Oo-er!

[StevieSteve]

Well, I might not be a sonofa... but not so sure about being a 1stcousin3timesremovedofa...


And while I might defend the reputation of relations from East Harting or Keston to the hilt, I'll be a bit more cautious of the ones from Kings Cross, Southwark and the like

[Lydart]

My mother actually WAS a dressmaker; because she was disabled, it was thought that a mostly sitting down job was all she could do.   She trained as a court dressmaker, and made gowns and undies for minor royalty, and celebs like Fanny Craddock, Bebe Daniels, Kathleen Ferrier, etc.   

And never a whiff of scandal about my mother, but not so for some of her customers !   

[Maiden Stone]

A relative of Jane Austen was a milliner. It was in a radio programme about her that I first learned of the connection with ladies of the night. I think it was said in the programme that unemployed milliners could fall into prostitution. So might any unemployed young woman at the time.
JA's relative went to India as a kind of mail-order bride for a British officer. She had an affair with the famous Clive of India and had a daughter. Clive was godfather to child. The daughter married a French aristocrat. He was executed during the French Revolution.

[jaybelnz]

I have one who was a shirt-maker!  Do you think she called herself that to attract male custom??
Maybe she was genuine 

[ThrelfallYorky]

I suppose that both millinery and dressmaking, realistically, could be started with a very small outlay of money, and were suited to working from home.
They also by working from home avoided having to work in some sort of factory or mill, too, probably, so were seen as perhaps a little more genteel than that sort of work, possibly? At least in their own eyes.
I noticed that very few of my family tree seem to have been employed as domestic servants - but then we always were a stroppy lot, and probably wouldn't have lasted long in that kind of job.
-Actually, the milliners I've found in my wider family history worked with sisters who were dressmakers, and it seemed to be more than one generation. Not sure if that makes it a worse or better idea!!

[Treetotal]

Previous post on the same topic here:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=292299.0

Carol

[Berlin-Bob]

This 'problem' is so well known, that it also crops up in Terry Pratchett's Disc world books

Bob

[andrewalston]

In 1861 the occupations sometimes appeared together.

Have a look at RG9/2948 ed22 fol88 pg31.

[KGarrad]

This 'problem' is so well known, that it also crops up in Terry Pratchett's Disc world books

Bob

Ah yes! The Ankh-Morpork Seamstresses Guild!

The seamstresses in the Seamstresses' Guild are, in the politically-correct language of the modern Ankh-Morpork, ladies of negotiable affection, ladies whose company and loving attention, crudely put, could be hired for a night.
Motto: NIL VOLVPTI, SINE LVCRE ("No Pleasure Without Pay")