ABERDEEN-L Archives

Archiver > ABERDEEN > 2010-01 > 1263746305


From: Gavin Bell <>
Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Occupation help
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:38:25 +0000
References: <450233.59504.qm@web26407.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <450233.59504.qm@web26407.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>


wrote:

>
> 3 . House proprietor- House owner and in this case it is likely a
> business was run from the house eg lodging etc.

I presume the original query concerned information from Census entries?
If so, bear in mind that the relevant column asks for "Rank,
Profession or Occupation". It is possible that the entry "House
Proprietor" was intended, not as an "occupation" but as a "rank".

In times past, it was unusual for people to own their own houses, rather
than renting them, and in the 19th century it is not uncommon to come
across one of the rare house owners using this as a sort of badge of status.

In the "planned village" of New Pitsligo, for example, one of the
come-ons given to attract people to settle there was the opportunity to
own their "feu". The "feu" is the piece of land on which the house is
built, and this, rather than the actual stone and mortar, is what until
very recently, changed hands when a house was sold. Possession of one's
own feu was not by any stretch something you could make much money out
of, but in the Kirkyard of New Pitsligo, you will find numerous persons
described, not by their trade, as "shoemaker" or "merchant" or
"blacksmith", but by what they saw as their elevated rank, as "feuar".


Gavin Bell

This thread: