Tag Archives: occupation

1911 census occupations

Just a short blog this time, thank goodness you might say!

Have you ever been a little annoyed that you can’t read what the occupation of someone in the 1911 census was.  It is either unreadable, has been struck through or written  over, but what you can see clearly are the 3 numbers written in red, or some other colour  by the enumerator.
1911 extract

This seems to be a good example of the numbers coming in quite handy.  The salt hawker, simple enough but the occupation of the lodger.  At first glance, the occupation looks like music as there is an ‘dot’ over what looks like an i, but the wording in brackets, monthly, why would someone involved with music be monthly.

A look down the list for 437 and it gives a totally different meaning to the occupation.  The reference of 437 is listed as ‘sick nurses, invalid attendants and other’. The wording looks more like music than nurse, but the enumerator must have been right!!

To view the census codes click here you may find them some help when using the 1911 census as a research tool.

1911 census code sheet

1911 census code sheet