Family history is not just about tracing our ancestors’ births, marriages and deaths. It is also about understanding our ancestors’ lives. In order to do that, we need to consult a variety of different sources. Occupational sources are particularly important, since work took up much of their time.
A huge amount of information about our ancestors can be discovered by consulting occupational records. Employers kept records of their employees, and trade unions, professional associations, and trade guilds kept records of their members. And bureaucratic attempts to regulate particular trades and professions created mountains of paper. Fortunately for us, a wide range of archives survive, and can be consulted by researchers.
This is the first book to provide a general overview of occupational sources that are available in the UK. Its aim is to tell you where to find information about your ancestors’ occupations.
Contents:Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Life Cycle Occupations
- Scholars
- Apprentices
- The Army
3. Personnel and Business Records
4. Government Regulation
5. Trade Guilds, Professional Associations and Trade Unions
6. Books and Journals
7. Trade and Professional Journals
8. Biographical Dictionaries
9. Trade Directories
10. Parliamentary Papers
11. Indexes
12. Sources for Specific Occupations
Index
