Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

As expected, the occupational structure as suggested by probate is very different from
that of Alcester. Despite its different agrarian traditions, on the surface its occupational
structure is similar to that of Zone B. 18
Table 6.2 Males in probate in specific occupational groupings in Zone C, Central (Woodpasture)
Belt, 1660-1858 (as % of males with known occupations)
1660-99 1700-49 1750-99 1800-58
Agriculture (excl. labourers) 68.6 69.8 65.2 61.8
Labourers 6.6 2.8 10.4 6.5
Extractive 1.3 1.0 0.6 0.0
Building (excl. carpenters) 1.3 1.0 0.0 2.2
Tailors/bodice makers 2.2 2.1 1.8 0.4
Other textile, clothing & paper manufacture 3.5 2.4 1.2 3.3
Shoemakers/cordwainers 0.9 2.8 1.8 2.0
Other leather, horn and tallow 2.7 2.3 1.8 0.0
Carpenters/joiners 3.1 1.7 3.0 2.6
Other woodworkers 0.9 0.7 0.0 1.8
Blacksmiths/farriers 2.2 4.5 4.3 4.1
Other metal (excl. needles/hooks/pins) 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.0
Needles/hooks/pins 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.0
Transport 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4
Innkeepers/victuallers 0.4 0.7 1.2 4.1
Other food, retail, service, dealing 2.4 3.1 1.8 5.5
Domestic servants 0.2 0.7 0.6 0.4
Professional 3.5 3.8 4.9 4.9
Total males with known occupations (n) 226 286 164 246
Table 6.2 confirms agriculture’s importance and also shows the decline in the
leather trade. The growth in the professional and retail/service sector is much more
modest than in Zones A and B, though significant growth in food and retail is suggested
in the final period. The textile and clothing grouping shows a decline before a
18 See Chapters 4 and 5 and also the comparison of zones in Chapter 8 and in Appendix 26. The secondary
sector for probate in Zone B reaches a higher figure than in this zone. The periods referred to in discussion
of the data, (as explained in Chapter 2), are as follows: Period A: 1660-1699, Period B: 1700-1749; Period
C: 1750-1799 and Period D: 1800-1840.
192