1871 Census - additional word written on occupation

[Whipby]

Hi - I’d be grateful for opinions on what the (presumably) enumerator has written at the side of my ancestor William Heslop’s occupation in the 1871 census.

Many thanks 😊

[arthurk]

It looks like L Drains, but I don't know what the 'L' might stand for.

[rosie99]

Could it be Land Drains 

[Whipby]

Thanks arthurk and rosie99, your suggestions do sound very likely!

[JenB]

what the (presumably) enumerator has written at the side

It's in different handwriting from that of the enumerator, so will have been written on the page later on by someone classifying occupations for statistical purposes.

I wonder if it stood for the occupational classification Land drainage?

[arthurk]

It could be a hurriedly scrawled Drainage - what looks like the last letter is rather more like a 'g' than an 's' - and the 'e' is rather absent. I know one or two people who write a bit like that...

[Whipby]

Thank you JenB and arthurk, I think you’ve got it spot on!

Is there a list of occupational classifications anywhere?

[JenB]

Here you are 

https://www.rootschat.com/links/01s6c/

And if you have the strength here's the full report on the 1871 census.
https://www.rootschat.com/links/01s6d/

Reports on other censuses can also be found on the same website.

[arthurk]

You can also find the 1921 census occupational classifications here, in what I think is an easier to use format:

http://doot.spub.co.uk/

The numbers will have changed, but a lot of the job descriptions are much the same as in previous years.