My 5th great grandfather Michael Welch (1800-1876) seems to have changed profession three times throughout his life. According to his son's marriage certificate of 1855 he was a 'Tallow Chandler' like his parents William and Ann. Yet according to an 1839 directory of Leeds, he is described as a 'Confectioner and earthenware dealer'. He was living at 141 Woodouse Lane with his wife Isabella Fawell and six children. I cannot read his profession in the 1841 census, where he is still living at the same address, yet it doesn't look to me like a 'confectioner'. I'll attach it to my next post in case anyone can help me read it.
Michael then crops up in Edinburgh in the 1851 census (a widow living with his six children) and is described as an 'Excise Officer'. On his son Thomas' death certificate in 1887 he is described likewise as an 'Excise Officer' yet on his own death certificate for 1876 in Aberlady, East Lothian his occupation is 'General Merchant'.
I'm not sure he ever was a Tallow Chandler like his parents, although his son seemed to think so. If he was, I assume it must have been before he became a confectioner.
My questions are:
1. Was it common to change job so often?
2. Is moving from being a confectioner in Leeds to an Excise Officer in Edinburgh not quite a dramatic career change considering that he was by then middle aged? Was this common?
3. What exactly was an Excise Officer's duties (I think it is like a civil servant dealing with customs and goods)?
4. Where might I find records relating to an Edinburgh based Excise Officer?
5. Could he perhaps have become one while still in England or might his move from Leeds to Edinburgh have been due to this new career?
6. Why does his death certificate call him a "General Merchant"? Could he have changed profession yet again?
