We seem to like statistics! lol How far back can you go without........

[Mary from Italy]

No, he's a crumpet maker-over.

[Helen Smith Too]

err.... don't know Gok Wan.

I assume it's the obvious, and I've also got a Besom-maker hiding away somewhere.

Jesse the Sawyer was about 70 when he turned his hand to crumpet-making. It's the thought of this old man sitting there turning out crumpets....wonder if he made anything else
Fortunately, when he died 3 years later, his occupation was recorded as Wood sawyer.

[Vicky the Viking]

Don't have to go far... in all cases these are father/son with the same occupation.
I'm ignoring jobs of only a year or two's duration.

dad - RN telegraphist then policeman
gf - policeman then insurance salesman/collector; steel works foreman
ggf - soldier then farmer then colliery policeman; stonemason; scalemaker; parish clerk then chemical works labourer
gggf - coal miner; gamekeeper then coal miner; tailor then stone mason; master baker then general labourer; scalemaker; scalemaker; shoemaker then parish clerk; Royal Marines then water bailiff

[Pat Hope]

dad - electrician
grandfathers - boilermaker,blacksmith
greatgrandfathers - boilermaker,chemical labourer,fiddle string maker,blacksmith
great great grandfathers - boilermaker,2 farmers,house painter.blacksmith,silk weaver,free overseer exconvict transported from Dublin to Norfolk Island Australia
great great great grandfathers -boilermaker,weaver,painter

[Michael]

If you count both sides, I fall at the first hurdle as my parents are both teachers! Men only, let's see...

Grandfathers - that's a point, I'm not actually sure what my paternal grandfather did. I know he was in the RAF during WW2, but not his peacetime occupation. I remember Dad mentioning that he did quite a bit of carpentry, but I think that was just a hobby - I'll have to ask. Mum's dad was in the Navy during the war, then a farmer afterwards.

1gs - probably another carpenter, not sure there either; coal miner; baker; journalist.

2gs - carpenter; collier; engine fitter (sort of duplicated, in that the same person is my 2g two ways since my paternal grandparents were first cousins); baker; farmer; rigger; watchmaker.

3gs - carpenter; carpenter; dunno, since I haven't tracked him down yet; dunno, since by 1881, the only census on which I've found him, he was retired; collier; coal haulier; mariner; iron moulder; watch and clock maker, gunsmith, gas engineer and fitter (evidently a multitalented individual!); tanner and fellmonger.

4gs upwards - haven't found most of them!

[Elizabeth Herts]

Father - Veterinary Surgeon
Grandfather - Aeronautical Engineer
Great-grandfather - Textile Designer/Artist
Great-great-grandfather -Joiner
Great-great-great-grandfather - Painter, Grainer, Stenciller

Mother - Veterinary Surgeon
Grandfather - Engineer Lieutenant Commander RN
Great-grandfather - Engineer Commander RN
Great-great-grandfather - Inspector of Shipwrights HM Dockyard Portsmouth

Engineers of some description seem to predominate in earlier generations. Now it's vets!

[Little Nell]

another interesting thread.

Father's side - bus conductor - picture framer - fisherman/ag lab. Then there's a long line of fishermen/ag labs back to 1780s which is where I get stuck.

Mother's side - blacksmith/chauffeur/caretaker - manservant - ag lab - then again, way back, ag labs to at least 1760s.

It's an interesting picture of changing occupations. In the beginning there was the ag lab who beget the ag lab etc. But the nearer we get to the 20th century the more likely it is that a chap would have at least 2 different occupations.

[Durham Lady]

That was going to be my next Q, Richard :(

Most number of gens with the same occ!! lol (I can't offer anything, as mine like to chop and change!)

7 generations of miners in my list must be one of the most boring lists:D

[KiteRunner]

There are probably longer strings of labourers or ag labs, but it would be too boring to check for them.

[Michael]

I can manage 6 generations of farmers, probably more but I haven't traced them any further back than that. Ditto the miners (plus various other mining-related occupations - coal haulier, furnace filler etc.) - since they were the ones who were all called Jones, Hughes or Evans, I haven't managed to trace some of them further than four or five generations back, but they were probably mining before that.