| Many of the basic sources for family history such as civil registration, censuses, parish registers and wills will mention the occupations followed by your ancestors. This course looks first at the many ways of finding out what they did, then mentions generally useful sources. This is followed by a study of the classification of occupations. Sections on training & qualification in trades and professions allow us to profitably use the records generated therein. An understanding of the role of the various occupational associations is the next topic.
The bulk of the text consists of nine main groups of trades and professions. These are agriculture, building, commercial services, domestic services, fishing and whaling, manufacture, merchants and retailers, mining and quarrying, and professional activities. For each category there is an introduction to the available printed and manuscript sources regarding the nature of the various professions and trades, and then some indication of what records survive on the actual men and women engaged therein.
In a course of this size these descriptions have to be short but they endeavour to cover the main points of significance for the genealogist/family historian. Such brevity invites superficiality and glibness; however, it is offset by the inclusion of a significant body of reference material which should lead the student to more detailed information about each trade and profession.
Course Content
Module 1
Introduction
Finding Out What They Did
• The Sources
Directories
• Trade & Street Directories
• Telephone Directories
Dictionaries of Biography
All Kinds of Occupations
• Country Folk & Townspeople
• Bibliographies of Occupations
• Dictionaries of Occupations
• How Occupations Have Been Classified
• Multiple Occupations
Module 2
Training & Qualification
The Apprenticeship System
• Trade Apprentices
• Finding Trade Indentures & Apprenticeships
Poor & Charity Apprentices
• Poor Apprentice Indentures
• Charity Apprentice Indentures
Licences to Practice
• Archbishops' & Bishops' Licences
• Quarter Sessions Licences
Schools & Universities
Module 3
Associations
Guilds & Freemen
• Freemen, Burgesses & Citizens
• How To Discover The Company
Livery Companies of the City of London
• History of Livery Companies
• Activities of Livery Companies
• Membership of Livery Companies
• Records of Livery Companies
• Freedom of the City of London
Guilds Outside London
• Town & City Guilds
• Town & City Freemen
Professional Associations
• Trade Unions
On The Job
Children and Women at Work
• Opportunities for Women
Module 4
Agriculture
Agricultural Labourers
Animal Husbandry
Crop Husbandry
Land & Machinery
Gardeners & Nurserymen
Building
Buildings
Building Trades
Other Building Projects
Module 5
Commercial Service
Auctioning
Cleaning Services
General Labourers
Domestic Service
Economic Contribution of Women
Fishing & Whaling
Module 6
Manufacturing
Animal Products
Carts, Coaches, Wagons & Wheels
Chemicals, Gas & Fuel
Clocks, Watches, Eyeglasses & Jewellery
Clothing & Needlecraft
Earthenware
Food & Drink
Instruments & Toys
Machinery, Guns & Munitions
Metals
Paper, Printing & Bookbinding
Ship & Boat Building
Textiles
Tools & Sports Equipment
Wood & Plant Products
Module 7
Merchants & Retailers
Merchants
Retailers
Lodging, Eating & Coffee Houses
Mining & Quarrying
Mining
Module 8
Professional Occupations
Administration & Civil Servants
Art & Amusement
Education
Law
Medicine
Religion
Science & Engineering
Sports
Conclusion
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