Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Before the censuses the many domestic servants are, as expected, largely absent
from the records. The 1831 census shows that in reality male servants were very thin on
the ground, with only eight male servants over 20 and one under 20. By contrast, 158
female servants appear in the 1831 census, comprising 6.7% of all females. 214
Males described as ‘gentlemen’, always well-represented in probate data, increase
substantially over the study period. 215
The range of people described by the subjective
descriptors ‘gentleman’ and ‘esquire’ may be exemplified by two men in Period B, whose
probate inventories ranged from a mere £4 to over a thousand. 216
Despite their interest in
a broader national economy, this group’s role in greasing the wheels of local finance
occasionally comes to light. 217
Travelling folk from this zone or elsewhere played an important role in the local
economy, but they rarely receive a mention. The 1841 census records people sleeping in
a barn in Pebworth, while Bidford’s enumerator listed boatmen living on their boats and
drovers passing through.
Summary for the Southern (Champion) Country
In the late Stuart period farming was mixed, but corn was probably the zone’s
most lucrative farming export. Consequently, this sub-district may have suffered more
than others from the fall of corn prices, perhaps leading to declining wealth and out-
214 Table 5.8 (1841 census) shows that of those whose occupations are listed some 5.8% of adult males
were domestic servants, while the figure for adult females was 48%; for males under 20 it was 47.8% and
for females under 20 it was 97.1%.
215 Gentlemen and esquires are not included in the statistics in tables above. As a percentage of males, the
figures for gentlemen in probate are as follows: Period A: 5.8%, Period B: 9.6%, Period C: 12.3% and
Period D: 21.5%.
216 WoRO, probate of Daniel Herbert, Welford, gentleman, 1737, £4-12-2 and of John Stanford, Salford
Priors, esquire, 1712, £1167-0-0.
217 For example, GlosRO, probate of Robert Johnsons, Long Marston, labourer, 1771, shows that he
borrowed £20 from Mr Haines of the same village and was paying 18s. per annum interest. The lender was
probably John Haines, gentleman, (GlosRO, probate of John Haines, Long Marston, gentleman, 1774.)
185