Occupations of Females in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, April 1871

The above table sets out our analysis of the female population of Beeston in April 1871, by industry/occupation and by age band. A similar table for the male 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 female population is 48%, a reduction from just over 50% in 1861 and almost 58% in 1851. This significant movement appears to arise largely from a marked increase in both the number and proportion of married women in the population. Again, there was an increase in the number of wives, to 577 (from 542 in 1861, 462 in 1851) and while the proportion of women over 15 who were married was the same as in 1861 (54%), it had risen significantly from 47% in 1851.

The average age of all female workers in 1871 increased only slightly to 29.4 years - from 29.0 in 1861 and 28.3 in 1851; however, this apparent relative stability masks significant movement in various occupational and other sectors:

Female employment in the textile sector showed signs of a noticeable decline and an aging of its female workforce :

The average age of a female lace industry worker is now 36.0 years - significantly up from 30.3 in 1861 and 27.2 in 1851. The number employed declined again, to 73 from 111 in 1861 (down 34.2%) and 128 in 1851 (down 43.0% over 20 years).
The average age of a female hosiery worker is 46.7 years - up again from 45.9 in 1861 and 43.6 in 1851. The number employed has declined dramatically, by 78.8% over 20 years.
The average age of a female silk worker is 21.4 years, up from 20.5 in 1861 and 18.4 in 1851. However, the number of females employed at the mill was down dramatically - by 29.6% since 1861; now only 169 it represented only 26.5% of the female workforce (compared with 36.6% in 1861 and 35.1% in 1851). This appears to be because of the virtual elimination of the use of child labour at the silk mill now that full time education was almost universally embraced and changes in legislation had their effect. Now only 25.0% of all girls in the 11-15 age group worked at the silk mill - down from 43.8% in 1861 and 48.1% in 1851. Only 4.3% of all girls in the 6-10 age group are working there - down from 4.7% in 1861 and from 13.1% in 1851.

There was a significant increase in the number of female domestic servants. At 212, this was 66 (45.2%) more than were in the workforce in 1861 and 94 (79.7%) more than in 1851.

In the younger age groups, there were very significant increases in the proportion and numbers of girls receiving education:

50% of girls under 16 are recorded as receiving education, a significant increase from 36% in 1861 and 26% in 1851. A total of 157 girls in education in 1851 had grown to 236 in 1861 and was now 315 - an increase of 33.5% since 1861 and 50.2% since 1851. Now, the vast majority of both girls and boys of school age were in education.

Click to view our analysis of the Male Population by Age and Occupational Groupings
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© David Hallam - 2012