jan 1, 1495 - porter

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The by-name and occupational term were common: 1242 ‘Walter the Porter’, Wetherby (YRS67/114); 1317 <i>Adam le porter</i>, York (SS96/17); 1401 <i>Willelmus de Man, portour</i>, York (SS96/106). It usually referred to the carriers or workmen who transported goods on their backs, in what were described as burdens: 1433-4 <i>Et Philippo Simondson porter pro portacione eiusdem calcis, vjd</i>, York (SS192/17); 1476 <i>that no sleddman nor other persoune carie by cart, slede nor horse, any thing that belongis to the saide porters to bere, </i>York (SS186/191); 1495 <i>That the porters of this Citie ... shall bere from the water of Use unto Trenite Kirk ... iiij byrdens for a peny</i>, York (YRS103/122). Less commonly it was the person responsible for a door or gate, as in a walled town. The origin is clear in three references to one man in the period 1322-6: <i>John ad Portam</i>; <i>John le Porter</i>; <i>John Atteyate</i>, Wadworth (YRS83/174-5).

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