[f. TUB sb. + MAN sb.1]
† 1. = TUB-PREACHER. Obs.
1642. P. Bland, Royall Position, 9. No Conventicling Tubman should have made my words his text, raising from thence so damn’d a Doctrine.
a. 1643. Ld. Falkland, etc., Infallibility (1646), 97. The meanest Seducer may doe mischiefe, as we finde by the effects of the Tubmen.
1651. J. Jane, Εικων Ακλαστος, 213. The new tub men whose prayers not only want salt, but are besmeared with prophanes.
2. † a. ? A maker of tubs, a cooper. Obs. b. ? A conveyor of tubs. c. At Christ’s Hospital, formerly, one who had charge of the latrine tubs; now, a lavatory attendant.
1677. (title) A Caution to Married couples … how a man having beat his wife, murthered a Tub-man that endeavoured to stop him from killing her.
1690. Tryon, Art Brewing, 44. An honest Tub-man, whose Imployment was to carry Beer and Ale from Brew-houses to his Masters.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6196/7. John Thumwood,… Tub-man.
c. 1865. Skit Christ’s Hospital. Has she a round of butter’d toast to give to tubman Joe?
3. A barrister in the Court of Exchequer whose place was beside the tub used as a measure of capacity in excise cases; the position conferred the right of precedence in motions, except over the ‘postman’ and in Crown business. Cf. POSTMAN3. Obs. exc. Hist.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. iii. 28, note. In the court of exchequer two of the most experienced barristers called the post-man and the tub-man … have also a precedence in motions.
1841. Meeson & Welsby, Rep., VII. 188. The Attorney-General moved in this case. The Postman and Tubman claimed pre-audience; but upon the Attorney-General’s stating that it was the Queen’s business in which he moved, the Court decided that he was entitled to be heard before the Postman and Tubman.
1882. Daily News, 15 Dec., 2/1. With the appointment of Mr. Anstie as a Queen’s Counsel, the ancient office of tubman to the Exchequer disappears.
1886. [see POSTMAN3].
