Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Table 7.9 shows that at the end of the seventeenth century secondary sector
occupations were already well in evidence in Studley, while the needle trade there
continued to increase its share of the workforce until the mid-eighteenth century. 27
Table 7.10 Male occupational structure in Studley from baptism register 1813-1840
(shown as % of fathers with known occupations)
1813-
1820
1821-
1830
1831-
1840
Primary (with agricultural labourers) * 39.5 32.5 18.4
Primary (without labourers) 7.4 6.2 0.9
Secondary (with other labourers) * 58.1 61.7 73.8
Secondary (without labourers) 47.0 52.6 67.8
Tertiary 2.3 5.8 7.7
Needlemakers & fish-hook makers 27.1 29.5 38.6
All labourers 43.2 35.3 23.5
Total males with known occupations (n) 236 481 544
* Labourers allocated to primary or secondary sectors using information from the 1831 census.
Table 7.10 enables a comparison with the earlier Studley baptism registers (Table
7.9), but also with Tables 7.5 and 7.6, which show information relating to the whole of
this zone at the same period. Compared with Table 7.9 it will be noticed that the primary
sector’s share continued to fall, while the secondary sector and needlemaking in
particular continued to grow. 28
The number of baptism entries for each decade in Tables
7.9 and 7.10 reflects the increase in population.
When compared with the whole of Zone D (Table 7.5), Studley appears to be
fairly typical. Some settlements such as Redditch would be more industrialised, while
the likes of Beoley would be less so. Studley’s percentage for needlemakers is slightly
less than the average for the zone from 1813 to 1830, but greater thereafter.
27 Needlemakers are included in secondary and labourers allocated to secondary or primary as explained
above. They are also shown separately here for comparison.
28 The changes in the needle industry are described in the text later in this chapter.
250