Who has the worst occupation?

[pete edwards]

Hi Fred,

Daft as it seems in them days I doubt there would have been many worse jobs then the humble ag/lab,  I had never given it a thought before until I read an article in a family history magazine a while back,  When you think how much land one of these modern tractors can turn over in a day,

Pete,

[stockman fred]

I think some jobs are still tough like  Veggie picking, no-one here wants to do it so they have to recruit overseas workers.
General farm work though is a doddle compared to even fairly recent times- in the 70s, Dad took on 10 or 15 part-timers all summer to get the hay in, whereas now it's a one man job with a big baler. It does lead to isolation and emotional problems though in remoter areas.
If you read what Cobbett saw when he was riding round the South in the early 19th century, the conditions for the ag-labs were appalling- filthy mud cottages with families sleeping in straw on the floor. They were all at the mercy of the farmers who could halve their wages if it suited them.
Fred

[drodgers34]

When tracking down my ancestors I found that my ggggm had given birth the year before her marriage to my ggggf.  Alongside the birth entry was her name and 'Town Prostitute' - she lived to the age of 81.

Ian

Not just an ordinary prostitute - she had a title !

[mangomania]

She did indeed have a title.

He was a bit different that vicar.  At the start of his entries he wrote a long spiel about how he had wrangled to get control of the register from the Parish Clerk and ended it with the phrase 'So let the recording for posterity begin'

It's as if he knew that many years later we'd be poring over his words.

Ian

[mahees]

My gggm's occupation was recorded as 'pauper' when she was 4 months old, with a start like that she was never going to become a professor...
Erin

[Ninatoo]

Hi Krissy,

I have a scavenger too, but it means 1) Street cleaner 2) Scavenger - also a child employed in a spinning mill to collect loose cotton lying about the floor under machinery.

http://genealogy.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Frmhh.co.uk%2Foccup.html

I also thought it was a bit of a sad occupation when I first read it.

Hope this helps.

Nina

[KathMc]

My gg grandfather, just before he left England, worked as an attendant at an insane asylum in Staffordshire. I think how awful that must have been.

Kath

[stockman fred]

Ninatoo wrote:
Scavenger - also a child employed in a spinning mill to collect loose cotton lying about the floor under machinery.
They showed this job on the Tony Robinson programme the other day and it was incredibly dangerous. The factories were worked non-stop so the children had to get under the machines amongst the unguarded belts and gears to retrieve a few pennies worth of cotton while everything was still running.
Fred

[bearkat]

My gggm's occupation was recorded as 'pauper' when she was 4 months old, with a start like that she was never going to become a professor...
Erin

And the rich made sure it stayed that way!