Tailors - How did they live and work?

[Bev Duckworth]

I have Levitt ancestors who were a familiy of tailors from around 1800 to 1900. They moved aound the country a lot and often seem to share housing with other tailoring people.

I'm intrigued by the extent of their movements and would like to understand more about their lifestyle.
Does anyone know of any info on the industry during the 19th century?

Thanks
Bev

[Dave Francis]

Hi Bev

I would heartily recommend that you get hold of a copy of "Consuming Passions" by Judith Flanders. It's a new book but your library may have a copy by now.

Chapter 2 includes a description of clothing manufacture in precisely the period you are looking at.

Dave

[Bev Duckworth]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for this - I'll check it out. In the past my local library have been pretty good at getting books to order.

Thanks
Bev

[meles]

I have three generations of tailors in my family. They were also all in the local militia (Norfolk). I wonder if they made uniforms.

The last one moved to London - close to some Barracks - but then his son became a fishmonger. 

I have no clue how they lived their lives. Would be interesting to find out.

meles

[Bev Duckworth]

What's intriguing about my tailoring ancestors is how much they moved around.

The female line seems to originate from Durham then moves to Yorkshire and they are a tailoring family. The male line is from Middlesex. The first tailor in this line appears in 1838.
As a couple, complete with the usual impressive array of kids, they then move around various parts of Middlesex, interspersed with a couple of sojourns into Yorkshire (Leeds and Bradford).

Whilst there are obvious family connections in Middlesex and Yorkshire, there still seems a disproportionate amount of movement given the relative difficuty in getting around.

I suppose I'm just wondering whether the extent of their movement was typical of those in their trade (maybe business demanded mobility in some way).
Another thought is whether,with a name like Levitt, there are any Jewish connections and maybe this could explain their movement in some way.

In any case, the prospect of moving, presumably with all your worldly possessions packed in a trunk, and with an army of kids, from one end of the country to the other in the mid 19th century feels like quite a challenge. How did they do that? How long would it have taken? What did they do for food and/or toilet stops en route?? How much would it all have cost them?

So many questions - any material that explains how these people lived their lives would be interesting.

Cheers
Bev

[yn9man]

My ggg paternal grandfather was a tailor (and draper) in Liverpool from the 1820s to 1852 when the family left for America. The name of his shop was "The Sign of the Golden Fleece" and was located on St. James street. One of his sons opened a tailor shop in Massachusetts.

They didn't seem to move around though.

yn9man

[loo]

You're right that Levitt is often a Jewish name - in my limited experience, always.  Tailoring was, and still is, a very common occupation among Jewish families.  I'm guessing yours may have been itinerant because they went where they could get work. 
Any book dealing with the east end of London in the 19th C social history should have some mention of them.
When they shared housing, did the other people have possible Jewish names as well?  It would be common to live with other Jewish families.
Do you know their origins prior to this period?

http://www.art.man.ac.uk/RELTHEOL/JEWISH/EXHIBITION/1tailoring.html

http://www.movinghere.org.uk/stories/story360/story360.htm?identifier=stories/story360/story360.htm

http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/t7.asp

http://www.politics.qmul.ac.uk/staff/kershen/index.html

[Bev Duckworth]

Loo,

Thanks for the links- some interesting stuff.
I haven't noticed a pattern of my Levitts with other Jewish sounding families. But I have noticed that they did seem to congregate amongst other tailors. So I suspect you're right - they went where the work was.
I've no idea where they came from prior to the census entries. But it's on my list to find out ;-)

Thanks again
Bev

[yn9man]

Bev -

You have started an interesting thread. I will periodically check back to see what additional information about the occupation / industry you have discovered.

Again, thanks for starting this interesting thread.

yn9man