RootsChat.Com

I think the material in the picture is structural therefore not lath strips, see the gable end but stumped for a convincing answer..

Yes, that looks like a normal lath-and-plaster ceiling.  Lath usually came in strips several feet long and was nailed to the ceiling joists before being plastered from under - like horizontal wattle and daub.  It may have been applied in panels as you suggest, but I haven't heard of it.

It's not a particularly ancient method, as our previous house built in 1930 had such ceilings.  Today's technique uses plasterboard panels.

Incidentally I once came across a Victorian census entry (from Suffolk IIRC) showing an occupation of Lath River - I can't imagine anyone spending many hours a day riving lath .... 

The only problem was when they would bring the book to me and expect me to rest it on my lap to look at it. I had to insist that it was placed on a table to avoid accidental damage. I was rather shocked that they did not take more care of the registers - they didn't even supervise me while I had them but went off and left me to it.

If they were accustomed to handling those registers regularly, they probably saw little reason to regard them as fragile ? 

His trousers look like they have sheen so may be made of leather. They have ties below the knee to take the weight off. Or to stop the rats getting up his legs.

Known in Scotland, I believe, as nicky-tams ? (reference one of Hall and Macgregor's songs from the 1960s, tho the song will be much older).

Most of these women had been working before they married, so I wondered if anyone had encountered any theories as to why they choose not to state it.

I would presume because it no longer applied as they had ceased, to take up family life ?

Luckily, one of our daughters is quite interested, so although she may not take over everything, most of the basics should not be lost to posterity.

Having said that, I doubt that I would have been interested in getting as far as I have, if so much stuff had not become available online in this century.  I would never have travelled to London to spend hours searching rolls of microfilm, for example.  Father-in-law did a bit of that, many years ago, but didn't get anywhere near what we have found since.  He was more valuable as a source of family folklore - which has to be garnered before it goes for good ....