W&B in Occupation

[JVH]

In the 1881 UK Census for the Gillingham, Norfolk area, I have a 54-year old woman who is transcribed as a "W&B Machine Woman".  This appears to be incorrect.  She has originally been entered on the original document as " Woman" (first word indecipherable).  Then "wash" (not "mach") has been written above that, and "W&B" has been written before that.  Does anyone know what "W&B" stands for?  I'm guessing the "W" is "wash"?  I've added a blowup of the entry.

John

[stanmapstone]

Took see the census, it is Ruth Webb, 54, RG11; Piece: 1962; Folio: 56; Page: 3

Stan

[JVH]

Took see the census, it is Ruth Webb, 54, RG11; Piece: 1962; Folio: 56; Page: 3

Stan

Thanks, Stan, I know who the person is, I just want to try to decipher her occupation.

John

[stanmapstone]

Other people would not know where to look to see the original which does help in cases like this 
For instance to compare writing.
Stan

[millymcb]

Looks like the "wash" was written by the original enumerator as the W is the same as for other entries on the page eg in Webb.

But the W&B was written by someone else - possibly the census officials - when they processed it. If so - then perhaps the letters W&B stand for "washing and bathing" which was occupation code 063 in "Domestic Service" in the 1881 Census.

See here for interesting paper on the clasifications.
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~matthew/Papers/Woollard_1881Classifications_no%20illustration.pdf

If you look further down the page at the bottom they have also added "indoor" to one of the entries for a farm labourer... and a couple of pages later they have added "dom" before "maid".


Milly

[JVH]

Looks like the "wash" was written by the original enumerator as the W is the same as for other entries on the page eg in Webb.

But the W&B was written by someone else - possibly the census officials - when they processed it. If so - then perhaps the letters W&B stand for "washing and bathing" which was occupation code 063 in "Domestic Service" in the 1881 Census.

Thanks Milly, I did notice the difference in the "W" between the entries, but didn't know the codes were used before the 1911 census.  The referenced document will be very useful.  And I note that 062 is for a charwoman, which was an earlier occupation for this woman, so I suspect you are right.

Thanks for the help!

John

[stanmapstone]

Occupations 1881, Classified Index
II Domestic Class, Other Services, Order 4 Sub-order 2, 62 Washing and Bathing Service.  http://www.rootschat.com/links/0t48/
Charwoman is 61

Stan

[millymcb]

No idea what the word before woman is though

Could it be a poorly written Char ?

Or Hir ? (is in Hire woman - not that I have heard of such a thing)

Looking at other words it looks like it begins with N though

Milly

[millymcb]

Occupations 1881, Classified Index
II Domestic Class, Other Services, Order 4 Sub-order 2, 62 Washing and Bathing Service.  http://www.rootschat.com/links/0t48/
Charwoman is 61

Stan

Comparing Stans's link to the one I gave you - it appears the codes are slightly different. I'd go with Stan's as it is the original instructions.  (Just goes to show - you need the original sources!)

Milly