Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Table 7.20 highlights the different economies of the three settlements and the
economic development of Studley in the nineteenth century. Feckenham, a neighbour of
both Coughton and Studley, does not have occupational information through the
eighteenth century as they do, but does include occupations in burials and baptisms
between 1681 and 1708. In burials (1681-1708) Feckenham has 24 different occupations,
while in baptisms (1702-1706) there are 15.
Table 7.21 Male occupational structure in Feckenham registers
1681-1708 (shown as % of adult males with known occupations)
Burials Baptisms
1681-1708 1702-1706
Primary (with agricultural labourers) * 53.1 45.2
Primary (without labourers) 61.9 57.6
Secondary (with other labourers) * 36.9 52.5
Secondary (without labourers) 28.1 40.1
Tertiary 10.0 2.3
Needlemakers 0.8 4.1
All labourers 26.5 37.2
Total males with known occupations (n) 130 172
* Labourers allocated to primary or secondary according to the 1831 census. 41
Occupations in the burial register begin to be recorded in earnest in April 1681,
perhaps in connection with the Burial in Woollen Act, affidavits for which are recorded
in the register. 42
Although the secondary sector in Feckenham is not as great as in its
neighbours Studley and Coughton at the same time, Table 7.21 suggests that the
secondary sector was on the increase. 43
41 In the 1831 census approximately one third of labourers worked in the secondary sector in Feckenham.
The same ratio of 1:3 was used for this earlier period too. From 1702-1706 occupations were given for
83.5% of fathers in baptisms; the figure for adult male burials 1681-1708 was only 59.6%.
42 The unspecified males include many recorded simply as ‘poor’ with no occupation given. The ‘servant’
may be a servant in husbandry, but is included in tertiary in the table. The ‘tradesman’ may be a factor or
dealer, perhaps in the needle trade, included in tertiary here.
43 Compare with Tables 7.9 (Studley) and 7.13 (Coughton) above.
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