dogwhippern.

1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. L2 It were verie good the dogwhipper in Paules would haue a care of this.

a1631 J. Downe Def. Lawfulnesse of Lots in Gaming in Certaine Treat. (1633) 23 I had rather be a Sexten or Dog-whipper in the poorest parish in England, then the great Caliph of Egypt, or Pope of Rome.

1700 E. Ward London Spy II. iii. 13 The Dog-whippers of a Church, whose business it is to watch the Tails of every Proud Bitch and Lascivious Puppy, from committing an indecency.

1721 Audit-bk. Christ's Coll. in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) III. 520 Paid Salmon the Dogwhipper a year ending at Mich. last 1. 0. 0.

1759 L. Sterne Polit. Romance 22 Are you not Sexton and Dog-Whipper, worth Three Pounds a Year?

1821 Examiner 7 Jan. 13/2 Sextons, grave diggers, and dog-whippers.

1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Dog-whipper, a church beadle.

1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Dict. Kentish Dial. Dog-whipper, the beadle of a church, whose duty it was, in former days, to whip the dogs out of church.

1891 J. C. Atkinson 40 Years Moorland Parish (ed. 2) 246 The first dog-whipper of my acquaintance was a little man of about five feet four.

1908 Daily Chron. 8 Dec. 1/6 The ‘dog-whipper's’ seat was below the pulpit, and I remember how that official was the terror of children who stood in the aisle to be catechised during Lent.

1959 Times 1 Apr. 6/3 There is an official post of dog whipper at the Minster, dating back to the days when its holder took charge of dogs belonging to the staff and others attending services.

1997 W. Rollinson Dict. Cumbrian Dial. 46/1 Dog-whippers, men appointed by a parish to clear dogs from churches during the service.

1789 J. Wolcot in Wks. Peter Pindar (1795) II. 64 Forth march'd..the Doctor,..Attended by each dog-whipper, call'd Proctor, And eke the heads and tails of all the Houses.