Occupations of my 56 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandparents

The most common occupation of my 28 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandfathers in the 19th and early 20th century was farm work (25) - be it as a farm/agricultural labourer (15), farm servant (5) or horseman on a farm (5). This was followed by a far second of working for the railway (6) - be it as a workman/labourer (2), lorry driver (1), packer (1), guard (1) or refreshment attendant (1).

Other notable occupations were: stone mason/mason's labourer (3), being in the army (3), and working with metal (4) - be it as a blacksmith (2), tinplate worker (1) or labourer in an iron foundry (1). Religion also drew some to volunteer their time (2), as a sexton (1) or lay preacher (1).

My Great Grandfather Walter Vernon in his army uniform, in the 1910's

The most common occupation of my 28 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandmothers in the 19th and early 20th century was an unpaid one: that of being a housewife (28) or - as it's sometimes written on later census - 'unpaid domestic duties'. Often before she married, the woman was in service (16) - be it as a domestic servant/maid (10) or a farm servant (6). Other notable occupations were: housekeeper (3), laundress (3), lacemaker (3) and dressmaker (2).

No doubt if I had been born a hundred or so years earlier I would have been a little maid, living and working from a young age on a farm or in a middle class household, expected to marry and become a housewife. The lace-making women of my family came from around the same south-east area of Devon where I was brought up, so I may have learnt this craft too. If I'd have been a boy, I would have likely been sent off to live and work as a farm servant, then progressed to farm labourer or even a horseman. If my father had a trade, such as a mason, I would have likely followed in his footsteps. Or if I moved to the city for work, found work with the railway.

My Great Grandfather Walter Vernon in his railway uniform, in the early 1960's

Some occupations have not changed that much. For example, my nanny, as a teenager in the 1940's, was sent away from home to work as a sort of mother's help, whilst my mother worked as a childminder around the millennium, and I myself trained as a childcare apprentice in the 2010's.

Whilst my male ancestors began the 20th century mainly on the farm, working with horses, through the course of that century they and their children found work with more modern forms of transport - the railway, building roads, as labourers and mechanics. Their grandchildren (my parents) left behind the agricultural working class - they were born in towns and worked in offices. As white collar workers, they entered the lower middle class.

My great grandparents left school around the age of eight, my grandparents around the age of thirteen, and my mother at sixteen; whilst my father (the first in his family) and my sister have been able to go to university. Cottagers for hundreds of years, suburban council houses in the 20th century, gave my great grandparents and grandparents better homes; old age pensions meant they could retire in their old age. The NHS saved my grandmother's and my mother's life, when the latter when born premature in the 1960's; saved my life at its start, and my grandfather's near its end. Our lives have been improved by the welfare state. Yet, unlike my parents, I have never wanted to work in an office, but longed for a little cottage of my own in the country - all domestic and agricultural. A return to my roots, but with the independence and health afforded to me by modernity.