The occupational structure of Northumberland, 1762-1891

"The development of the north-eastern coal field from the sixteenth century onwards occupies a central place in England’s transition to a mineral-based energy economy, which in turn was a fundamental component of the Industrial Revolution. The coal field, which straddled the historic counties of Durham and Northumberland, was the dominant region of coal production throughout the early modern period and remained the most important coal producing area during the Industrial Revolution itself. However, despite Hatcher’s survey of the economic history of the coal field before 1700, as Evans noted, ‘the economic history of the region has not been as fully explored as might be expected.’ This paper is based upon data derived from the militia list of 1762 which covered most of the modern county, data abstracted from Anglican baptism registers for the whole of Northumberland between 1813 and 1820, and published material from the censuses from 1831 to 1891. These datasets permit the study of changes to the male occupational structure of the county from 1762 through to 1891. Northumberland was extremely economically diverse. The 1762 data and the 1813-20 data can be mapped at the level of the parish, and can also be linked to the data published for the twelve registration districts in the county in 1851. It will be possible to chart the development and geography of the coal industry, as well as other important economic activities such as iron-working, shipbuilding and weaving. Away from the coal field, the county was intensely agricultural. By the mid-nineteenth century the farming sector in Northumberland was regarded as amongst the most progressive within England. This may have been related to the highly capitalistic structure of agriculture within the county, which possessed the largest farms in England: in 1851, the average farm size was approximately 250 acres. Farm size statistics are not available for earlier dates but the paper will trace the intensification of capitalist agriculture directly through the ratio of those with farming occupations to those belonging to the farm workforce."