Daily AncestorChemist
In American records a chemist was a scientist trained in chemistry; in British use the word also means a pharmacist or drugstore.
The word was first attested in 1562, borrowed from French and going back to alchemist, which is also an obsolete sense of chemist. In Britain and much of the Commonwealth a chemist is also a pharmacist or a pharmacy.
The 1900 census instructions said to return a chemist, assayer, metallurgist or other scientific person by his distinctive title, and the 1940 instructions give "Chemist, Rayon factory" as a model entry.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Arthur Pennywell, 34, Chemist, Rayon factory
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Chemist." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/chemist. Last checked 2026-10-12.