Occupations of Males in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, April 1861

The above table sets out our analysis of the male population of Beeston in April 1861, by industry/occupation and by age band. A similar table for the female population can be seen by clicking here. Each of these tables have been prepared based on the principles described in connection with the overall population table which can be seen here.

The table can be used to observe and quantify certain characteristics and trends within the population and, in particular, within the working population:

The employment rate amongst the over-15 male population just under 98%. a slightly greater proportion than just over 96% employed in 1851. The actual numbers of employed males in this age range also increased from 833 in 1851 to 887 in 1861 (+6.5%). This trend is in contrast to decreases in the proportion and numbers of females employed and, taken together, seems to reflect an increase in the number of married households.

The average age of all male workers is 35.9 years - a slight increase in 33.5 in 1851; however, this relative stability masks significant movement in various occupational and other sectors:

Male employment in the textile sector showed signs of overall decline or stagnation and an aging of its workforce :

The average age of a male lace industry worker is 31.6 years - up from 28.8 in 1851 with the number employed increasing by only 4 (+1.3%)
The average age of a male hosiery worker is 47.5 years - up from 42.6 in 1851 - with the number employed declining steeply, by 28.6%
The average age of a male silk worker is 21.7 years - up from 18.6 in 1851. There was a decline of 20.3% in males employed in this industry.

The previously declining numbers on the land (including horticulture) seems to have stopped, at least for the time being:

Male employment on the land rose to 142 from 132 in 1851 (+7.6%)
- although the average age of male workers on the land reached 44.2 years (41.1 in 1851)
- land working is almost exclusively male. Only 5 female land workers can be identified (unchanged from 1851)

In the younger age groups, there are small increases in the proportion and numbers of boys receiving education:

36.2% of boys under 16 are recorded as receiving education, a modest increase from 34.4% in 1851
- that is, a total of 197 boys in education in 1851 had grown to 213 in 1861, an increase of 8.1%.

For other children, the part-time education facilities provided by the silk mill may have been an attractive alternative to full-time education - although there are signs that the numbers are declining:.

18.7% of all boys in the 11-15 age group worked at the silk mill - down from 29.9%
- but only 1.2% of all boys in the 6-10 age group are working there - down significantly from 11.6% in 1851.

Of course, this provision enabled the mill to continue to operate with very young workers and, consequently, low levels of pay.

58% of all male silk workers in the village were under 20 years of age
89% of them were under 30 years of age
Similar patterns are found in female workers in the industry.

In these circumstances, it seems unlikely that this industry would have provided little beyond secondary contributions to household incomes in most cases.

Click to view our analysis of the Female Population by Age and Occupational Groupings
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© David Hallam - 2008