Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Table 7.8 Occupational structure in specific groupings from the 1841 census in Zone D,
Northern (Needle) District (as % of entries showing occupations in each gender and age
group)
Males
20+
Females
20+
Males
under 20
Females
Under 20
Agriculture (excl. labourers) 8.3 1.8 1.0 0.0
All labourers 28.7 4.0 9.7 0.6
Agricultural labourers 26.1 3.6 8.4 0.6
Non-agricultural labourers 2.6 0.4 1.3 0.0
Extractive 0.9 0.0 0.3 0.0
Building (excl. carpenters) 2.9 0.0 1.0 0.0
Tailors/bodice makers/dressmakers 1.8 4.9 2.1 2.2
Other textile, clothing & paper manufacture 0.4 2.4 0.3 1.3
Shoemakers/cordwainers 3.6 0.2 1.8 0.2
Other leather, horn and tallow 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.0
Carpenters/joiners 2.7 0.0 1.3 0.0
Other woodworkers 2.4 0.0 1.1 0.0
Blacksmiths/farriers 1.9 0.0 1.3 0.0
Metal (excl. needles/hooks/pins) 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0
Needles/hooks/pins 30.3 48.8 47.1 45.1
Transport 1.0 0.3 0.5 0.0
Innkeepers/victuallers 1.2 0.9 0.0 0.0
Other food, retail, service, dealing 6.0 3.8 2.3 0.6
Domestic servants/charwomen/nurses 5.1 30.2 29.3 49.7
Professional 2.2 2.1 0.5 0.4
Total (n) 2828 1017 618 545
Table 7.8 shows the dominance of the needle industry in all gender and age
groups. The figure for adult males in needlemaking and allied trades is similar to that in
baptisms above (Table 7.6), while for the other three gender and age groups almost half
of those with known occupations were in this trade. As expected, domestic service was a
more important source of employment for females and younger males than for adult
males. 25
25 In all age and gender groups a high proportion of the domestic servants were based on farms, so were
probably in reality mainly carrying out farmwork of various kinds.
248