Page 185 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

address in the 1861 census, three of them have started to exhibit geographical mobility, albeit only to other towns in the same county of Yorkshire. I have not probed in this chapter whether this was a move initiated by their parents or within their own working lives as persons making decisions distinct from their parents. Perhaps a clue can be gained by considering the birthplace of their future lives. In terms of comparing occupations, there is a problem. With the ages of these heads of households spanning 25, 28, 35, 48 and 55 years, they are at very different stages at their working lives. Hence, it is difficult to compare their social status measured by occupation without controlling for age – for example, comparing them all, say, at the age of 30. Anyway, their occupations are stated in the 1861 census as being part of the manual working class.
The next stage is to try to assess the social and geographical mobilities of these families. Rather than comparing with the next generation, in Table 1.4 I have attempted to compare the five pivotal heads of households with the birthplace, residential location and occupations of their grandsons. For residence and occupation data, rather than use, say, the 1911 census when the grandchildren will be very various ages, I have attempted to assess their positions at the same age as their grandparents in the 1861 census. Hence, John of Bradford is aged 55 at the time of the 1861 census and I have tried to consider the positions of his four grandsons similarly at the age of 50 which in the case of John Edward is in 1912, Samuel in 1921, John also in 1921, and George in 1925. This is more difficult than it might sound, for the official census information is currently only available until 1911, so only John Edward can usefully be obtained from this source. There are, of course, other sources, such as marriage and death certificates which might help. Anyway, I have indicated the date and nature of the source used.
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