Employment
The Framework Knitters Declaration 1812
The issuing of this declaration by the framework knitters was in response to the machines that as the workers saw it was bringing down wages and producing inferior quality goods. The framework knitters (also called stockingers), launched the Luddite protests in Nottingham in 1811, justifying their actions by referring to the 1663 Charter of the…
Read MoreBritain After Waterloo the British Disillusion Post 1815
What happened to Britain after Waterloo? What did the victory mean to the population and why was there a British disillusion for the following 20 years? Britain seemed to implode as an economic bomb went off under her feet.
Read MoreThe Agricultural Revolution
What was the Agricultural Revolution and would the Industrial Revolution have taken place without it?
Read MoreHistory of Women and Work
The employment of women through the second half of the C19th and beyond has long been hidden in the data. As more data is digitized and becomes easier to evaluate it is apparent that women had always been employed in an incredibly wide range of occupations. Seek out the women and their hidden occupations in your family history
Read MoreUsing Livery Company Records
Did your family work in the City of London? If so, then they may well have been a member of one of the guilds or livery companies
Read MoreTailors and Family History
A plethora of tailors and dressmakers in our own family trees made us stop and think about the role of the tailor in the community and how they went about their everyday work and we will get to that but first Many in our families were tailors in Hampshire between Portsmouth and Hambledon. It just…
Read MoreLord Shaftsbury built on John Pounds Ragged School idea…campaigned to improve the lot of working children
“The future hopes of a country must, under God, be laid in the character and condition of its children;…” Inspired by John Pounds and his own increasing religious conviction Lord Shaftsbury was a leader in social reform for children as the best way to improve society overall…
Read MoreInternal Migration
Internal Migration As family historians, one of our objectives is to try to determine where our ancestors originally came from. Another is to try and make sense of and follow their movements. We all have ‘lost’ ancestors, who seem to disappear or pop up in unexpected places! Understanding the social history helps us to make…
Read MoreNorthampton and the First Cotton Spinning Mill 1742
The first cotton spinning mill was built in Northamptonshire in 1742 but just what effect did mass production of yarns in the textile industry bring to those working in cottage industries, how did they cope?
Read MoreThose Humble Occupations
So many of our ancestors had seemingly humble occupations that it is easy to overlook the important role they played in the life
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