What does a blank 'profession' field mean for head of household (1841 census)?

[M_ONeill]

So one of my ancestors has no profession listed on the 1841 census, despite being a head of household with a wife, children and an unidentified woman inhabitant. No one in the household is listed as having any. Does it mean that he had no work, or were there cases where the person writing the return missed out someone's profession?

Now I have a theory that their home may have been a tenant farm attached to the nearby estate. But if so, and my ancestor was the tenant, wouldn't that be listed as such?

[philipsearching]

I suppose the obvious question is: are there other people on the census page with occupations listed?  If not, then the enumerator was a bit lazy.

Philip

[stanmapstone]

The enumerator copied the information given on the  householder's schedule into the enumerator's book, so either there was no occupation given on the schedule, or he forgot to copy it. As the householder's schedules no longer exist there is no way of knowing.

Stan

[M_ONeill]

Thanks for the replies, all!

There are most definitely other entries on the census page with professions listed, even on other places in Nore Hill, but no professions for anyone in that particular household.

[Maiden Stone]

Perhaps the occupations were indecipherable.

[barryd]

Description of 1841 Census by Ancestry.com

"hopefully" added by me.

I am sure in any Census there are instances of wording NOT asked for on occasional instances.

'It was the first census conducted by the General Register Office to record the names of everyone in a household or institution. Information available in this collection (hopefully) includes place and name, age, gender, occupation and birthplace of each individual who spent the night in individual households".