Daily AncestorKnacker
A knacker collected worn-out and dead horses and other livestock and rendered them into hides, bones, glue and tallow.
The sense of one who slaughters old or sick horses is first recorded in 1812. It is thought to be the same word as an older knacker, a harness-maker, recorded from the 1570s. A knacker's yard is not a slaughterhouse for human food; it turns carcasses into fat, glue, gelatin, bone meal and similar goods.
The work was long thought disreputable. Wiktionary also lists a sense of one who breaks up old ships and houses to sell their parts.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Jas. Mottershed, 55, Knacker, England
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Knacker." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/knacker. Last checked 2026-10-12.