Staff at The General Register Office in London have transcribed my 3 X Gt Grandfather's job in 2 different ways on an 1850 Marriage Certificate. The reason I have 2 copies of the same certificate (one transcribed in 1977 and one in 1990) is that the earlier one was obtained by an uncle of mine and has only just come to light. On the earlier certificate his rank or profession is given as Waistman and in the latter as Hoistman. Assuming that it is difficult from the handwriting to decide on the first two letters of this job, I wonder if anyone can give me a best guess. The man, Matthew STOKER (1794 - 1867), father of the bridegroom William STOKER (1831 - 1869), was 56 years old. In earlier records he was described variously as a Pitman, a Coalminer, a Collier and, on one occasion in 1841, as a Sinker. He lived in Philadelphia, near Houghton le Spring and had apparently worked in coalmines from the early 1800s until the 1850s. Mike Stoker