The Genealogical Humdrum & Ordinary suits

For me Genealogical research fascinates by the very nature of it being hum drum and ordinary. Trying to learn why some died at ridiculously early ages or survived childhood only to end their days as Paupers in the Workhouse or Asylum. Discovering work-a-day occupations varying from tillers of the soil –through hewers of coal –and toilers in factories and sundry artisan trades (many long extinct). I love all of this.

In find ancestors’ who via apprenticeships became Journeymen, then Masters of their trades. Watching Census by Census as a few individuals climbed the precarious ladder of life perhaps becoming perhaps Yeomen; Land and Factory owners, or indeed Publicans. Finding the odd professional person like an Apothecary or Doctor and occasions were daughters married ‘well’!” Not forgetting the ‘black-sheep’ who ended up serving time in prison or being transported to the Colonies. Such a wonderful array of people makes Genealogy all worthwhile.

I tend to stay within the parameters of the 18th -20th (emphasis 19th) Century but am quite happy to go back further where the lead is good and the ancestor is direct line. I really do not want to know if the uncle of a wife’s cousin once danced with the Prince of Wales. In short I do not seek, nor indeed expect to find, a link to Nobility. If it happens, it happens, but I will lose no sleep if it stays common and humdrum as I surely expect it will.

Genealogical books -and Family History Society Handbooks in particular- often disappoint as I find them littered with articles about how someone traced their ancestry to the third illegitimate child of King Englebert IV or proudly acclaim they relate to the third Sir Posstlewaites’ 4th cousin, thrice removed. That seems to be the whole raison d’être for their research and the further back in time they go, the more excited they become. I admit to being interested in the historical background they reveal but dwelling on who was and wasn’t the bastard son of the 3rd Duke of Thingy leaves me cold. Sorry!

But at the risk of being told I am of liquorice extraction – I admit it takes all sorts!

 

I hate liquorice allsorts but I am with Bob on this one. I'm going to put together a "think piece" for my own edification on the role of the rural washerwoman, and sometimes more grandly "laundress mistress". Trolling around the Garboldisham area through the censuses in search of lost cousins this occupation for women of all ages caught my eye. Widowed women particularly took on this job and I saw it grow in popularity and then decline. I was surprised to find how many laundresses a village might have and I wonder if they cooperated on the task of collecting firewood(up to 200lb) or water (20 gallons per load). I've read that after the invention of the mangle c 1820 several enterprising women managed to purchase one and charge fellow villagers (and townspeople I presume) to wring their dripping laundry. I won't even mention if any that turn out to be on my family tree "washed" for the local lord of the manor!!!
You never know where your wanderings will lead. The phrase "a suitable job for a woman" just came to mind...made me think of a favourite author ,Val McDermid... sent me to her website.... found she has a new book... so now it's off to the library (virtually) to put it on hold.!!! Thanks Bob

 

A large number of my Norfolk/Suffok ancestresses were washerwomen in the 19c censuses, and it eventually clicked with me that their customers were the guesthouses in Great Yarmouth etc.. I HAD been wondering whose washing they were taking in, but them it all made sense.

 

Were there guest houses in the 19th century? I thought holiday resorts were a lot later than that, but may be wrong. All my Great Yarmouth ancestors were either fishermen, worked in the fish factory or were lamplighters...later to become gas men.

 

The big boom in holidays on the Norfolk coast started towards the end of the 19c, possibly as late as the 1890s. However the 'Poppyland Publishing' site says 'Yarmouth began to develop as a seaside resort in the early 1800s', following Scarborough and Brighton.

 

I love the upgrading of a Washerwoman to a Laundry Mistress! On an even less grand scale I recall Dad telling me Gran (his Mom) resorted to taking in washing to make ends meet after loosing Granddad shortly after the end of the first world war (he suffered lung damage because of gassing in the trenches). I asked who could afford to pay to have their washing done (recalling the general poverty existing at the time) and he said "there were a few Pubs and big houses -including Lodging Houses - in the area". "It was my job or one of my brothers' to collect or deliver and if we were lucky we got a penny for our troubles" That's the real stuff of genealogy!

 

In tracing more of my Norfolk/Suffolk roots and landing in speculative territory I found another instance of the "real stuff of genealogy" I traced a single female born about 1840 through various censuses and found that she had been in declining health and living with her sisters' families. In 1891 she is listed as having "private means", in 1901 she is being supported by her family and in 1911 according to the census she is the recipient of the old age pension first paid in 1909. I have read that many people eligible for the pension and meeting the criterion "being of good character" welcomed the fact that they went to visit the post office to receive their money rather than having the funds administered by parish.

Here's a quote from Pension Archive Trust site ... "The Pensions Act of 1908 saw the Government providing a modest 5s pension (below subsistence, around £14 in today’s money) to those over 70s who passed a means test. It was paid for with government revenue rather that the contributions of the pensioner. Pat Thane provides an account of the impact of this pension on recipients: ‘Grateful pensioners were said to have offered flowers, apples, even rashers of bacon to the postmasters and mistresses who handed them their first pension’. The rate of the state pension was increased to 10s in 1919 - £10 in today's money."

It hasn't helped me establish with any certainty whether her family is related to the one person of that surname who first surfaces marrying one of my 5 x great grandfathers in 1796 but fascinating anyway.

 

My online Guru 'Prices and Inflation Calculator' - using annual RPI inflation - tells me 5s in 1908 (the single pension) would be worth £25.48 in today's money (well 2012 to be precise) and 10s in 1919 only £21.85, so OUCH most certainly. And if it had stayed at 5s only £10.92!

So how about the intervening years of 1909-1918 on a 5s pension? Well today's equivalents would show little change up to 1914 (£24.42) - then the war years - £18.42 by 1916 down to £12.00 by 1918. So no wonder the increase to 10s was made in 1919 and still not equating to its 1908 equivalent.

It would be interesting to see similar calculations being made before and after the second world war! I do not have a comparable single state pension to go on but by comparison alone £1 in 1938 would be equivalent to £56.93 and by 1945 reduce down to £36.53. To keep pace with pre-war values the 1938 £1 would have to rise to at least £1.11s (equivalent £56.62) by 1945.

I intended giving other statistics but it just blew my mind so I think I will stop there and just say thank goodness for having state pensions index linked; well for now at least.