Researcher
Mon Jun 09 2025
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< 5 minutes read
Coal miners. Seamstresses. Soldiers. Our ancestors’ occupations reveal a lot about their character and how they lived their lives. Here’s how to find out what your relatives did for work with family history research.
Search genealogy records online
The easiest way to uncover what your ancestor did for a living is to find their genealogical records. From marriage certificates to trade union registers, these handy online record collections may offer you important clues.
Censuses
British and Irish census records are a goldmine for occupational details. From 1841 onwards, censuses recorded individuals' jobs. Irish censuses also contained this information, though only records from 1901 onwards survive today.
Later censuses recorded work addresses, thereby recording the company or institution that a person was employed by.
To uncover your ancestor’s job in census records, try searching their name, location and birth date (if you know it). Check the ‘Occupation’ column on their record’s transcript and then check the original image for even more details.
With a simple search, you may discover that your great-grandmother was a domestic servant, or that a distant relative worked as a railway porter.
Birth, marriage and death records (BMDs)
As well as census returns, civil registration documents often mention occupations.
On marriage certificates, both the bride and groom’s jobs are often listed. You’ll also find the occupation of both of their fathers. This can be useful for tracing occupations across generations, or spotting a family trade that’s been handed down.
Death certificates may also list the deceased’s last known job, or the occupation of the informant - often their spouse or child.
Trade directories and electoral rolls
If your ancestor ran a business or worked in a specific trade, you might find them in historical trade directories. These publications listed local professionals and business owners by town or street—especially helpful for finding shopkeepers, innkeepers, or craftsmen.
Electoral rolls and rate books won’t always include occupations, but when they do, they help confirm your ancestor’s residence and social status at the time.
Occupational records and guild memberships
Many industries kept detailed records of their workers. If your ancestor worked on the railways, in teaching, nursing, policing, or the military, specialised occupational records may exist. For instance, army service records often mention rank, duties, and even character assessments.
If they were part of a trade guild or union, they may appear in membership lists, apprenticeship indentures, or employer registers.
Explore old newspapers
Old newspaper articles, obituaries and advertisements can also shed light on your ancestor’s working life. They may have advertised their services, been involved in local events, or even featured in court reports related to their trade.
Remember that job titles have changed over time
As you explore old records, you may find job titles that sound unfamiliar today. Understanding these terms is essential for painting a more accurate picture of your ancestors' working lives.
Some once-popular jobs have now vanished entirely. There are a few historical occupations that you’ll be hard pressed to find today:
- A knocker-up - someone hired to wake people up before alarm clocks were common, often by tapping on bedroom windows with a long stick.
- A leech collector gathered leeches from marshes to sell to apothecaries
- A lamplighter manually lit gas streetlamps each evening before electric street lighting took over
Even familiar professions may be recorded under old-fashioned terms. For example, a scavenger wasn’t someone rummaging through the bins - it was a sanitation worker responsible for sweeping streets. A tweenie in domestic service was a junior maid, often working between the kitchen and the upstairs staff.
A milliner, still sometimes heard today, was a woman who designed or sold hats, while a spinster in earlier records referred to a woman who spun thread. This was a common job for unmarried women, hence the term’s later association with single status.
Consider historical context
When delving into historical job titles, occupational dictionaries or glossaries can help. Translating obscure occupations into modern terms gives you greater insight into your ancestors’ statuses, skills, and daily lives.
By learning what your family did for work, you can go beyond names and dates to truly understand your relatives’ day-to-day experiences. Whether your ancestor was a chimney sweep or a cheesemonger, each old job title adds depth and detail to your family story.
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