about the occupational term. Googling hasn't been a great deal of help but I did find postings that had been exchanged on Rootsweb Lists a couple of years back but which had no final conclusion. > > I was already aware that teams of navvies working with horses became a common sight in the newly developing industrial landscape of Georgian and Victorian England. [Navvies are a current research interest of mine - don't ask.] But I hadn't heard the term 'Team Owner' used in this context. > > I searched Birkenhead Trade Directories and found the terms 'Team & Cart Owners', 'Team Proprietors' and 'Team Contractors' used. They are listed under headings such as 'Carmen' and 'Carters', Van Proprietors (including furniture removers), Warehouse Owners and Forwarding Agents. > > But it was the addresses that were interesting. It showed that many were set amongst coal-yards, railway offices, goods yards, manufacturing bases, etc. So the teams would be composed of men and horses used in urban industry of one kind or another and not in agriculture. > > Oh, and BTW, the entry for Henry Jones in Gore's 1894 Directory of Liverpool and Birkenhead reads: > > Jones Henry & Son, wheelwrights, team owners & contractors, 10 Waterloo Place & 61 Tunnel road. > > > > His premises are in the same street/area as the railway station, coal merchants, a shoeing smith and (what else) a beer retailer. > > > > Ruth > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >