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Occupation listed as 'In Private Life'

Occupation listed as 'In Private Life'

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:27PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Hill
I have a death certificate for a lady in 1886 who was married with one child. Her death certificate lists her occupation as 'In Private Life'. I have never seen this before. Is this the same as 'home duties' or is there another meaning?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Occupation listed as 'In Private Life'

Posted: 30 Nov 2014 5:40AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hiya. Just came across this very same thing. Did you ever get an answer? Thanks

Re: Occupation listed as 'In Private Life'

Posted: 6 Dec 2014 2:24AM GMT
Classification: Query
Since few women were employed in 1886, although some did work as domestics, my guess is that this just means that the lady was a housewife and not employed for money, but this of course is only a guess.

Re: Occupation listed as 'In Private Life'

Posted: 10 Jun 2015 5:59PM GMT
Classification: Query
That's fascinating! Do you happen to know what her financial status was? Is there a way to check to see if any other death certificates have it written like that? What about Census records, what do those say? Finally, what nationality is this person?

These are all questions that may matter. For example, most Americans referred to house wives as "keeping house" about that time but the English may word it differently. Also, if she was wealthy she could just be living on her own day to day. She wouldn't be 'keeping house' because she probably had housekeepers. If she were poor, then staying at home would not be an option, she would have to be working in which case this may indicate something they wouldn't want to record, such as a prostitute (no offense, of course).

As you can see, figuring this stuff out is like painting a portrait. Without the rest of the picture you cannot really tell what it is.

Good luck and if you find out, please post back because I'd love to hear!
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