What sort of traders lived in Trumpington and what trades were carried out in Trumpington during the 19th century?
This page is one of a series about traders , based on a presentation given at a Group meeting on 11 October 2012.
Extract from Kelly’s Directory, 1883.
A trader is defined as a person involved in commerce or trading and a trade is the practice of an occupation, usually a mercantile occupation or skilled handicraft. The Victoria County History chapter for Trumpington summarises the evidence for traders through the 19th century:
“Trumpington was perhaps too near Cambridge to retain many specialist craftsmen in modern times. … In 1794 the inhabitants included a blacksmith, a carpenter, a mason, two wheelwrights, three tailors, and four shoemakers. In the early 19th century there were (besides c. 85 families maintained by farming), 15-20, and by 1831 30, supported by trades and crafts. In the mid 19th century there were usually 3 or 4 tailors, 4 to 6 shoemakers, 1 or 2 wheelwrights, sawyers, and coopers, 2 or 3 blacksmiths, up to 8 carpenters, and in 1851 even a cabinet maker. The village smithy was still in use in the 1930s, when the last blacksmith had been working there for 50 years. Most other crafts disappeared after the 1870s, although one bricklayer started a small builder’s business which survived into the 1930s, as did one wheelwright’s workshop. From the mid 19th century to the 1930s the village had one or two each of butchers, bakers, grocers, and other shops, and from the 1920s a garage.”
There is extensive evidence of traders in local directories and the censuses . For example, Kellyâ €™s directory for 1883 has entries for Henry Edward Dockerill (baker) and John Galley and William Saunders (butchers) in the ‘Commercial’ section, while the 1851 census includes Isaac and Rebecca Ellwood (master butcher) and Henry, Mary and Horace Peck (plumber and painter) living in London Road (the High Street).
The census entries from 1841 to 1901 include occupation information but there are problems in interpreting this:
• census entry gives the place of residence: the place of trade was not necessarily the same;
• an individual may have lived in Trumpington but ‘traded’ (worked) elsewhere (e.g. Cambridge)
• the censuses have a great diversity of occupation terms, but the entries are the terms used by individuals, how they thought of themselves, not a formal classification;
• different terms may refer to the same occupations;
• individuals may have had two or more occupations;
• families may have shared a trade and the degree of involvement of the wife and older children may be unclear
Occupation terms in the censuses for Trumpington from 1841-1901 include:
• shopkeeper, merchant
• grocer, provision merchant
• butcher, baker, miller
• fish & fruit dealer
• publican/brewer/innkeeper
• spirit merchant/wine merchant, victualler
• maltster
• dairyman/milkman/milk woman
• farmer/farm labourer, etc.
1. Butchers
Taking the evidence for butchers in Trumpington, 1841-1901, the number declined markedly during that period.
Chronology
1841 census
Isaac Ellwood, aged [30], High Street, butcher
Richard Heffer, aged [35], High Street, butcher
John Hulyer, aged [20], High Street, butcher
Swan Ogle, aged [35], butcher
1847 Directory
Isaac Ellwood, ‘Red Lion’
1851 Directory
Isaac Ellwood, vict. ‘Red Lion’ [‘victualler’ here, but described as ‘butcher’ in the 1851 census]
William Allen [Alin], aged 18, Cambridge Road, butcher
Isaac Bryant, aged 21, London Road, butcher
Isaac Ellwood, aged 43, London Road, master butcher
Rebecca Ellwood, aged 39, London Road, master butcher
John Thoms Ellwood, aged 15, London Road, butcher
Mary Goodliffe, butcher’s widow
John Hulyer, aged 36, Dagling End, butcher
George Marshall, aged 21, Dagling End, butcher
Thomas Willimott, aged 55, Cambridge Road, butcher
1854 London Gazette
Isaac Ellwood, Red Lion Public House, Licensed Victualler and Butcher, insolvent debtor
1858 Directory
Isaac Bryant, Unicorn & butcher
1861 census
[Isaac Ellwood, aged 53, living in Peterborough, butcher]
Isaac Bryant, aged 29, Church Street, inn keeper [no reference to ‘butcher’]
George Marshall, aged 30, Cambridge Road, butcher
1871 census
William Saunders, aged 41, London Road, butcher & shopkeeper
[in 1861, William Saunders, aged 31, London Road, labourer]
1881 census
John Galley, aged 35, London Road, butcher
William Saunders, aged 51, London Road, butcher & general shop
Charles Saunders, aged 17, London Road, butcher
William Saunders, aged 15, London Road, butcher
1883 Directory
John Galley, butcher
William Saunders, butcher
1891 census
William Saunders, aged 62, London Road, farmer & butcher
1892 Directory
William Saunders sen., butcher & shopkeeper
William Saunders jun., Red Lion PH
1896 Directory
William Saunders sen., butcher & shopkeeper
1901 census
–
Examples
Issac Ellwood
1841 census: High Street, butcher
1847 directory: Red Lion
1851 directory: victualler, Red Lion
1851 census: London Road, master butcher with wife and son also butchers
1854: insolvent debtor, details in the London Gazette
1861 census: butcher in Peterborough
The High Street with the War Memorial and Red Lion, 1920s-30s. Cambridgeshire Collection.
1851 census: London Road, butcher
1858 directory: Unicorn & butcher
1861 census: Church Street, innkeeper
London Gazette entry for Isaac Ellwood, 1854.
The Unicorn public house, May 2009. Andrew Roberts.
1861 census: London Road, labourer
1871 census: London Road, butcher & shopkeeper
1881 census: London Road, butcher & general shop, with 2 sons
1883 Directory: butcher
1891 census: London Road, farmer & butcher
1892 Directory: William Saunders sen., butcher & shopkeeper; William Saunders jun., Red Lion
1896 Directory: William Saunders sen., butcher & shopkeeper
Chronology
1841 census
–
1847 Directory
William Bebee, baker and shopkeeper
1851 Directory
William Bebee, shopkeeper
1851 census
William Bebee, aged 32, London Road, master baker, born St Ives
[in 1841, William Bebee, aged [20], ag lab, Brampton, with parents]
1858 Directory
William Bebee, baker & grocer
1861 census
William Bebee, aged 43, London Road, master baker & grocer
William W. Bebee, aged 18, London Road, baker
1871 census
William Bebee, aged 53, London Road, baker & Post Office
Rosamond Bebee, aged 53, London Road, baker
William W. Bebee, aged 26, London Road, baker
1881 census
Rosamond Bebee, aged 55, London Road, widow
Frederick Bebee, aged 20, London Road, baker
1883 Directory
Henry Edward Dockerill, baker [not in 1881 census]
1891 census
Albert Rayner, aged 29, London Road (between St Mary’s and the Green Man), baker
Henry J. Saunders, aged 19, London Road, baker [son of the butcher]
1892 Directory
Albert Rayner, baker
1896 Directory
Albert Rayner, baker
1901 census
Henry J. Saunders, aged 29, Cambridge Road, baker & postmaster (see Post Office page)
George Rayner, aged 17, Whitelock’s Yard, baker’s errand boy [not Albert’s son, no trace of Albert]
3. Grocers
Chronology
1841
George Linnard, aged 21, High Street
1851
Thomas Marshall, aged 21, London Road
1861
–
1881
–
1891
Arthur King, aged 28, Rose Cottage, London Road
1901
Arthur Bishop, aged 50, Edwinstowe, Chaucer Road (wholesale grocer)
Case study: Trumpington residents who were crafts people
Occupation terms in the censuses for Trumpington from 1841-1901 include:
• blacksmith, wheelwright
• builder, bricklayer, plumber, stoneworker
• carpenter/joiner, sawyer, cabinetmaker
• painter, cooper
• shoemaker, boot maker, cordwainer, saddler
• draper, dressmaker/Mantua maker, milliner, hosier, seamstress, needlewoman
• tailor/outfitter, collar maker
• thresher, hurdle maker
• jeweller, silversmith, coppersmith
1. Bootmaker/Shoemaker/Cordwainer
In the later 19th century, shoemaking was a declining craft as industrial production became dominant. It had been a home-based craft.
Chronology
1841 Census
John Haslop, aged 34, shoemaker
William Skinner, aged 55, High Street, shoemaker
Thomas Winnel, aged 70, High Street, shoemaker
1851 Directory
William Smith, shoemaker
1851 Census
James Smith, aged 24, Dagling End, shoemaker
Isaac Barlemann, aged 19, Church Street, shoemaker
David Beaumont, aged 22, Cambridge Road, shoemaker
Edward Rayner, aged 23, Church Street, shoemaker
William Willson, aged 18, London Road, shoemaker
William Smith, aged 36, London Road, shoemaker
William Skinner, aged 65, London Road, shoemaker
1858 Directory
Peter Rayner, shoemaker
1861 Census
Peter Rayner, aged 27, Workhouse Yard, boot & shoemaker
John Harradine, aged 26, London Road, shoemaker
Robert Whitelock, aged 56, Cambridge Road, shoemaker
1871 Census
Charles Stevenson, aged 28, Turnpike House, London Road, cordwainer & toll collector
1881 Census
James Kay, aged 42, Coach & Horses, London Road, publican and shoemaker
1891 Census
James Kay, aged 52, 8 Alpha Terrace, boot maker
1892 Directory
James Kay, boot maker
1896 Directory
James Kay, boot maker
1901 Census
James Kay, aged 62, 7 Alpha Terrace, boot maker
Examples
Peter Rayner
1858 directory: shoemaker
1861 census: Workhouse Yard [Whitelocks Yard], boot & shoemaker
1881 census: Coach & Horses, London Road, publican and shoemaker
1891 census: 8 Alpha Terrace, boot maker
1892 directory: boot maker
1896 directory: boot maker
1901 census: 7 Alpha Terrace, boot maker
Cottages and yard (thought to be Whitlock’s Yard in 1880s). From a photograph used by Percy Robinson during lectures in the 1920s-1940s.
A delivery at the Coach & Horses, c. 1900. Cambridgeshire Collection.
7-8 Alpha Terrace (original numbering, now 17 and 19), October 2012. Andrew Roberts.