coal merchant

plural coal merchants

1. datedA person who deals in coal, either on a large scale or in a particular locality, where coal was weighed and bagged by the merchant, delivered to households and tipped into a coal bunker.

   2 more examples

   It would seem that the Speedwell was built during the first half of 1830, for the Monmouthshire Merlin of June 12, 1830, said: "Mr. Prothero, one of the most extensive coal merchants in that district, intends hauling his coal to Newport with two engines, preparing for him at the Neath Abbey Iron Works."

   1941 June, “Some Early Welsh-Built Engines”, in Railway Magazine, page 247

   Queen Mary of the Iron Road. By Fred C. Bishop. […] This is the life-story of a boy who was determined to become an engine driver, and who lost no time in realising his ambition. A bold plunge from a clerkship in a coal merchant's office carried Fred Bishop, at the age of 14, into the locomotive department of the London & North Western Railway.

   1947 January and February, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 62