Query on 1841 census. Completed thanks

[Brie]

Hi,

On the 1841 census there are some initials I can't read. I also don't know what they would mean.

Ref: HO107 Piece 850 Book 25 Folio 9 p12

Listed are the following with initials after their names.

Henry Lord, 19 with what looks like M J in the occ. column. Firstly is it M J and if it is what does it mean?

The next two are dittoed so presumably also M Js whatever that is,

then there is Sarah Cale who to my eyes is a F.S. Again, is that what it looks like to others and what does it stand for?

Thank-you

Brie

[Geoff-E]

Presumably M.S.

List of 1841 abbreviations and other things here http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~somtcen/1841instructions.html

[JenB]

Yes, it definitely says M.S. which is Male Servant.
And F.S. which is Female Servant.

Jennifer

[Brie]

Thank-you both. A useful page Geoff that I hadn't come across before.

Hadn't occurred to me that they might be servants. They are living with a brickmaker's family in quite a humble abode so presumably working elsewhere.

Brie

[JenB]

I'm quite willing to be corrected, but I would have thought they were servants to the head of the household, rather than working elsewhere.

[Brie]

Hi,

Couldn't it be either as not all servants lived in? As the 1841 doesn't put the relationship to the head, it can't read 'boarder' in the relationship column and then 'servant' in the occupation column as sometimes happens in later censuses.

I just find it difficult to believe that a brickmaker had 4 servants. He wasn't as far as I am aware a major concern; in 1841 he was living next door to an Ag lab and in later censuses thefamily don't have servants. But who knows?

Brie

[stanmapstone]

These are the official abbreviations used in the censuses


Ag. Lab. 1841-81 Agricultural labourer
Ap. 1841-61 Apprentice
Army 1841 Members of HM land forces of whatever rank
Cl. 1841-61 Clerk
FS. 1841 Female servant
H.P. 1841 Members of HM armed forces on half-pay
Ind. 1841 Independent - people living on their own means
J. 1841 Journeyman
M. 1841 Manufacturer
m. 1841 Maker - as in 'Shoe m.'
MS 1841 Male servant
Navy 1841 Members of HM naval forces, including marines,
of whatever rank
P. 1841 Pensioners in HM armed forces
Rail Lab. 1851 Railway labourer
Serv. 1861 Servant
Sh. 1841 Shopman


Stan

[Brie]

Thanks for this Stan, very useful. And I'm sure it will be for  others as bemused as me.

Brie

[JenB]

Stan, do you know if someone entered as 'MS' or 'FS' would be necessarily working in that same household, or could they be a servant working in another household?

Jennifer