General Chat

Every month on our YouTube channel, we will have a theme. March will see us concentrating on Jobs & Service through the ages. We already have a few interviews lined up with a Midwife and a Butcher whose shop has been in the family since 1538.

We know that lots of you will have ancestors with interesting occupations, or come from families where trade was passed down from father to son, so now it's your turn to tell us what you want to see. We can research and make an interesting video about any occupation you can think of, so tell us what you would like to know about. From mining, to farming, lawyers and doctors, what should we research next? Reply to this post and let us know.

The Genes Team

Interesting subject to cover GR :-D

2x great Grandfather was a London cabbie, in the mid 1800's. I would like to know more about, how you got to be a cabbie then, I have London cab drivers in the family now.

Hi Team, there are a lot of people on here who have 'Lightermen and Watermen' in their trees, and quite often newbies ask where they can find details, what the difference between the two was etc.

There is a wealth of info out there...but it would maybe make an interesting video...one of the staff could nip down to the river and take some photos of 'Now' to go with pictures of 'Then'. :-D

Lightermen/Watermen often were apprentices to older relatives in the trade, it ran in families, and that can be a very helpful aspect in tracing ancestors...they tended to stay in the same areas ( near the Thames...Brentford, Southwark etc ) so even browsing from one page of the census to the next can throw up relatives ( eg the in laws living a few doors down).

I'd be interested to know more about my g.grandfathers, all dental surgeons from late 1700s until 1880.
Living and working in London among famous people of their day.

I have London Cabbies too. I would be interested in finding out more about their lives.

Then there are the Jacobites. I had one Captain John Shaftoe from Bavington who was shot at Preston for treason in the 1715 uprising. that would interest me. not an occupation per se......or yes I suppose it was, the occupation of a soldier in the Jacobean uprising.

Regular Soldiers from early 1800's to 1950's Based London & India
Teachers in the 1840's Ireland
Policemen in the 1870's Ireland

I look forward to reading about these and all the other suggested occupations.

GinaS

I would like a one on Mariner during the time 1800 on wards as it is very difficult in finding any records on them from Australia as they are never on census as they are alway out at sea. I have found out as soon the ship enter the home port they are out of work unless they sign up on a ship straight away

I'll second Rose's suggestion re:Lightermen & Watermen making an interesting topic.
I have Thames Watermen in my family - g.g.g.grandfather Henry Tagg of Thames Ditton was a Thames Waterman all his working life.
His son, also a Waterman, lived at East Molesey before moving onto Taggs Island to live and work alongside his Tagg cousins, Watermen and Boat Buildbuilders.
I would be very interested to learn more about their occupation.

In a different branch of my family, my g.grandfather (1865-1928) was a bricklayer in London, working his way up to Master Bricklayer.
His father (1826-1900) was also bricklayer, moving to London in 1855 from East Anglia. And his father (1802-1865) had also been a bricklayer.
The work of a bricklayer might be an interesting topic to cover, particularly in London during the time of the industrial revolution.

I HAVE WITH HELP FROM OTHER SEARCHERS TRACED MY FAMILY LINE BACK TO 1545 IN LINCOLNSHIRE .CAN ANYONE ADVISE A ROAD TO SEARCH FURTHER BACK FROM THERE AS RECORD SEEM TO BE SCARCES! HENRYV111 REFORMATION, BLACK DEATH ECTWOULD WELCOME SOME ADVISE MICK BAINES

Mick if you ask on Genealogy Chat you are more likely to get help from people who have experience in going further back. :-)

Mick. It depends where thy lived and what they did.

Mine were close to the city of Worcester, which was a biggish city back in 15th and 14th century. And some of them had civic appointments - like Burgess and Bailiff. And Leet Juror - whatever that was. And a couple of Vicars (or priests in those pre-Reformation days)

A great uncle of mine found quite a few Worcester records for the family back in that period - as far back as 1299. Even a couple of vague refences from 1172 Red Book of Worcester. And there were church windows, plaques etc - some of which can be very early.

tinplate workers - paternal line all tinplate workers -- grandfather was the last superintendent f the Melingriffith Tinplate Works on the outskirts of Cardiff

Farmers and farmland particularly Westmorland , Cumbria , and Yorkshire. I have found lots out through tracing family including living rellies on here and we defintley would love to learn more.

Hoop Makers.

My maternal ancestors came from a long line of Hoop Makers..........i have done lots of research but i am always willing to learn more. :-)

Thanks for your suggestions everyone! Obviously we would love to be able to cover all of these, but we have to pick just one! To make it easier to decide, we have picked 5 of the most popular suggestions, and are now asking you to vote for the video you would like to see. This vote is also available on facebook for those who would like to vote twice!

Famers
Blacksmiths
Miners
Cab Drivers
Watermen

Please reply to this post with your vote - We will be adding the responses from Facebook together with votes here and making the video later this month.

Miners

Miners & Weavers.

Golf club makers (I have one from St Andrews in Scotland)

Farmers

Watermen

Blacksmiths