Using probate data to determine historical male occupational structures

Sebastian A.J. Keibek ()
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Sebastian A.J. Keibek: The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure

No 26, Working Papers from Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge

Abstract: Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Sir E.A. Wrigley recently published new estimates for the male occupational structure of England and Wales. Their pre-census figures are based on parish register data, but before Rose's Act of 1812, parish registers offer occupational information only in a sample of parishes, and are virtually silent about employments before 1690. This paper examines how the gaps in the parish register data can be filled using a data source which offer more universal coverage and goes back much further in time: probate records. It demonstrates how an, at first sight, critical deficiency of probate data, namely their severe bias towards capital-intensive and/or relatively well-paying occupations, can be overcome by using parish register data for calibration.

Keywords: occupational structure; England and Wales; probate; parish registers; calibration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14,500 words
Date: 2016-01-15, Revised 2017-03-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn and nep-his
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Published in Cambridge Working Paper in Economic & Social History, No. 26

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