wharfinger

noun

1. (historical)The manager or owner of a wharf (“artificial landing place for ships on a riverbank or shore”).

   “Near-synonym: dockmaster”

   “If fine goods or the like are put into a cloſe Lighter and to be conveyed from the Ship to the Key, it is uſual there that the Maſter ſends a Competent number of his Marriners to look to the Merchandize, if then any of the goods are loſt or imbezled, the Maſter is reſponſible and not the VVharfinger; but if ſuch goods are to be ſent aboard a Ship, there the VVharfinger at his peril muſt take care the ſame be preſerved.”

   “My conclusions are, that, on the true understanding of the case of Fletcher v. Rylands, the Civil Judge's decree is right. That, if otherwise, the imposing of such a duty upon a landowner is forbidden by precisely the same principles as have forbidden the imposition upon Wharfingers, Railway Companies and Shipowners.”

   “The trade of the Port of London, at any rate in regard to sea-going vessels, tended down the river, and an opening span became less and less necessary every year; and as that need became less, the compensation to wharfingers and others would also become less. Concurrently the need of the railways was growing, and, sooner or later, that need would overcome the opposition of the wharfingers”

2. (England, broadly)The manager of a wharf along a railway line, that is, a place used for loading and unloading goods on to trains.

   “A female wharfinger—a grade of staff peculiar to the Wenford Mineral Line—lives in an adjacent house.”