stavesman

English

Etymology

From stave +‎ -s- +‎ -man.

Noun

stavesman (plural stavesmen)

An official bearing a stave or wand.
- 1786 September 20, James Edward Smith, edited by [Pleasance] Smith, Memoir and Correspondence of the Late Sir James Edward Smith, M.D. […], volume I, London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, […], published 1832, page 172:
  The area of the square was crowded with stavesmen and spectators: the candidates rode as usual.
- [1831], R[ichard] M. Muggeridge, A History of the Late Contest for the Representation of the Borough of Bedford, […], London: […] J[ohn] Hatchard & Son, […]; C. B. Merry, […], page 45:
  They were escorted to the Swan Inn, by twenty four stavesmen, headed by Bishop, the London police officer, who had been engaged to assist at the Election in case of need.
- 1862, William Harrison Ainsworth, “The Lord Mayor of London: or, City Life in the Last Century”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume LI, London: Chapman and Hall, […], chapter VII (Of the Lord Mayor’s Procession to Blackfriars; and of the Pageants Exhibited by the City Companies), page 153:
  Then came the marshal of the Merchant Tailors’ Company, bearing the shield of the arms of England, succeeded by four stavesmen of the company, with their badges of office.
- 1878, Daniel Joseph Kirwan, Palace and Hovel: or, Phases of London Life. […], Hartford, Conn., Chicago, Ill.: Columbian Book Company, page 157:
  The criminal was conveyed in a cart to Tyburn, the parson chanting prayer and hymn on the route, and in passing through the quarter of St. Giles, a bowl of ale was always offered to the condemned to drink, the procession of Sheriffs, Stavesmen, and Constables, halting on the way for the purpose.

References

James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Stave IV. 8. c. stavesman”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IX, Part 1 (Si–St), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 870, column 3.