As well as the gentry and tradesmen, Pigot's Directory also lists those men we would consider professional men today.
They had to work to earn a living, but they were men who were educated.

Don't forget!
The surnames are first

IMPORTANT! Notice that
all those people listed here
are men!
Most professions were
closed to women in the
Victorian period.

Here we can see the lawyers or attorneys who were trained in the law, the auctioneers who dealt with the sale of livestock and property, and the surgeons who would look after the health of local people for a fee.
All of these men would employ clerks who would one day hope to be professional men themselves. There were few women office workers as there are today. The picture to the right from a Punch magazine of the 1840s shows a clerk enjoying his time outside work.

In early Victorian days the role of the surgeon was changing. Up to this time a surgeon had not had a great deal of training, but he could pull teeth and set broken limbs.
Later on in the reign doctors would get much more training, and the surgeon became the doctor with special training in carrying out operations.

Back to Hay Earning a living menu