Is this possible, to manufacturing shoes, police officer then become a butcher? 18th cent census?

Question

Ok Im following my grt grt grt grandfather back in the census records

it says occupation at the age of 20 - manufacturing shoes

Then the age of 30 police officer

then at the age of 38 butcher???

they have all the right people so its not a different family

it just seems a bit odd

Answer 1

I'm happy with your explanation that you are certain it is the right family.

VERY simple, and nothing odd. Policeman today have a very difficult and dangerous job. It is completely reasonable that maybe he got fed up with being out on the streets late at night, instead of with his family.  Or, he may have been injured/ wounded, and could not handle the physical end anymore.  Wife may have stepped in and said "if you don't do a job that you can be home at night, I'm going home to mom".  

You are doing great to find a number of records for your documentation.  I don't see anything odd in this.

Answer 2

Hmmm okay, I doubt whether he was 'manufacturing' shoes, but there were jobs to do with the making of shoes which people might have turned their hand to if that was all they could get at the time.

Police- don't know, but here is link to Rootsweb UK police mailing list if you are interested-

http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Oc...

Butcher- pretty sure it's a proper trade and you'd have to do an apprenticeship - but maybe he was a butcher and couldn't find a job and went into the shoe business until he could find something?

If these are from Ancestry census you can post the urls and let us all put out two cents worth in  :-)

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Saying 18th century is different to 1800's. For some reason when you say century it means a hundred years earlier. Sure someone who understands it better can explain it?

Answer 3

Are you sure your getting the right person.  Because obviously some people will have very simular names!

Answer 4

There are no 18th century censuses in the UK, as such, so I assume you mean 19th century UK or some other country.

it is possible he inherited the shoe making trade from his family, decided to become a policeman , didn't like it and then went into the last trade. People did tend to stay in the same trade in the UK, but if this is 1850 to 1900, there was a creation of new job opportunities as the century went by.

It is also possible he made a reasonable amount of money as a Policeman, enough to enable him to buy a share in the butcher's shop, although he may not have been a trained butcher.

There again, he may have a strong chap and was just carrying meat about!

Answer 5

Why not.  People do change jobs and in the 18th century I can't see that it would be any different from to-day but what date in the 1700's are you talking about?  I understand the police force did not come into being until the 19th century

Answer 6

Yes it's quite possible  sweetheart. My gr/gr/gr/ grandad had a different occupation on all the UK census, he started out as a pipe moulder at 14, then at age 24 he was a brewers labourer, at 34 he was an optician, then he was an inn keeper, and then on his death certificate from the USA, his last employment was as a gardener.

I think they took work where they could find it, and often moving from town to town where ever the work was. Often you will notice on a census form that they are *lodging* in a different area to where they would normally live, this is more often than not because of work.

Answer 7

Ermm, Townie 1851 was in the 19th century !   :o)

Look at today, this year is 2008 we are in the 21st century

From 1st. January 1900 to 31st.December 1999 we were in the 20th.century.

from 1st.January 2000 we began the 21st. century

======================================...

It is perfectly feasible that he could have had all of those

jobs, although I doubt he was a shoe "manufacturer".

(They didn't mass produce shoes at that time, mid 1800s)

It would have indicated in the entry if he was employed, working from home or in business on his own account.

I suspect he was probably a shoe mender (shoe mender, general ?) if he had been a cobbler, (a maker and mender of shoes)  or cordwainer (shoe maker) It would have listed him as such.

Had he been a cobbler or cordwainer, he would have certainly made a better living at that,than as a policeman, but a butcher would probably have had a more comfortable life than both. As a shoe mender only, he would have had it hard, and looked for something that payed more - a policeman ! The police had only begun, in London in 1829 so it was quite a new type of job.

The trade of boot and shoe making was often passed on by father to son, if he was a shoe maker, it is most probable that his father was as well, if you can find his father, that might clinch it.

In those days there were not the restrictions to trade that apply today, so it was relatively easy to start almost any kind of business if you had a little money and plenty of resolve.

If he had just 'carried meat about' he'd have been  listed as   Porter,meat.

It is necessary to look at these things as they were then, and not through our eyes of today. Everything was very different then.