RESEARCHING OCCUPATION, PROFESSIONS, TRADES,

EDUCATION AND HEALTH RECORDS

By Becky Richards

OCCUPATIONS, TRADES AND PROFESSIONS

Why should we use these records?

Use when other records leave us with questions.

Census and civil registration give us information on Occupations.

How can we find our ancestors occupation?

Family Lore. Were stories handed down about Grandpa or Great Grandpa and his occupation?

Obituaries or newspaper articles commemorating some event.

Civil Registration and Census. Check all the census returns and all the children's birth certificates to see if there was a change in occupation's

Wills that bequeath tools or other articles. What he did for a living later in life may not be what he did earlier.

Do you have photographs of him in work clothes?

Where do we look?

Trade and Street Directories

Many more people than now had their own business. The earliest London Directory is 1677. Annual volumes began in 1734.

Check the Family History Library Catalog for directories in London and in other large cities. Check all jurisdictions and use categories such as Occupations, Officials and Employees. Also use key words ans synonyms.

Telephone Directories

The first list of telephone subscribers was published in 1880.

Find a good reference book that lists occupations, where to find the records and what they were.

Some other things to consider.

At the end f the 17^th century, London only had 10% of the population. There were few large firms and factories did not appear until the second half of the 18^th century. Most people worked out of there homes and worked as a family unit.

EDUCATION

We can use education records for the same reason as occupation records.

A brief history of education in England will help us find the records. The first schools were set up by the Catholic Church to train boys for the Priesthood and administrative duties.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Starting in the 17^th century there were public schools. These were independent, private, fee-paying schools mainly in the south of England. They were known as public because they were good enough to draw pupils from far away.

CHARITY AND ENDOWED SCHOOLS

These schools were set up by parishes of by local worthies who, after making their fortune in London, remember their birthplace with a gift for their home village. Often times the local cleric was also the school master.

NON-ANGLICAN SCHOOLS

These are school set up by nonconformist and Jewish groups for training in their own ministries. These became more prevalent after the Act of Toleration in 1689. These schools may have been attended by anyone, not just members of their religion.

VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS

The name comes from the fact that these schools were voluntarily setup by various societies usually of a religious nature.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

There were a great variety of small private schools ranging from mere child-minding facilities to superior private academies. Think about some of the school masters that Charles Dickens wrote about. They were small private schools set up to make a living for the school master or mistress. The1870 Education Act did away with all but the best of these.

There were several types:

Dame Schools. For children 3-7.Run by a local woman. Either a spinster or a widow. This is how she made her living.

Common Day School

ages 5-12. Usually run by a man.

Local Craft School

These were set up to teach such skills as Straw Plaiting, lace making, knitting etc. They took children as young as three. The children added to the family income.

Tutors and governesses

Upper class children may have received their education at home.

Girl's schools

During the 19^th century, there was more emphasis on educating girls.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS

These taught reading so that the children could read the Bible.

MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS

These schools may have started as early as 1662 but are definitely exist in 1741. These schools were for officer cadets, as well as for artillery and engineers.

1833 FACTORY AND COLLIERY SCHOOLS

These schools were started for children working in the factories and mines. They had to receive a basic education for 2hours six days a week.

1844 WORKHOUSE DISTRICT SCHOOLS

In 1723 schools were started in the workhouses to teach the children so they could be apprenticed and “get off the Parish”.

Find a good research book covering schools and where there records are archived. The Family History Library Catalog should have listings of schools. Look at all jurisdictions using various terms for types of schools.

HEALTH

Prior to the dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s by Henry VIII, Sick were cared for by nuns and monks. The London College of Physicians was started in 1518. Well into the18th century things such as Blood letting, purges and emetics were still used.

How did these good doctors learn about the human body? Henry VII allowed the Barber and Surgeons Company to have four executed felons a year to practice on. The lack of bodies led to body snatchers or resurrectionists.

Coroners formerly known as Crowners because they were on the crowns business, were responsible to investigate any suspicious deaths as early as 1194.

NURSE CHILDREN

Those living in crowded cities would sometime send their children to the far healthier countryside for the first three years or so. These were called Nurse Children. This service included wet nursing for babies and dry nursing for an older infant. London parishes often had ties with a certain village in the home counties. Burial records of nurse parishes can provide much information about the child's family. Infant mortality was higher and many of these children who did not live to maturity were buried in the nurse parish. These burial records are usually more informative than others and may include information that was not given at the child's christening.

The first clue to look for is a listing on the census return. Perhaps a family story. There is an index to nurse child burials being prepared by the Society of Genealogists in England. Searching their web site is free. It also connects you to GENUKI. Search by county, parish records, burials for more information. There is an article about illegitimacy its treatments and consequences at: http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1989-0/haller.htm

HOSPITALS

In 1957 hospital records were declared public records and as such could be deposited in county record offices. In practice, these records represent a huge collection and can't be handled by most county record offices. Very few hospitals have an Archivist which makes these records hard to find. Bartholomew's Hospital (Bart's) in London has one of the oldest and complete accumulations of records in England. It was founded in 1123. The majority of its records start in the 1530's. There is a project to create a database of all surviving hospital records. Privacy laws in England cover 100 years.