The country at work
As far as occupations are concerned, totals were made of the numbers of people employed in various types of jobs, the totals relating to counties and districts within counties, as well as to the country as a whole. And the figures were further broken down according to age and gender.
The 1851 printed census abstracts (which are widely available in local libraries and record offices) can be used to create a snapshot of how early Victorians in general earned a living. Of course, the range of occupations they followed was extremely wide, so that a classification is necessary if we are to obtain a reasonably clear picture.
Fortunately, at national and county levels, we can make use of the work undertaken by the historian CH Lee. Using the occupational categories he distinguishes, we can group the labour force into those concerned with agricultural work; those in mining and quarrying; those working in manufacturing; those engaged in building; and those providing services. However, Lee was not able to classify all the occupations neatly into these categories.
It was not clear, for example, into which category those described as 'general labourers' should be placed; indeed, they might have moved between occupational groups, such as farming or building, as opportunity arose. Accordingly, he created an unclassified category.
In the table below, the approximate numbers and proportions of people employed in each of these categories in 1851 are recorded. Additionally, figures derived from the 1901 census have been included, so that the changes that occurred in occupational structure during the Victorian period can be considered.
