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Find out how your female ancestors might have earned money at home.
Society accepted that the man of the house would be the breadwinner but many families struggled to manage on the income that this provided. The responsibilities of running the household and childcare meant that opportunities for women to make a financial contribution were limited. One possibility was for women to undertake piece-work, which could be carried out at home. The pay was directly related to output, so, to maximise the income, whole families might assist. The highly skilled practitioners could earn more than their labouring husbands but it involved long hours and might have a detrimental impact on the women’s health.
We will look at some of the more popular ways in which our female ancestors might have earned money, focusing on straw plaiting, lace making, gloving and button making. After a brief overview of home-working in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the history of each industry will be summarised, followed by an account of the processes involved and the health hazards that might result from protracted periods spent at this task.
July 2025
Dr. Janet Few is an experienced family, social and community historian who has presented throughout the UK, overseas and at sea. She has written several books of interest to genealogists and contributes to local and family history journals. She also writes historical fiction.
Working as an historical interpreter, Janet spends time living in the seventeenth century as her alter ego, Mistress Agnes. You can read her very interesting blog, ‘the history interpreter’ online. Janet manages Swords and Spindles, a company providing living history presentations.
Janet is currently serving as the president of the Family History Federation. She is heavily involved in the work of family history societies and was awarded the Society of Genealogists certificate of recognition in 2020 for her work.
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