A surprising number of laundresses appear in our family in Torquay - and quite a number of the women in surrounding streets also have this as their occupation. These are poor families, presumably living in small dwellings with no hot water etc - I wonder that there is enough business to keep them all occupied (assuming the rich have live-in help with the laundry). I'm wondering if this could be a way of making the women sound 'respectable' on the censuses? Some of the family members are unmarried mothers with several children. I could be wrong, but would like to know if others have encountered this.
