FOCUS ON
20th-Century Employment Records
Else Churchill looks at what business records are available to find out more about where your forebears worked
Knowing what your ancestors did in their lives provides valuable colour and insight for your family history. Establishing where they worked, and with whom, might provide clues to follow up, to establish their connections and associations and in some cases even suggest why they moved.
The 1921 census of England and Wales, which was published on Findmypast in January (findmypast.co.uk/1921-census), provides more of an opportunity to learn about a person’s employment than any previous census. For the first time our relations were asked not only the general nature of their trade, profession or occupation, but also who they worked for and their place of work. The website’s ‘Advanced search’ pages also allow you to see who else worked there.
In large industries such as coal mining and railways, knowing the individual company your ancestor worked for prior to the big amalgamations and postwar nationalisation will be the first step to identifying the pit or depot where they worked and to go on to see what, if any, records there might be at The National Archives in Kew (TNA), or locally.
For example, Ancestry has a large number of railway employment records in its collection ‘UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833–1956’ (ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1728).
TOP TIP!
Don’t neglect oral history. You may be able to find a digitised interview that sheds light on an ancestor’s trade or employment via a local archive’s online catalogue.
The 1921 census highlights the growing opportunities for women in the workplace. More women were working in nursing and as doctors, and in universities and teaching. We also see women undertaking o ce work. For example, Ivy Lilly Austin was a 21-year-old typist employed by the Secretaries Branch of the Inland Revenue Department (Temporary) at Somerset House.
The burgeoning trade-union movement was not just for coal miners and railway workers. Ivy might have belonged to the Association of Women’s Clerks and Secretaries, or the National Association of Women Civil Servants. Records from both can be found at the Women’s Library (lse.ac.uk/library/collection-highlights/thewomens-library). Some union records from the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University (warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc) can also be accessed on Findmypast.
Any teachers recorded in the 1921 census might have registered with the Teachers’ Registration Council whose 1914–1948 registers, online at Findmypast and the Society of Genealogists’ (SOG’s) site sog.org.uk, show where and when a teacher qualified and the schools they taught in. The Girls School Yearbook is the reference book for the Association of Headmistresses which also has records at Warwick University. Professional women may be listed in The Englishwoman’s Yearbook. The SOG has early editions of both of these directories.
The Retail Trade
The 1920s saw the popularity of still-famous department stores and retail emporiums. The SOG’s temporary o ce in Holloway Road in North London was once the Jones Brothers department store, and in 1921 many of its 70 employees were boarders living above the store. Jones Brothers was one of the firms that became part of the John Lewis Partnership, which has an archive in Cookham, Berkshire (johnlewispartnership.co.uk/about/who-we-are/heritagecentre.html). It holds material relating to the activities of the store and its various branches, including annual reports, minutes, personal papers, and photographs of buildings and staff. There is an online catalogue and exhibitions, and you may find staff magazines and perhaps even staff employment and appointment registers.
Marks & Spencer has its own extensive archive in Leeds where the firm has its historic roots, and its website marksintime.marksandspencer.com/home celebrates over 135 years of its history. The website and Twitter feed at twitter.com/mandsheritage often feature photographs of the firm’s staff and branches.
The online catalogue of the Sainsbury Archive at the Museum of London Docklands includes staff registers and other records such as accident books, productivity records and diaries back to the company’s creation in 1869: sainsburyarchive.org.uk/catalogue/search/saemp-employees. The registers can show the name and address of the employee; when they were engaged; marital status; if references were taken (often from former employers); the branches where they worked or were transferred; and the date and reason for leaving employment. Remarks relating to the latter can be quite frank and may refer to character flaws or dishonesty.
Also many companies commemorated employees who were killed in the world wars, and it’s common to see plaques and memorials on stations or other buildings.
For example, the website of the Railway Heritage Trust has information on the 20,000–30,000 railwaymen who died and are honoured in a series of war memorials (railwayheritagetrust.co.uk/therht-and-war-memorials). Men who returned from the First World War might return to their former employment, often at the expense of women who had kept the jobs going during the war.
Directories
Businesses large and small will be listed in local trade directories which became increasingly comprehensive throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Since most heads of household are listed, these modern directories act as census substitutes for the post-1921 period when there is no useful census for England and Wales. Not only will the directory confirm a company’s address and location, but there will often be advertisements.
The website Special Collections Online from the University of Leicester has more than 200 directories freely available for the first two decades of the 20th century: specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4. These are also in Ancestry’s collection ‘UK, City and County Directories, 1766–1946’.Few 20th-century directories after the 1940s are online, but they can usually be found in local libraries and archives. One of the largest collections of local directories for this period is in the SOG’s library, and they are all listed at sog.org.uk/ourcollections/library-catalogue.
Maps
It’s helpful to locate the address of an ancestor’s employer on contemporary maps including large-scale Ordnance Survey maps made freely available online by the National Library of Scotland (NSL; maps.nls.uk/os). You should also look at maps made for specific purposes, such as Goad’s fire-insurance maps held by the British Library and in local archives.
These maps were made for most important towns and cities in the British Isles, and are invaluable sources of detailed information about urban areas and town centres. Many are now online including a Scottish collection at maps.nls.uk/towns/goad and a large UK selection at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Goad_fire_insurance_ maps_of_the_UK. These date from the late 19th century to the 1930s, and feature in an online exhibition from the British Library showing how useful they are: bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/firemaps/fireinsurancemaps.html. For example, Kelly’s 1910 Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex includes the Wells and Perry timber, cement and slate merchant in Chelmsford and you can see their sawmills on the Goad map opposite.
Newspapers
Companies and their staff are often named in national and local newspapers, so the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) is a great place to search for your ancestors; the same collection is available to ‘Pro’ subscribers to Findmypast.
There may be reports of events relating to the company, advertisements, or recruitment or retirement notices. Occupations often had their own trade press with similar reports and advertisements. The creation and dissolving of business partnerships and other offcial notices featured in the newspaper of record the Gazette, including bankruptcies and creditor arrangements. Its free digital archive is at thegazette.co.uk.
DID YOU KNOW?
The recently released 1921 census reveals that typing was a popular occupation for our female ancestors. There were roughly 44,000 typists, including Ivy (see page 64).
Local Repositories
Records relating to local businesses will usually be in local archives. TNA’s catalogue (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk) includes many entries for local archives and using the advanced search you can search for records created by businesses and institutions. You can also find specialist archives relating to large companies or institutions: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/findan-archive.
For researching Scottish ancestors, check out the Business Archives Council of Scotland (busarchscot.org.uk) for advice. The largest collection is held by the University of Glasgow in the Scottish Business Archive: gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections/discover/business.
Finally your ancestor’s employer may have commissioned an official history, perhaps to celebrate an anniversary. These are worth searching for in library and archive catalogues.
ELSE CHURCHILL is the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists in London
Sainsbury’s Staff Register, 1921
This register is held by the Sainsbury Archive. Some of its material is available digitally at sainsburyarchive.org.uk
1 NAME AND RESIDENCE
Walter Enefer lived on Arthur’s Bridge Road in Woking. By the time the 1921 census was taken a few months later he was living in Waltham Cross. Presumably he moved to be nearer his work.
2 MARITAL STATUS
He is shown as married and was 25 years old on his last birthday on 8 February 1920, which matches the information he gave in the census.
3 DATE ENGAGED
Walter started working for the company on 14 February 1921.
4 REFERENCES
Sainsbury’s obtained references from recruits’ former employers, in this case Williamson & Thompson Central Stores in Woking where Walter had worked for five years and two months.
5 POSITION AND BRANCH
Walter was engaged as a salesman and sent to the Enfield branch. The 1921 census confirms that he was a provisions assistant there.
6 CAUSE OF LEAVING
Walter’s service ended in 1925 when he was asked to resign because he was “not suitable to make manager”.
Harry Gordon Commins
Else explains what we can learn about this Sainsbury’s employee from the census and staff records
The 1921 census recorded that Harry Gordon Commins of Stoke Newington was a provisions shop assistant at the branch of J Sainsburys in Kingsland High Street, Hackney. Among the digitised copies of the staff registers from the Sainsbury Archive is a register of staff enlistment (1914–1918) and re-engagement after the First World War. This volume, which is roughly indexed by first initial of surname, contains 840 entries from the 1920s about staff who had served in the war, including their name and address; regiment number and unit etc; particulars of employment; employment record; date joined Colours; date release applied for; date re-engaged; and the branch sent to. Harry worked at the Chapel Street branch since leaving school and joined the 9th Lancers as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). On the recommendation of his managers, Harry was re-engaged in 1919 on a wage of 48s which was shortly increased to 50s.
Expert Picks
Else recommends three online resources to begin searching for information about where your ancestor worked
Discovery
w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
The online catalogue of The National Archives at Kew is a good place to search for records relating to an individual business or company, whether held at TNA or in local archives.
The 1921 Census
w findmypast.co.uk/1921-census
The 1921 census recorded the name of your ancestor’s employer and where they worked. Access it for free at TNA, Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales.
The Gazette
The Gazette dates back to November 1665 and records official notices for businesses. Its digital archive is free, and thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/116 has a useful guide.
RESOURCES
Take your research further
ARCHIVES
MODERN RECORDS CENTRE
a University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
t 024 7652 4219
w warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc
Find records of British trade unions and associations.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
a Kew, TW9 4DU
t 020 8876 3444
w nationalarchives.gov.uk
See the research guide for its business records: tinyurl.com/tna-guide-companies, plus a guide to records at other archives: tinyurl.com/tna-guide-elsewhere.
SCOTTISH BUSINESS ARCHIVE
a University of Glasgow
e library-asc@gla.ac.uk
w gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/archivespecialcollections/discover/business/
Scotland’s largest collection.
BOOKS
Business History Explorer
John Orbell et al.
Tailor’s End Press, 2012
This bibliography of UK business history is available as an online database to subscribers at business historyexplorer.co.uk.
Company and Business Records for Family Historians
Eric Probert
Federation of Family History Societies, 1994
The author was a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists.
A Guide to Tracing the History of a Business
John Orbell
Phillimore & Co., 2009
Orbell explains the essential sources available.