Mapping the occupational geography of Britain 1851 to 1911
(adult males and adult females)

Before 1841 we do not have occupational data for Scotland or for females in England and Wales. So, at present, we are restricted to mapping male data before 1841. The 1841 census data on female employment is problematic. But from 1851 to 1911 we can map male and female occupations for the whole of Britain.

This section of the website illustrates some preliminary mapping of male and female occupations for England, Wales and Scotland in 1851. For England and Wales at this date, data are available in 634 registration districts. Because there were no registration districts in Scotland we do not have spatially comprehensive data below the level of the county. These maps therefore graft Scottish counties on to English and Welsh registration districts. The Scottish units are therefore much larger in area than the English and Welsh ones but this is the most detailed mapping currently possible for the whole of Britain. All the maps on this website relate to males and females 20 and over, though we do have the data for younger age groups. We hope to add further maps to the website in due course both for 1851 and for later years.

Please note that all the first two maps in each sequence show the share of males and females, 20 years of age an upwards in each occupational sector expressed as a percentage of all those reported as employed. Since reported female activity rates for women were much lower than for men it does not follow, that higher percentage values for women in some sectors, e.g. clothing, necessarily means that the sector employed more adult women than men. See the second two maps in each sequence for the share of total adult employment in each sector which is female and for the share of total adult employment (both sexes combined) which each sector accounts for.