Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Throughout the study period the under-recording of women and children’s work
seriously distorts the economic picture. People pursuing more than one occupation also
cause difficulties with analysis. Although multiple occupations have been discussed as
appropriate in earlier chapters, some thoughts on this theme are brought together here.
Dual or multiple occupations
The database, allowing the tracking of individuals in different sources, showed that
many people pursued more than one occupation. Certain descriptors are source-related.
For example, many people are referred to as ‘gentleman’ in legal documents, when they are
in fact attorneys, tanners or mercers, and bankruptcy reports in newspapers often add
‘dealer and chapman’ after the specific occupational reference. 11
The occurrence of multiple occupations shows diversity and flexibility by
individuals and communities. Sometimes historians refer to by-employments or secondary
occupations, but at the level of the individual it is often difficult to know which was the
main occupation and which subsidiary. 12
Some alternative occupations were seasonal, but
others were interspersed according to demand, whim or weather. Sometimes alternative
occupations used common skills, for example, needlemakers could turn their hand to fishhook
making. In other cases location was important, so the pub, smithy or tailor’s shop
could also serve the community as a general store. In such cases and others the
involvement of the family in one of the occupations was commonplace. Other occupations
such as fiddler, parish-clerk and constable, although not the main earners, were often seen
11 For example, Berrow’s Worcester Journal 3 Feb. 1791, regarding the bankruptcy of Richard Hind,
Alcester, grocer, baker, dealer and chapman.
12 The main occupation may be the one on which more time was spent or the one which brought in most
income, not necessarily the same thing.
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