Can anyone help to decipher this handwriting please?

[99redballoonsgobyy]

Just that really I'm currently doing so ancestry research this is from the 1921 census but I cannot quite make out his occupation. my initial thought was Apprentice Lawyer but surely it cannot be as first I've heard about about my grandfather a poor working class boy from a big inner city being an apprentice lawyer. He did go on to be a military man and a colour Sargent and warrant officer in the army though. Could it possibly say something else what do you people think. could the L be an S and say something totally different? Also can anybody make out the smudged address I have underlined? thanks in advance for any help.

It doesn't appear to have uploaded very clearly unfortunately.

Could be apprentice layer, and he worked for the person at the top?
Layer does seem to have one too many loops,but the census recorders may jot always have had perfect writing.

I think it's sawyer, which I think is someone who cuts wood. The first letter definitely looks like an s when you compare it to "school" below.

Could it be an apprentice surveyor?

Slinger? Could he have worked in a dockyard, I think it's to do with cranes.

Yes I would say lawyer because the La are the same as in Brick Layer above. I can’t see the address it is at the bottom of my phone behind the mumsnet name

Apprentice surveyor.

It's an 'S' not an 'L'

I thought sawyer too.

I think surveyor. It's defo starting with an S

Apprentice surveyor.

There is no such thing as an ‘apprentice lawyer’ because the law was not a trade. You had to go to university for it. It was an accepted occupation for younger sons of the gentry. No working class in it then.

Apprentice Sawyer.
James Ellor. Rose (?) Henry St (Maul?)
I assume, from other information given, this is in Oxford. You could have a look at the same people’s details on the 1911 census and the 1939 Register.
Another way is to find their neighbours or other people with the surname living in the town in 1921. You’ll see more examples of the enumerator’s handwriting and, quite possibly, a less smudged address.
The electoral register for the town is a further avenue of exploration.
I’ll happily assist you if you want it.

I think it's apprentice surveyor but misspelt as surveyer

On the 1911 Census individuals completed their own forms so we can see their handwriting. I may be incorrect about enumerators in 1921 but they definitely worked on the 1939 Register.

I vote for Sawyer actually, looking at how the writer makes their 'a' elsewhere on the page.

I have PMd you OP.

This was my first thought too.

His employer is down as James Gresty of Ancoats - I found a James Gresty living in Manchester in 1911 whose occupation is timber merchant, so I'd guess that sawyer is correct.

Oh, and the address looks like Henry Street, which is in Ancoats, so fits nicely.

I think apprentice layer, it’s the same word as written above just spread out a bit! Plus would make sense that someone on the household was a brick layer and someone else an apprentice?

Sawyer without a doubt

I read it as Apprentice surveyor...

Apprentice surveyor. The s is the same shape as in 'school'

Or Sawyer, if there is such a thing. It would be more likely if he was a poor working class man.

The address looks like (Wm?? William?) Henry Street, Man 6, which might fit with the Ancoats connection.

Sawyer. A sawyer was someone who cut wood. Which would be in keeping with the brick layer.