General Chat

A quick survey of a changing social scene in Britain. How many ag labs do you have in your tree [direct ancestors only] and when does the last one disappear?

My own tree has 5 traced men in Gloucestershire (and one woman on the census), last one in 1870s, though his grandson was a ploughboy in his teens. This young lad's father broke the mould by working as a domestic servant in the big house. My Norfolk grandfather was an ag lab for most of his life, but his sons all decamped to London to join the Met in the 1890s. My Cornish great-great-grandfather died in the 1870s, though one of his sons was an ag lab and at the ripe age of 69 married a farmer's daughter with a lot of land. All the other sons found other work away from home. The Warwickshire great-great-grandfather was born, married and died in the same small village and worked as an ag lab until he died in 1875. But as far as I can tell, all of his sons left the village and found other employment. My Essex great-great-grandfather left his labouring father and became a gentleman's servant. It seems that at the beginning of the 19th century all the men in my tree were working in agricultural labour, but by the end the trend was definitely away from the countryside and into the towns. nell

Nell. Quite a lot up to the 1860/1870 mark - then they became spinners; fustian cutters and the like. happy days

I'd say about 80% of the male Longmans had been a Ag. Lab at some point in their lives. From Gloucestershire ooo ah.

nudge

all of them oh sorry have a few miners right up to 1901

In the Suffolk half - virtually every male and those that weren't were shepherds. In the Surrey half - virutally none!

Ag. labourers= 1864 Most have been; coal miners cotton mill workers domestic servants Hawkers Soldiers Railway men Postmen nurses teachers Priests nuns Quite a mixed bunch really Deanna Bev reminded me there....I found a shepherd too.

Hi Helen Just about everyone form the Hertfordshire and Yorkshire Wolds branches although there are a couple of publicans in amongst these. It does seem though as it progresses towards 1901 that some are moving to the bigger towns and cities to work on the railways and docks. For those already living in the cities the occupations are a bit more varied such as coopers, a poulterer, a cordwainer, oil millers, a blacksmith, a slaughterman and a bottle maker to name but a few Jeanette x

Loads of them! Mainly Gloucestershire and Dorset, but also Notts, Hants and Worcestershire - I guess the latest one is my g-grandfather in Wimborne area around late 1800's.

Helen..........too many to count. Sue.............

My Yorkshire family all worked in t'mill. Men and women alike. In Devon, nearly all ag. labs. except a couple of mariners. In London they were gardeners or domestic servants, including family who came to work in London from the country. I have one relative who worked as an ag. lab. at the age of 72. A woman!! Now that was equality. Susan

I've only found one labourer in my tree so far - a shipyard labourer. Most of my ancestors were merchant mariners or shipbuilders on the one side. I've only gone back a few generations on the other side and have found coalminers and an insurance agent, but as their ancestry was in Somerset and Devon, I suspect ag labs will appear at some point. With the state of my gardens at present, I could do with a few ag labs! CB >|<