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Normal for a shingler to have a servant?

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  • Normal for a shingler to have a servant?

    In the 1871 census, my 2x great-grandfather is listed as a shingler, and has a general servant in his household. I find this susprising since I didn't think a shingler was such a prestigious job and my family is quite consistently working class. Does anyone know how common it was to have a servant in those days? Would he have been listed differently if, for example, he was the owner of the company rather than a labourer?

    TIA!
    Zoe

  • #2
    Even working class had servants, Zoe.

    The servants were cheap and plentiful.......I have one of my family who is a stone mason with two servants. they certainly weren'y wealthy in the scheme of things.

    It's families like OH's who have 15 servants who obviously had money.

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    • #3
      Thanks very much for the information, Libby. I knew it was far more common than today to have servants, but I didn't realize it was that common!

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      • #4
        Are you sure the 'servant' is not a relative Zoe. Or even just a lodger. In my tree l have discovered a lot of servants to be related in some way;)
        Pam

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        • #5
          It's certainly a possibility but as yet there is nobody in my family tree with the same surname. I've found her in the previous census so have names for her parents, but her mother's first name and age do not fit in with any women in my tree for whom I haven't yet found marriages.

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          • #6
            Great aunty was a maid of all work at a farmers, she was 14 and they were not particularly well off, this was about 1914.

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            • #7
              Thanks, Barbara!

              Have researched the marriages of her brother and sister and no family matches there, either... I think if there is a family link it's probably quite obscure.

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              • #8
                Sometimes servant means they worked in the family business, rather than in the family home.

                For example, a maid of all work in a working class household would be described as "domestic servant".

                If he was a shingler, her may have employed a servant to work in the shingling business - Not an apprentice as such, so a servant.

                If the person you are talking about is female, and a domestic servant in the household, nine times out of ten they are a relative. A domestic servant's wages were very low - about £10 a year, so just about anyone in regular work could afford a servant.

                OC

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                • #9
                  Thanks, OC. I think this might be one of those links that comes clear several months down the line. I still have a couple of siblings of my 2x great grandfather for whom I can't find marriages - there might be a link there - and in addition I only have a possible first name and no last name for his mother (he is the relative I posted about previously, who was born in either France or Belgium depending on which census you believe).

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