Genealogy Chat

in the 1800s. I have an ancestor who was a tailor in Liverpool about this time. How would I find more information about his occupation at the time & the clothes he made?


Many thanks

No idea; just thought I'd say that I had one who was a tailor, too, not in Liverpool though.

It gives a bit of information about Tailors here:-

http://www.wcml.org.uk/contents/working-lives/tailors/

Kath. x

Have a look on Google - there is quite a lot of general information to be found.

There is this book which might interest you:-

"The Victorian Tailor" by Jason Maclochlainn

Kath. x

Thank you Joy and Kathleen. :)

My head has been a bit fuzzy the last few days (more than usual lol) so I really appreciate you finding that link for me Kathleen. It's very easy to miss good sites and they make things so much easier :)

Thanks again x

Thank you, Kath.

I was just looking at the site that Kath gave us. It mentions:

"There were also journeymen tailors who travelled around the country and stayed at the houses of richer people to make clothes for the whole household."

Now I'm sure that this did happen, my gg grandmother was a dressmaker who used to go & make clothes at richer people's houses. However, I was wondering whether people who wrote this article mistook "journeymen" to mean tailors people who travelled around the country. My interpretation of journeymen is somewhat different:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman

What do people think?

Journeyman these days usually means someone who has completed an apprenticeship but works for someone else. I think the three stages of a trade were:-

Apprentice - someone learning a trade.
Journeyman - someone qualified but working for someone else.
Master - someone with a trade who employed other people.

However I think Journeyman originally meant someone who got paid "by the day" and moved from place to place. I can't remember where I heard this (probably on Genes, lol).

I could be wrong about all of this though.

Kath. x

I think you're right, Kath. Same root as the word 'journal' - from diurnal = daily.

(Just checked my dictionary - it says it is derived from M(edieval) E(nglish) journee, a day's labour, a journeyman being a worker who has learned his trade, or an experienced craftsman of average ability.)