Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Has my farmer had a breakdown?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Has my farmer had a breakdown?

    1861 census

    RG9; Piece: 1020; Folio: 47; Page: 7

    Robert L Walker on 2nd line down.

    What's his occupation look like to everyone else?
    Zoe in London

    Cio che Dio vuole, io voglio ~ What God wills, I will

  • #2
    Yep, you never find a happy farmer in any corner of the world!

    OC

    Comment


    • #3
      Have to agree Zoe - Broken Down Farmer!
      Elaine







      Comment


      • #4
        Poor chap!
        ~ with love from Little Nell~
        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

        Comment


        • #5
          goodness me

          Poor love
          Zoe in London

          Cio che Dio vuole, io voglio ~ What God wills, I will

          Comment


          • #6
            It's a farmer who has been a poor businessman and has ruined his farm, or is struggling to keep it going.

            These are snippets from a search on Google Books.
            "A farmer naturally holds on to the last, because no one is so notoriously unfit
            for any other profession as a broken-down farmer."
            "He either had some fine young gentleman who would not work, or he got some broken-
            down farmer who could not manage his own business"
            Phil
            historyhouse.co.uk
            Essex - family and local history.

            Comment


            • #7
              Why on earth would you tell the enumerator that you are "broken down"?

              Perhaps he was giving his sob story!

              I bet the enumerators had fascinating jobs - think of all the secrets you could unearth! If the enumerator lived in the community for which he collected census returns, discretion must have been required in many instances.
              Elizabeth
              Research Interests:
              England:Purkis, Stilwell, Quintrell, White (Surrey - Guildford), Jeffcoat, Bond, Alexander, Lamb, Newton (Lincolnshire, Stalybridge, London)
              Scotland:Richardson (Banffshire), Wishart (Kincardineshire), Johnston (Kincardineshire)

              Comment


              • #8
                I have seen a few entries where the occupation is "unemployed dressmaker" or something like that - i.e. it says what their occupation would be if they were working, and there are lots that say "retired" whatever, so I suppose this is similar to those - his occupation had been farmer but he didn't have his farm any more.
                KiteRunner

                Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                Comment


                • #9
                  Or is it simply a snide value judgment by the enumerator?

                  OC

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Ooh!

                    Nothing like a snide value judgment, is there! Bit like poor grandson in 1851 whose occupation was given as "illegitimate". Talk about rubbing it in!
                    ~ with love from Little Nell~
                    Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      poor lad must have been desperately trying to come up with a chunk of money for something as he appears to have sold some land the previous year yet he's still down on his luck:

                      From the 16th century Caius College owned other lands in Teversham, called WILLOWES. In 1502 Thomas Willows, a Cambridge glover, had devised his purchased lands, c. 79 a., in Teversham, Fen Ditton, Fulbourn, and Cherry Hinton, to Gonville Hall, for 99 years, to help maintain a fellow and bible clerk. The Teversham portion, which, with other land in Fulbourn and Fen Ditton, became Willowes farm, was reckoned at various dates between 1502 and 1810 to contain, with a house and enclosed pasture, c. 65 a. of open-field land. Some 45 a. allotted in 1815 to the college for its Willowes farm were newly leased to Robert Walker (d. c. 1822), who owned another 98 a. there. In 1860 his grandson R. L. Walker of Teversham sold to Caius College c. 43 a. there, which were added to Willowes's farm, let as 91 a. by 1873. Other college purchases included in 1903 20 a. of Tunwell's, formerly Pomfrey's, farm, named from a family recorded at Teversham since 1686.

                      Teversham - Manors and other estates | British History Online
                      refs:
                      Zoe in London

                      Cio che Dio vuole, io voglio ~ What God wills, I will

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Reminds me of the old joke for speeches. "I asked the organiser how many people would be here tonight, broken down by age and sex. He replied "Most of them."
                        Phil
                        historyhouse.co.uk
                        Essex - family and local history.

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X