England Occupational Classifications, By Trades - International Institute

All Kinds of Occupations (cont.)
CHART: 1960 General Register Office—Occupational Classification

Categories Used Here
The present work attempts the impossible—to be comprehensive of the whole of recorded history, whether your ancestor worked in 1050 or 1950! The field is probably more useful than the level as this would increase over time and doesn’t immediately lead to useful records; in other words, it is more useful to know first that he is a shoemaker than that he is a supervisor in a factory. The classification used here is shown in the chart below, but placement in a particular category is often arbitrary as so much cross-over occurs, for example a patten is made of iron, wood and leather but it is classified here under Manufacture - Animal Products - Boot and Shoe Making as I feel that’s where the student will look first!

Occupational Classification Used
CHART: 

Occupational Classification Used

Multiple Occupations
For our ancestors, having more than one job during a lifetime, or at once, was quite normal. The researcher should therefore be prepared for an ancestor to have different trades especially at different seasons, on moving to a different place or with advancing age. Tom Wood (Grandfather Pooh-bah in Genealogical Miscellany. Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #3, page 10-11, 2001) has pondered on the necessity of moonlighting, that is having both a day and a night job in order to survive. He suggests that those who held more than one day job be called sunlighters.

He quotes John Thomas of Ystrad, Carmarthenshire who in the 1891 census records nine clerical occupations:


 * Town Clerk
 * Clerk to the Justices
 * Vestry Clerk
 * Vaccination Officer
 * Clerk to the Main Roads Committee
 * Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages
 * Tithe and Rent Receiver
 * Clerk to the Burial Board, and
 * County Court Clerk.

Now consider the assortment carried out by James Bazley of Cambridge:


 * Glover
 * Undertaker,
 * Hosier
 * Orange Merchant and
 * Parchment Maker

Enos Thomson of Scalby, Yorkshire was noted by Dutton as combining the trades of:


 * Sexton and Undertaker
 * Joiner and Builder
 * Painter and Grainer
 * Whitewasher and Paperhanger
 * Plumber and Glazier
 * Whitesmith
 * Locksmith
 * Gasfitter
 * Bellhanger
 * Carver, Gilder and Pictureframe Maker.

Then there was John Cook of Brentwood, Essex circa 1637 (Cressy) who was:


 * Schoolmaster
 * Ale House Keeper
 * Tailor
 * Gardener and Under-bailiff

And he also found time to ‘keep company’ with two sisters and their mother!

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online courses English: Occupation Records-Professions and Trades and English: Occupations-Military and Services offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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