Ag Labs

[GRACELAND]

   HI all ,,
        When on census it say ancestor was an ag lab
 can we find out any more information on him ??

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi

An Ag Lab was an Agricultural Labourer - i.e. any labouring work to do with a farm - usually a married man, employed on either a regular or a casual basis, but who lived elswhere (i.e not in the farm house).

It was next to the lowest occupation in social classification, and as such went unrecorded apart from the type of work they did - i.e labouring. But this country was built on that type of person.
There are lots of books that touch on Ag Labs and Agricultural History, but no specialist book on Ag Labs themselves; but you could try to find a copy of these:
Farmworkers - A Social and Economic History 1770 - 1980 by Alan Armstong (1988)
Annals of the Labouring Poor; Social Change and Agrarian England 1660 - 1900 by KDM Snell, (1985)

Hope that helps

Chris in 1066Land

[Christopher]

 HI all ,,
        When on census it say ancestor was an ag lab
 can we find out any more information on him ??

Hello GRACELAND,

Sorry for posting on an old thread but queries relating to Ag Labs still appear. There were a large number of people employed in this occupation. It's possible that you may be able to obtain more information about your ancestor.

I'm not certain about England but presume the system would be similar to Ireland ... there must be records for many of the large estates scattered around the country. A reasonable number of estate owners kept meticulous records which mentioned their tenants. A good example is a Workman's Account Book for an estate in Co. Donegal which shows the work done by John McConnaghy on each day of the week of 18th December 1865. www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=1957

I googled English Estate Records and found a lot of Welsh ones on the first page ... www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=English+estate+records&meta=

A search for English Manorial Records provides more information.
www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=English+Manorial+Records&btnG=Search&meta=

In the case of larger landowners you'll find that Estate Records are held by Record Offices in different areas ... some of the Badminton Estate Records are held in Gloucestershire whilst more records for that Estate are held in Glamorgan.

Christopher

[forthefamily]

A always Christopher very interesting reading ......I never thought of looking for Estate records. Thank you for that.

mab

[Christopher]

Hello Mab,

There are plenty of books relating to particular periods of the social history of Britain and Ireland. These tend to generalise on living conditions and work done by people in a given period. Most family historians are searching for information about specific family members. The records of Estates and large industries are the route to go if you want a  chance of finding specific people. 

A number of Estate records are likely to be in private hands. Anyone who has problems finding such records but has a rough idea where their ancestors lived and worked might find it worth their while to contact the estates in the area. Most of the landowners work on a professional basis these days and have an Estate office and secretarial staff. There's no harm in making contact and asking if they might be able to assist with your search.

Christopher

[Berlin-Bob]

This topic and a couple of others on Agricultural Labourer
can be found in RootsChat Reference Library => Lexicon ^{(click here)}


Bob

[nort]

hi
have noticed that up here(north that is)we have husbandman.Is that the same job?
Steve

[Christopher]

hi
have noticed that up here(north that is)we have husbandman.Is that the same job?
Steve

Hi Steve,

A husbandman did more specialised work than an Ag. Lab. Generally he tended animals although he probably did many similar tasks to an Ag. Lab. http://tinyurl.com/4j5zmw

Christopher

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Steve,

Lexicon again, this time Husbandman for some more topics on this 

Bob