Chapter II · WOMEN IN THE TRADES.
Reading edition
Census figures.
Before 1841 the census occupation tables do not state the numbers employed in the detailed trades, and even in that year we find either that no separate return was made for some of the industries with which this volume deals, or that no women were employed at all. Presumably, therefore, previous statistics would not have shown that women were employed in these industries to any appreciable extent.
The following tables show the employment of women in England and Wales and Scotland in the Printing and Kindred Trades according to the census returns from 1841 to 1901. The figures must be used with caution, as they include employers as well as employed (an error, however, which is immaterial in the case of women workers). Subsidiary helpers are also classified with those actually entitled to be regarded as members of the trade, and the tables do not discriminate sufficiently between the various subdivisions of occupations. These last two errors considerably affect the figures relating to women. In the bookbinding section, for instance,[4] the figures are altogether misleading, since by far the greater number of women included as bookbinders are really paper and book-folders, and are no more entitled to the name bookbinder than a bricklayer's labourer is to that of bricklayer.
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Census 1841. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Booksellers, bookbinders, etc.8,8732,035
Printers15,582161
Lithographers, etc.66712
Paper manufacture4,375 1,287
Paper rulers11316
Paper stainers1,24392
Type founders6296
Vellum binders1313
Census 1851. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders5,5013,926
Printers, etc.23,5683,926
Lithographers (Great Britain)1,9846
Paper manufacture6,123 4,686
Paper stainers 2,001Not enumerated.
Census 1861. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders6,5565,364
Printers30,171419
Lithographers, etc.3,588—
Paper manufacture 7,7465,611
Machine rulers56454
Envelope makers 179 860
Paper stainers1,556399
Type founders86311
Census 1871. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders7,917 7,557
Printers44,073 741
Lithographers, etc.3,785Not enumerated.
Paper manufacture 10,1426,630
Envelope makersNot enumerated.1,477
Paper stainers 1,311448
Census 1881. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males. Females.
Bookbinders9,505 10,592
Printers59,088 2,202
Lithographers, etc6,009 147
Paper manufacture10,352 8,277
Envelope makers175 1,933
Paper stainers1,822 445
Type cutters and founders1,137 32
Census 1891.
Employers. Employed. Working on Own Account. Others not Specified. TOTAL.
BookbindersM.61510,03835547911,487
BookbindersF.7213,4017470214,249
PrintersM.3,97973,288 1,052 3,64081,959
PrintersF.1584,13332 204 4,527
Lithographers, etc.M.4997,4863592928,636
Lithographers, etc.F.9309724349
Paper manufactureM.39611,0819744012,014
Paper manufactureF.127,598293908,029
Envelope makersM.9260614289
Envelope makersF.22,339131042,458
Paper stainersM.1351,86160782,134
Paper stainersF.10370716403
Type cutters and foundersM.35 1,20423521,314
Type cutters and foundersF.1490555
Census 1901.
Employers. Employed. Working on Own Account. Others not Specified. TOTAL.
BookbindersM.55411,60938811312,664
BookbindersF.4618,9338216219,223
PrintersM.4,80589,3061,60377496,488
PrintersF.1179,46348659,693
Lithographers, etc.M.4969,6484459310,682
Lithographers, etc.F.71,0151471,043
Paper manufactureM.33714,920475515,359
Paper manufactureF.118,8157188,851
Envelope makersM.1435213370
Envelope makersF.63,1131233,143
Paper stainersM.451,92834252,032
Paper stainersF.228014287
Type cutters and foundersM.351,22315141,287
Type cutters and foundersF.018102183
Stationary manufactureM.3523,91091284,381
Stationary manufactureF.244,61512474,698
SCOTLAND.
Census 1841. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Booksellers, bookbinders, etc.2,164283
Printers2,44621
Lithographers, etc.2341
Paper manufacture732738
Paper rulers618
Paper stainers311
Type founders292—
Census 1851. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders1,091710
Printers, etc.3,526 710
Paper manufacture1,2652,159
Paper stainers49Not enumerated.
Census 1861. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders1,174100
Printers4,40070
Lithographers, etc.1,1012
Engravers6516
Bookfolders21,094
Machine rulers17118
Paper manufacture1,6482,773
Envelope makers5309
Paper stainers77—
Type founders434—
Census 1871. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders1,293174
Printers5,476113
Lithographers, etc.1,12536
Print and map colourers19257
Bookfolders— 1,646
Paper manufacture2,7703,504
Envelope makers7412
Paper rulers214100
Paper stainers11050
Type founders496—
Census 1881. (Employers and Employed included.)
Males.Females.
Bookbinders1,433 2,587[x]
Printers6,936 839
Lithographers, etc.1,269 153
Map and print colourers and sellers50 41
Paper rulers188 115
Paper manufacture3,363 4,612
Envelope makers32 580
Paper stainers34 97
Type cutters and founders471 71
[x] Bookfolders are included here.
Census 1891.
Employers. Employed. Working on Own Account. Others not Specified. TOTAL.
BookbindersM.68 1,41313 22 1,516
BookbindersF.3 2,8653 18 2,889
PrintersM.322 8,36769 84 8,842
PrintersF.5 1,4171 7 1,430
Lithographers, etc.M.109 1,51622 10 1,657
Lithographers, etc.F.— 3971 2 400
Paper rulersM.10 3151 13 339
Paper rulersF.1 192— 4 197
Paper manufactureM.107 4,33221 51 4,511
Paper manufactureF.3 4,5464 66 4,619
Envelope makersM.3 332 — 38
Envelope makersF.— 6981 — 699
Paper stainersM.6 1131 — 120
Paper stainersF.— 28— — 28
Type cutters and foundersM.9 4963 4 512
Type cutters and foundersF.— 75— — 75
Census 1901.
Employers. Employed. Working on Own Account. Others not Specified. TOTAL.
BookbindersM. 67 1,422 16 — 1,505
BookbindersF. 4 3,522 4 — 3,530
Printers.M. 378 9,643 54 2 10,077
Printers.F. 7 2,852 1 — 2,860
Lithographers, etc.M. 87 1,640 25 — 1,752
Lithographers, etc.F. 2 728 1 — 731
Paper manufactureM. 103 4,860 6 1 5,000
Paper manufactureF. 2 4,653 — — 4,655
Envelope makersM. 4 53 — — 57
Envelope makersF. 1 895 — — 896
Paper stainersM. 1 120 1 — 122
Paper stainersF. — 52 1 — 53
Type cutters and foundersM. 6 419 5 — 430
Type cutters and foundersF. — 53 — — 53
Stationery manufactureM. 22 95 1 — 118
Stationery manufactureF. 1 492 3 — 496
Chief Factory Inspector's figures.
In 1896 the Home Office began to publish as an appendix to the Chief Factory Inspector's Report a series of figures of occupation which were exceedingly valuable for purposes of comparison, and in time would have been the best existing statistical index of industrial movements. Unfortunately these figures have not been published since 1899; but for the years that they were issued, those relating to the printing trades were as follows:—
FACTORY INSPECTOR'S REPORTS.
Paper, Printing, Stationery, Etc. (Includes all the industries under this section.)
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895 Factories. 159,987 63,626 123,895 42,904
Workshops. 3,355 4,692 2,224 3,073
Total. 163,342 68,318 126,119 45,977
1896 Factories. 169,500 68,769 131,166 45,632
Workshops. 4,508 5,919 3,152 3,898
Total. 174,008 74,688 134,318 49,530
1897 Factories. 171,151 69,898 134,221 45,479
Workshops. 4,458 6,305 3,192 4,192
Total. 175,609 76,203 137,413 49,671
1898-99[x] Factories. 173,964 72,833 137,504 46,681
[x] Factories only.
SOME DETAILS OF ABOVE.
Paper-making.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 21,26311,008 18,2718,935
1896 22,09111,744 18,7779,403
1897 22,17411,309 19,0869,138
1898-99[x] 22,34011,506 19,1589,197
[x] Factories only.
Bookbinding.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 11,79116,098 9,30410,802
1896 13,30017,159 10,58011,498
1897 14,66120,877 11,70513,985
1898-99[x] 14,89322,555 12,04614,653
[x] Factories only.
Letter-press Printing.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 104,16219,974 80,23212,699
1896 104,86020,634 80,71912,732
1897 100,62914,473 79,1248,725
1898-99[x] 102,80013,348 81,5988,283
[x] Factories only.
Lithography, Engraving and Photography.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 12,7894,516 9,0242,735
Workshops 2,2261,425 1,494943
1896Factories 14,8545,252 10,5723,076
Workshops 3,1162,146 2,2241,437
1897Factories 17,9606,278 12,8673,451
Workshops 2,7942,115 2,0761,477
1898-99[x]Factories 17,7376,457 12,7273,522
[x] Factories only.
Machine Ruling.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 664482 408170
Workshops 233134 9745
1896Factories 981599 594197
Workshops 269168 13559
1897Factories 1,7641,414 1,115538
Workshops 322166 16357
1898-99[x]Factories 2,0621,571 1,328534
[x] Factories only.
Paper Staining, Colouring and Enamelling.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1895Factories 4,254983 2,916540
Workshops 10228 7416
1896Factories 4,4681,065 3,114577
Workshops 13870 11142
1897Factories 4,7951,368 3,395784
Workshops 4066 3338
1898-99[x]Factories 4,8741,320 3,529746
[x] Factories only.
Envelope Making.
Total Male. Total Female. Male over 18. Female over 18.
1897Factories 1,2034,156 8962,865
Workshops 37292 25191
1898-99[x]Factories 1,4054,996 1,0303,313
[x] Factories only.
These figures must not be compared with the census returns as they relate only to those establishments making reports to the Factory Inspectors under the Factory and Workshop Law.