Recently, a list of intriguing occupations from the 1881 census was shared on Twitter. Included in the list are the dangerous-sounding “Electric bath attendant”, the flexible “Gymnast to house painter”, and energetic “Running about”. Each of them seems to raise further questions.
The occupations had originally been noted by the London Genealogical Society, and tweeters wondered whether this was an earlier incarnation of the Society of Genealogists (founded 1911).
Honourable Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (Hon FSG), Anthony J. Camp has explored the London Genealogical Society in depth in an article on his website, ‘Diary of a Genealogist, 1820-2010: The background, foundation and development of the Society of Genealogists and genealogy in London’. Suffice to say, the London Genealogical Society (LGS) was not connected to the Society of Genealogists.
The LGS dated from 1846. Camp wrote that the “London Genealogical Society’ had been launched, a notice in the Morning Post for 11 March 1846 proclaiming that, ‘The Council will proceed to the next election of Fellows, Members, &c., on the 18th instant. Candidates are requested to forward their cards without delay. As a list of the corresponding members for each county is nearly complete, gentlemen desirous of being appointed for the county in which they reside, previous to a general visitation, are requested to apply to the Marshal as early as possible. Prospectuses and rules may be had on application – Genealogical Record Office, 32, Cockspur Street, Pall Mall’ [314].”
On 4 March 1846, Eddowes’s Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, page 2 published the following announcement:
As Camp reports, the London Genealogical Society was short-lived, with other, more reputable organisations emerging over the years. Whether it still existed at the time of the 1881 census is unclear. The source above may warrant further investigation.
Although other genealogy associations appeared in the London area, it was only with the foundation of the Society of Genealogists in the twentieth century, that the UK had an organisation that could compare with others overseas, such as the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), which had been founded in 1845.
Sources
- Anthony J. Camp Hon FSG, ‘Diary of a Genealogist, 1820-2010: The background, foundation and development of the Society of Genealogists and genealogy in London’, https://anthonyjcamp.com/.
- 4 March 1846, Eddowes’s Journal, and General Advertiser for Shropshire, page 2
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