What was a journeyman in the coalmines and iron works?

A tradesman that had served his apprenticeship and served his time in his trade.

a journeyman was an itinerant tradesman, having served a full apprenticeship but not yet ready (or good enough) to settle down.


the title journeyman comes from the old system of trades (smith, carpenter etc)

when initially learning the trade they are a apprentice, they paid to learn from a master of the trade to get the necessary skills and once the apprenticeship period was over the tradesman would be called a journeyman, he would travel from town to town plying his trade (typically a village would only need one smith or carpenter). having just finished his apprenticeship he wasn't skilled enough to be a master of his trade, he needed to go out and practise. and the master he had studied with didn't need a journeyman full time.
eventually the journeymen would settle in a town where the master was ready to retire or where there was no existing master of that trade. if his work was acceptable to the townsfolk he would now be a master.

some trades required that a journeyman make a specific quality of item to prove himself ready to be a master. this is where the term "masterwork" comes from

As in the classic folk song " Oh, I am a roving journeyman I roam from town to town"

The newly apprenticed man would have to travel around to get the wider experience needed.

Ironic really that politicians and so called business leaders tell us we might have to be prepared to be flexible in our work lives. They obviously have not read their history books - or been to folk clubs !!