We have seen that Cornish mines employed 30 per cent of the male labour force in 1861. But they also employed several thousand women on the surface, breaking up rock, washing it or picking out ore from rock. There were over 5,000 of these, known as bal maidens, across Cornwall, amounting to just under nine … Continue reading Bal maidens
A woman’s work is never done
Or should we say a woman’s work is never properly quantified? Putting aside the difficulty involved in differentiating (if indeed we should) between paid and unpaid work, the nineteenth century census returns are anything but consistent in their treatment of women’s occupations. However, if we take the descriptions in the census at face value, we … Continue reading A woman’s work is never done
Those in peril on the sea: mariners in Victorian Cornwall
A region bordered on three sides by the sea might be expected to be home to a fair number of men described as mariners, seamen, sailors or Royal Navy personnel. In fact, in 1861 there were more of this description than there were fishermen, at least 2,514. ‘At least’ because we would expect a proportion … Continue reading Those in peril on the sea: mariners in Victorian Cornwall
Finding fishermen in Victorian Cornwall
While the status of the miner on Cornwall’s coat of arms seems assured, warranted by their 30 per cent or so of the total workforce, that of fishermen is less secure. In contrast, the two per cent of the enumerated adult male labour force in 1861 who were described as fishermen suggests they were a … Continue reading Finding fishermen in Victorian Cornwall
Digging for riches: not just miners but quarriers
Most modern employment classifications treat mining and quarrying as a single economic sector. So how many more workers did clay extraction and quarrying add to the mining and quarrying sector in 1861? The answer is not that many when compared with the dominant mining for copper, tin, lead and other minerals. While metal mines accounted … Continue reading Digging for riches: not just miners but quarriers
Victorian Cornwall’s leading sector: metal mining
There was no question about Cornwall’s leading economic sector in the mid-1800s. In terms of income, productivity and employment it was metal mining. The early 1860s marked the peak of Cornish mining. Deep copper mining had broken out of its eighteenth-century heartland west of Truro in the 1810s, first to mid-Cornwall in the 1810s and … Continue reading Victorian Cornwall’s leading sector: metal mining
The occupation Cornwall’s coat of arms forgot
In the 1930s Cornwall County Council officially adopted its coats of arms – the 15 bezants topped by a chough and flanked by a fisherman and a miner, the iconic male occupations of the nineteenth century. Yet, by that time this representation was already far from reality. While the chough was heading for temporary extinction, … Continue reading The occupation Cornwall’s coat of arms forgot
Cornwall’s top 100 surnames – the final 20
Below you can find a list of the surnames ranked from 81st to 100 in terms of numbers of households in Cornwall in 1861. While most of those in the list still have their origin in first names (patronyms), a number of names from places (toponyms) and occupations are beginning to make an appearance. Pengelly … Continue reading Cornwall’s top 100 surnames – the final 20
Gwennap and the 1801 insurrection: Part 2
By March 1801 the price of food in the market towns of Devon had reached an unbearable level. Residents began to adopt the by now familiar tactics of the food riot – imposing a maximum price at the markets and touring local farms with the aim of ‘encouraging’ farmers to send more grain to market. … Continue reading Gwennap and the 1801 insurrection: Part 2
Gwennap and the 1801 insurrection: Part 1
In May 1800 a less than crystal clear entry was made in the Gwennap vestry records. The vestry agreed to pay the constables for ‘putting down’ the Cornish Supplementary Militia. The militia was made up of part-time soldiers and had been re-introduced in the 1750s. They were greatly expanded in 1796 during an invasion scare. … Continue reading Gwennap and the 1801 insurrection: Part 1
Cornish studies resources 