{"id":15530,"date":"2022-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15530"},"modified":"2022-05-09T11:36:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T09:36:28","slug":"20th-century-employment-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/2022\/05\/03\/20th-century-employment-records\/","title":{"rendered":"20th-Century Employment Records"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FOCUS ON<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

20th-Century Employment Records<\/h2>\n\n

Else Churchill <\/strong>looks at what business records are available to find out more about where your forebears worked<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Workers at the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company factory in Adderley Park, Birmingham, c1921<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

The 1921 census of England and Wales, which was published on Findmypast in January (findmypast.co.uk\/1921-census<\/strong><\/a>), <\/strong>provides more of an opportunity to learn about a person\u2019s 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\u2019s \u2018Advanced search\u2019 pages also allow you to see who else worked there.<\/p>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

For example, Ancestry has a large number of railway employment records in its collection \u2018UK, Railway Employment Records, <\/span>1833\u20131956\u2019 (ancestry.co.uk\/search\/collections\/1728<\/strong><\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

TOP TIP!
<\/strong>Don\u2019t neglect oral history. You may be able to find a digitised interview that sheds light on an ancestor\u2019s trade or employment via a local archive\u2019s online catalogue.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

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 <\/span>Branch of the Inland Revenue Department (Temporary) at Somerset House.<\/p>\n\n

The burgeoning trade-union movement was not just for coal miners and railway workers. Ivy might have belonged to the Association of Women\u2019s Clerks and Secretaries, or the National Association of Women Civil Servants. Records from both can be found at the Women\u2019s Library (lse.ac.uk\/library\/collection-highlights\/thewomens-library<\/strong><\/a>). <\/strong>Some union records from the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University (<\/span>warwick.ac.uk\/services\/library\/mrc<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>can also be accessed on Findmypast.<\/p>\n\n

Any teachers recorded in the 1921 census might have registered with the Teachers\u2019 Registration Council whose 1914\u20131948 registers, online at Findmypast and the Society of Genealogists\u2019 <\/span>(SOG\u2019s) site sog.org.uk<\/a>, <\/strong>show where and when a teacher qualified and the schools they taught in. The <\/em>Girls <\/em>School <\/em>Yearbook <\/em>is the reference book for the Association of Headmistresses which also has records at Warwick University. Professional women may be listed in The <\/em>Englishwoman\u2019s <\/em>Yearbook. <\/em>The SOG has early editions of both of these directories.<\/p>\n\n

The Retail Trade<\/h5>\n\n

The 1920s saw the popularity of still-famous department stores and retail emporiums. The SOG\u2019s 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 (<\/span>johnlewispartnership.co.uk\/about\/who-we-are\/heritagecentre.html<\/strong><\/a>). <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n\n

Marks & Spencer has its own extensive archive in Leeds where the firm has its historic roots, and its website marksintime.marksandspencer.com\/home<\/a> <\/strong>celebrates over 135 years of its history. The website and Twitter feed at twitter.com\/mandsheritage<\/a> <\/strong>often feature photographs of the firm\u2019s staff and branches.<\/p>\n\n

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\u2019s creation in 1869: sainsburyarchive.org.uk\/catalogue\/search\/saemp-employees<\/a>. <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n\n

Also many companies commemorated employees who were killed in the world wars, and it\u2019s common to see plaques and memorials on stations or other buildings.<\/p>\n\n

For example, the website of the Railway Heritage Trust has information on the 20,000\u201330,000 railwaymen who died and are honoured in a series of war memorials (railwayheritagetrust.co.uk\/therht-and-war-memorials<\/a>). 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.<\/p>\n\n

Directories<\/h5>\n\n

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\u2019s address and location, but there will often be advertisements.<\/p>\n\n

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<\/a>. <\/strong>These are also in Ancestry\u2019s collection \u2018UK, City and County Directories, 1766\u20131946\u2019.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\u2019s library, and they are all listed at <\/span>sog.org.uk\/ourcollections\/library-catalogue<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Maps<\/h5>\n\n

It\u2019s helpful to locate the address of an ancestor\u2019s 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<\/a>). <\/strong>You should also look at maps made for specific purposes, such as Goad\u2019s fire-insurance maps held by the British Library and in local archives.<\/p>\n\n

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<\/a> <\/strong>and a large UK selection at commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Goad_fire_insurance_ maps_of_the_UK. <\/strong>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:<\/span> bl.uk\/onlinegallery\/onlineex\/firemaps\/fireinsurancemaps.html<\/a>. <\/strong>For example, Kelly\u2019s <\/span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Chelmsford employers Wells & Perry, TD Ridley & Sons and the A Bradridge Cattle Food Works, seen on a 1909 Goad map <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Newspapers<\/h5>\n\n

Companies and their staff are often named in national and local newspapers, so the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>is a great place to search for your ancestors; the same collection is available to \u2018Pro\u2019 subscribers to Findmypast.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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 <\/span>Gazette, <\/em>including bankruptcies and creditor arrangements. Its free digital archive is at thegazette.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

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).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Local Repositories<\/h5>\n\n

Records relating to local businesses will usually be in local archives. TNA\u2019s catalogue (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>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<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

For researching Scottish ancestors, check out the Business Archives Council of Scotland (busarchscot.org.uk<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>for advice. The largest collection is held by the University of Glasgow in the Scottish Business <\/span>Archive: gla.ac.uk\/myglasgow\/archivespecialcollections\/discover\/business.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Finally your ancestor\u2019s employer may have commissioned an official history, perhaps to celebrate an anniversary. These are worth searching for in library and archive catalogues.<\/p>\n\n

ELSE CHURCHILL is the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists in London<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Sainsbury\u2019s Staff Register, 1921<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

This register is held by the Sainsbury Archive. Some of its material is available digitally at sainsburyarchive.org.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
1<\/span> NAME AND RESIDENCE<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Walter Enefer lived on Arthur\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

2<\/span> MARITAL STATUS <\/h5>\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n

3<\/span> DATE ENGAGED<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Walter started working for the company on 14 February 1921.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

4<\/span> REFERENCES<\/h5>\n\n

Sainsbury\u2019s obtained references from recruits\u2019 former employers, in this case Williamson & Thompson Central Stores in Woking where Walter had worked for five years and two months.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

5<\/span> POSITION AND BRANCH<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Walter was engaged as a salesman and sent to the Enfield branch. The 1921 census confirms that he was a provisions assistant there.<\/p>\n\n

6<\/span> CAUSE OF LEAVING<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Walter\u2019s service ended in 1925 when he was asked to resign because he was \u201cnot suitable to make manager\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Harry Gordon Commins <\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Else explains what we can learn about this Sainsbury\u2019s employee from the census and staff records<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Harry Gordon Commins\u2019 entry in the 1921 census shows that he was working at a branch of Sainsbury\u2019s in Hackney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u20131918) 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Expert Picks<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

Else recommends three online resources to begin searching for information about where your ancestor worked<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Discovery<\/h5>\n\n

w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The 1921 Census<\/h5>\n\n

w findmypast.co.uk\/1921-census<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The 1921 census recorded the name of your ancestor\u2019s employer and where they worked. <\/span>Access it for free at TNA, Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales.<\/p>\n\n

The Gazette<\/h5>\n\n

w thegazette.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The Gazette <\/em>dates back to November 1665 and records official notices for businesses. Its digital archive is free, and thegazette.co.uk\/all-notices\/content\/116 <\/a><\/strong>has a useful guide. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

RESOURCES<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Take your research further<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ARCHIVES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MODERN RECORDS CENTRE
a University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL <\/strong>
t 024 7652 4219 <\/span>
w warwick.ac.uk\/services\/library\/mrc<\/a> <\/strong>
Find records of British trade unions and associations.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
a Kew, TW9 4DU <\/strong>
t 020 8876 3444 <\/span>
w nationalarchives.gov.uk<\/a> <\/strong>
See the research guide for its business records: tinyurl.com\/tna-guide-companies<\/a>, <\/strong>plus a guide to records at other archives: tinyurl.com\/tna-guide-elsewhere<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCOTTISH BUSINESS ARCHIVE
a University of Glasgow <\/strong>
e library-asc@gla.ac.uk<\/a> <\/span>
w gla.ac.uk\/myglasgow\/archivespecialcollections\/discover\/business\/<\/a><\/strong>
Scotland\u2019s largest collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOOKS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business History Explorer <\/em>
John Orbell et al. <\/strong>
Tailor\u2019s End Press, 2012
This bibliography of UK business history is available as an online database to subscribers at <\/span>business historyexplorer.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company and Business Records for Family Historians <\/em>
Eric Probert <\/strong>
Federation of Family History Societies, 1994 <\/em>
The author was a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Guide to Tracing the History of a Business <\/em>
John Orbell <\/strong>
Phillimore & Co., 2009 <\/em>
Orbell explains the essential sources available.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Photos: GETTY IMAGES, BRITISH LIBRARY, THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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