Ancestor's Job

[potterfan3]

I've been recently looking up my family tree, and I've found that a couple ancestors had the same job though I can't read the writing.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/60029413/occ.jpg

can anyone read this? it's from the 1800s. I think the second work might be sgt

[Rose Maybud]

It looks like 'boy lab' or 'hog lab'. I don't think the second word is 'sgt' because the descender doesn't slope as in the first word - that's more like a random mark on the original - there are a lot of those and it just makes the job of deciphering more challenging.

Is it possible to give the reference for the whole page? Then we would have a chance of working it out from context of what the neighbours were doing and get more of a feel for the enumerator's handwriting. The Census Reference number for the page would be brilliant, or the census year, name, age and place of abode of the individual and we can look it up from scratch. I subscribe to Ancestry and FMP, so that would give two other opinions as to what the transcriber thought the occupation was... if we're lucky ...

[slaney]

Could it be Ag Lab.?
this was used in the 1841 -81 census to denote Agricultural Labourer.

[echokilo]

Ag Lab ... Agricultural Labourer

[dotty.]

the term Ag Lab was statistically the most common occupation in the early census returns. With the introduction of mechanised farming in the latter half of the 19th century and the pull of the better factory/mill wages in towns, rural jobs were fewer, there are many articles written on the decline of the term in census returns and it was used as statistical evidence of social change after the introduction of mechanised farm equipment.

[jno]

it does look like a very ornate Ag Lab. Do you have any other capital As to compare it with?

[dotty.]

it is Ag Lab BTW, if you look at other entries in the same ED you will see it repeated no doubt, plus, the address will more than likely be that of a farm or a tied cottage on a farm.

[dotty.]

N.B. Farm labourers, or Agricultural Labourers, were given accomodation in small cottages on the farm and though they did not pay rent, their wages were reduced accordingly.

[potterfan3]

thanks!