I have in my tree a William Heasman in Slaugham in 1851 whose occupation is listed as 'collector of ashes' (at least, I think it is that). Can anyone enlighten me as to what this job might entail? The closest I have found on websites listing old occupations is 'ashman' (dustman) and I know that garbage bins are called dustbins in England, so I presume this guy might have been a garbage collector? If so, why 'ashes'? (and why 'dust' for that matter !) Is that all people threw out in the days before today's mega-packaging? Or were ashes collected separately for some special purpose like soap-making? Cordelia 14526