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Tradesperson

Skilled specialist

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As opposed to a master craftsman or an artisan, a tradesperson (tradesman/tradeswoman) is not necessarily restricted to manual work.

History

In Victorian England, The terms "skilled worker," "craftsman," "artisan," and "tradesman" were used in senses that overlap. In Australia, the term "tradie" is commonly used.

All of these terms describe people with specialized training in the skills needed for a particular kind of work. Some of them produced goods that they sold from their own premises (e.g. bootmakers, saddlers, hatmakers, jewelers, glassblowers); others (e.g. typesetters, bookbinders, wheelwrights) were employed to do one part of the production in a business that required a variety of skilled workers. Still others were factory hands who had become experts in some complex part of the process and could command high wages and steady employment. Skilled workers in the building trades (e.g. carpenters, masons, plumbers, plasterers, glaziers, painters etc.) were also referred to by one or another of these terms.

One study of Caversham, New Zealand, at the turn of the century notes that a skilled trade was considered a trade that required an apprenticeship to entry. Skilled tradesmen worked either in traditional handicraft workshops or newer factories that emerged during the Industrial Revolution. Traditional handicraft roles included, for example: "sail-maker, candle-maker, cooper, japanner, lapidary and taxidermist, canister-maker, furrier, cap-maker, dobbin-maker, french-polisher, baker, miller, brewer, butcher, confectioner, watch-maker, tinsmith, glazier, maltster, wood-turner, saddler, shipwright, scale-maker, engraver and cutler."

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