1) A person employed to go round the town and make public announcements, attracting attention by ringing a bell.
1358 campanarius civitatis Ebor’, York
1391 le belman portand’ campanam per villam, Scarborough
1435 lego le belman iiijd, Ripon
1497 and the bellman to go about the town after the costom, Hull
1527-8 John Blak, bellman, for a tenement ... iiijs vjd, Hull. The by-name was in use into the mid-fifteenth century at least: 1443 Et Roberto Belman pro proclamacione facta infra civitatem ... 6d, York. Late examples include: 1774 Notification to be given by the bellwoman that unfree persons putting swine in the pastures will be prosecuted, Beverley.