My ancestor was an OIL MILLER...

Working oil mill granitstone
(Image link: www.wikipedia.org, Author: Peter Forster, 26 Oct 2009, accessed 9 Feb 2014)

An oil miller is a person who worked in a mill where seeds were crushed to produce oil.

The oil would be used in many industries, from food manufacturer for margarine etc, to the paint industry, to soaps and linoleum manufacture.

The main seeds which would be used would be rapeseed, corronseed, copra, palm kernel, soya and some other minor oils.

My ancestors who were Oil Millers were from Hull in East Yorkshire, a large port town. You can read their story on the Davidson page of my blog in Chapter 10 and a little in Chapter 9 also.

The oil industry was big in Hull, East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Liverpool. The large ports would be a place in which the seeds could be imported and later the oil or products manufactured from the oil could be exported.

There is a great website about the Oil Seed Crushing Industry of Hull, East Yorkshire by Paul Gibson and it is well worth a good read if you are interested in the history of this occupation.


Copyright © 2013 Ruth Hogan