Agreed, I always thought that Bockers were Estate Staff. It was probably a name unique to Horsham, since according to "A Book of Housey Slang" we haveJ.R. wrote: In my day, the Bockers were the Estate Workers - Farm Workers - General Maintenance etc. I still remember the time, late 1950's when one decided to end his life by hanging himself in the tube !.
So, are we about to lose the terms, Crug, Flab, Kiff and all the other lovely evocative words that resound of 'Housey' ?
Another blow against the true ethos of CH ?
Crug (1) a Blue (2) 1780 a piece of Bread
Flab 1880 Butter
Kiff 1890 At various times meant Tea, Coffee and cocoa, although in my time it was only Tea.
Swab 1860 A monitor's fag
Undated but I found interesting is
Bluebottle , which I had always related to the Goons.However, it states that the boys and girls at Hertford were known mutually as Bluebottles and Grasshoppers. Similarly the boys in London and at Hertford called each other respectively Jackdaws and Hedgehogs.
All of these words come from when CH was in London, and whilst I accept that language moves on, it would be a shame to lose these unique words which are probably our only informal link to CH in London.