Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

For comparative purposes data from the directories of Alcester for 1792 and 1835
are included in Appendix 25 along with the directory of Redditch for 1835. 25
More
Alcester businesses advertised in 1835 than 1792. Perhaps there were indeed more
businesses, but also the use of provincial directories was becoming more established and
so more business-owners were likely to advertise in 1835 than previously. Appendix 25
only shows the males who advertised, but the number of women-led businesses dropped
slightly from 1792 to 1835. 26
Further research would be needed to ascertain whether this
was significant or not.
The absence of labourers in directories is to be expected, but for some reason no
farmers advertise as such in 1835; some perhaps appear under the gentry, (not included in
the tables in Appendix 25). Hence the primary sector is vastly under-represented. The
growth in tertiary from 1792 to 1835 is to be expected, while the number of heads of
businesses in Alcester’s secondary sector stays constant.
Appendix 25 suggests an increase in businesses amongst tailors and shoemakers.
Maybe such small concerns were more likely to advertise in 1835 than in 1792, but
baptism data above confirms the increase of these trades. Although the percentage of
needlemaking businesses falls in the directories, this hides the hundreds of employees
who worked for those businesses. Other sources suggest that the needle industry
increased its share of the workforce in Period D. 27
25 For commentary on the different nature of the two towns in 1835 see Chapter 7.
26 In addition to the figures shown in Appendix 25 UBD 1792 also included 24 businesses run by women,
and Pigot’s Warwickshire Directory 1835 listed 21 run by women. Such businesswomen are discussed
below in the text, but in order to be consistent with most other sources the tables in Appendix 25 show
male-led businesses only.
27 As revealed by the 1841 census and Alcester baptisms.
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