BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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a number of judgements.
Individuals who appear to be direct family
members; husband, wife, and children; were cited by the husband's or in
a few instances, the wife's occupation.
Only the more prominent farmers appear to be included in the
directory.
Tenants, leaseholders, and small freeholders seem to be
omitted from this occupational listing.
Therefore, I have placed in
the above category individuals who appear to be small, independent,
farmers based on what seem to be residential addresses.
While it is likely that many persons whose names appear on the
register held positions as agricultural laborers and servants, others
undoubtedly worked as assistants in a variety of ancillary roles.
Because they could not be positively identified, however, these
individuals were not categorized by occupation.
As for those persons
classified by position, every effort has been made to place them
properly in the appropriate category.
Nevertheless, given the
limitation of the sources' at hand, the statistics provided are useful
principally for the trends indicated, rather than the actual figures
designated.
Melbury Habitation was located in the Western Division of
Dorset, a county cited previously for having the highest number of
Primrose League members in 1888 relative to its 1891 census figures.
By Pelling's account, the inland part of the county in which Melbury
was situated was principally agricultural.
The Dorset laborer was the
most poorly paid in the country, frequently living on large farms,
located on the downs.
Large farming concerns were the rule as only one
quarter of the land was held in estates of less than one thousand