Working Life in the 1899's Pt 3

 

Ok let's move on from being a servant and move on to occupations outside of the home, which were many and varied, if one was lucky to have one.

Looking through old year books and statistical registers of the time one will notice many occupations that no longer exist and those that do still exist may have transformed into something completely different.

Know what a gripman was? No, well I will tell you it was the person who controlled the cable trams in the 1890's but is now an obsolete with the arrival of the electric tram.

Because the horse was the made mode of transport the blacksmith was very important in the city and country alike. Same can be said for saddle and harness-markers, and farriers, were widespread and vital to society that depended on the horse.

Now these professions are considered specialised occupations for the leisure industry.

Jobs in the building industry such as a stonemason became less important with the invention of pre-cast concrete, it was such changes that contributed to the unemployment problems of the late nineteenth century.

Wages varied a bloody lot back then depending on your level of skill and the state of the labour market. In New South Wales in 1899 a skilled brewery worker such as a barrel maker could earn as much as three pounds ten shillings per week. A bottle washer working for the same company would be lucky to make one pound two shillings a week. A blacksmith would make between ten and twelve shillings per day in 1890 and the same in 1898. Victorian year books show that sailors earned seven pounds in 1890 and only six pounds in 1898 that's per month.