Family Historian User Group

Difficult handwriting in 1861 census.
Can anyone suggest what the last word of the highlighted occupation below might be?
"Farmer of light --?--".
In the previous census he was a gamekeeper.

Its a long shot - farmer (of?) eight (acres?)

Yes I wondered if it was 'eight' rather than 'light', but I just can't see the last word as 'acres'! I might have to settle for that though. Thanks for your input.

Lorna

I agree with you not acres as the enumerator writes his A's differently. I also think it is & not of. There is no descender on the 'g' in eight so I don't think it is eight either. However I am sorry i don't have any idea of what it actually says.

Are the two people below in the same household (including the Farmers Widow)? And if so what relationship are they? And is the address a farm?

Helen, the two people below are daughters (the first unmarried, the second widowed). The next two are 'nephews' (although actually I think they are great-nephews) and the next is a widowed brother. The address is Lower Street, Farringdon, as are the other households on the page. Doesn't sound like a farm, although some of the extended family were farmers.

Oh, well -- that's not very helpful.

I wonder if it says 'farmer and light .....' . The 'and' being a version of &

The only thing my brain will let me think is light tester haha. Don't think that's right. I'm thinking aling the lines of light engineer or light carter. Nothing seems to fit.

Anne

I think that the last word is acres - here is an extract of the previous page on the census
Compare 'acres' in that extract with the one in your image and I think they are very similar, so my conclusion is that it is 'Farmer of eight acres'

Brian

Thanks Brian. I have been slowly coming to the same conclusion, although I hadn't spotted that entry on the previous page. I was originally convinced that it couldn't be 'acres' or 'Acres' because, as Colin (Valkrider) mentioned, the enumerator seems to write the letter A differently. The 'A' in 'Ag Lab' is quite different. However I have now noticed another style of 'A' in 'Alton' (birthplace of the scholar three lines below the mystery occupation line). And there are also some As of that style on the page you have shown. So I think 'Acres' is the answer.

As to why his address is not a farm, I suppose eight acres was a relatively small patch of land and he didn't live on it.

Thanks to all for your input on this. I do wish they had vetted enumerators for their handwriting skills!

I would agree with Brian's interpretation "'Farmer of eight acres'".

Sometimes, here in Scotland, usually in close vicinity to the towns and cities "Market gardeners" were also called "Gardeners" or "Farmers", when being recorded in official registers and census. They are also often listed separately in trade directories of the era.

With the curent supply of vegetables etc. coming from global sources and flown in by Boing 747, regardless of seasonality, we forget the importance of these smallholdings and extensive gardens for feeding the cities during the Industrial revolution and into the 1960's.

My regards, Bill

Given the London address, I wonder if he is a Farrier of light horses?

Bill: thanks. (Our posts crossed).

Mike: He was in Hampshire, not London. Although interestingly when he was a gamekeeper ten years earlier he was in Lambeth, Surrey/London. I don't imagine there is much call for gamekeepers in Lambeth these days!

Sorry, took the address Farringdon to be in London.

Aye Lorna,

Have you tried viewing a map of Farringdon? The following link is to the National Library of Scotland (NLS) website and the map is overlain on the Google satellite imagery that you can fade in or out. The map was updated in 1895 and published in 1897. I know this is some 30 years after your 1861 Census, but you may be able to spot the location of the smallholding.

OS_1897_6inch_map_Farringdon_East_Hants_England

Read the "HELP" screen when you enter the NLS site and then left 'Click' on the X in the top right of the 'Help' screen to view the map centered on Farringdon. N.B. Your "Lower Road" address may refer to Lower Farringdon, to the west of Farringdon, but I shall leave that to your interpretation. There doesn't appear to have been much additional building since 1895, when compared with other settlements.

My regards, Bill

On close inspection, I really do think It says Farmer of eight Acres as previously suggested. The enumerator did light downstrokes, and you can just make out the downstroke of the f in of, the descender of the g in eight is obscured by the S of Servant on next line, and the the A of Acres has the two vertical strokes at a very narrow angle, and you can see an attempt at its cross stroke.

Thanks everyone.
If the enumerator hadn 't used a different style of 'A' in 'Ag Lab' it would have been a lot easier!

PS: Bill, yes I think Lower Road, Farringdon became Lower Farringdon. Modern maps have Upper Farringdon and Lower Farringdon. Thanks for the map link.

My pleasure Lorna.

Bill