A town waiter was originally a night watchman; by 1841 the municipal corporations were employing them as the official town band licensed to teach music in their spare time. Source: P. M. Horsley. "Charles Avison: The Man and His Milieu" (1974) Vol 55 (No. 1, Jan) Music & Letters pp. 5-23 at p. 6 The OED also gives this sense. Alexander Carlyle "Autobiography" (1860) 75 "His band..consisted of two dancing-school fiddlers and the town-waits." 8. a. pl. A small body of wind instrumentalists maintained by a city or town at the public charge. Also sing., a member of this body. Obs. They played for the daily diversion of the councillors, on ceremonial and festive occasions, and as a town or city band they entertained the citizens, perambulating the streets, often by night or in the early morning. Regards 2009/9/5 Mike Hayes <mikeljan1@yahoo.co.uk>: > Hi List > I have an ancestor who's occupation is listed in the census (1841) as being aTown Waiter/Sexton living in Toxteth Liverpool. I have discovered that