Hi I'm inclined to think that occupations for people who died in the Poorhouse are their previous occupations e.g.miner. The man would not have been employed as a miner in the Poorhouse. I'd be inclined to look for this man's record in the 1871 Census or if he was married or any of his children were born after 1855 then his occupation would be on the certificates. Often these are worded slightly differently thus giving another clue. Below are some definitions of occupations I found on the Internet. Poosible he worked in a manufacturing industry. DRESSER - one who dresses another, surgeon's assistant and also one who operated a machine which prepared threads in the textile industry WASHER - employed to clean the wool in the worsted manufacturing industry ... from the colliers into the barges; BASS / BAST DRESSER - employed in dressing fibre or matting . Regards Ella Ross