Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

the mid-eighteenth century, and most other manufacturing industries show a decline, as in
the probate data. The exception is of course the needle trade, which shows a four-fold
increase in Period C before falling back somewhat in Period D. Within the service
sector innkeepers grow while dealers and retailers marrying by licence decrease before a
final rally. The figure for professionals shows growth from 1750 onwards.
Table 4.5 Male occupational structure (primary, secondary and tertiary) from Anglican
baptism registers in Zone A, Alcester 1813-40 (as % of entries showing fathers’
occupations)
1813-40 1813-20 1821-30 1831-40
Primary including labourers * 17.6 20.8 18.0 14.7
Primary without labourers 2.1 2.8 1.3 2.4
Secondary including labourers * 65.9 65.8 62.8 69.0
Secondary without labourers 52.8 50.6 48.7 58.6
Tertiary 16.5 13.3 19.2 16.3
Total baptisms (n) 1692 472 607 613
* Labourers allocated to primary or secondary sectors using information from the 1831 census.
From 1813 we have occupational data in Alcester’s baptism register, a truer
reflection of male occupational structure than probate and marriage licences. In Table
4.5 tertiary is almost as large as primary, while secondary, with some two-thirds of the
workforce, rallies further in the final decade helped by expansion in the needle industry.
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