The old adage “It's a man's world” is inherently apparent in genealogy. Until recently only the names and occupations of fathers were included alongside the bride and groom's details on marriage certificates in England and Wales. Censuses and death certificates rarely provide married women's occupations, although workingclass wives invariably contributed to the family income, juggling employment alongside childcare, perhaps as cooks, laundresses or charwomen (cleaners).
Working from home is not a new phenomenon, and before the height of the Industrial Revolution women and their children were at the heart of cottage industries: spinning, weaving, lacemaking, hat making or whatever the regional speciality was. Their occupations might come to light in local newspaper reports and court papers.
In a episode from 2012, criminal records disclosed that the actor Alex Kingston's 4x great grandmother Elizabeth Braham was guilty of running a “house of ill-fame” - that is, a brothel - yet the 1851 census merely showed her as a widowed lodging-house keeper. Running a brothel could earn her up to 10 times more than a servant, and when she died she left a will
