Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi All,
This taken from England 1911 census, does anybody know what a Phrenologist is? If its any help her husband is down as a Photographer. Another interesting job, Hair pad maker. I've worked that one out! In those days it was the fashion for ladies to wear their hair up and back. I would like to see a list of old occupations if anyone can help.
Regards to all.
seeker 8041

I googled it


Phrenologist

a psychological theory or analytical method based on the belief that certain mental faculties and character traits are indicated by the configurations of the skull.


If you google old occupations you will get lots of lists

A few years ago I was given a book called A dictionary of trades, titles and occupations by Colin Waters

For a bit of fun at Southport Group that year, we had an evening about Old Occupations. They divided into small groups and were given a list of occupations and 3 choices of what the job was. Some of the occupation names were strange!!

This should explain what it is...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology

And this is a useful site.
http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/

You sometimes see 'heads' on display or for sale, marked with areas of some meaning or other.

daggers wrote:You sometimes see 'heads' on display or for sale, marked with areas of some meaning or other.

This print is on eBay!

Hi All
Thanks to everyone who answered my query. Sorry for delay in replying. MaryA thats a good site for old occupations. My decendants in Yorkshire were in the wool trade, so there's a lot of jobs to look up!
Regards to all
seeker 8041

It was good to match a face to your name the other week seeker

The programme on William Roache in the Who do you think...series this week mentioned phrenology and showed one of the 'heads'.
D

Yes it did, I found that very interesting, especially when they said there were a number of occupations not allowed for trading there, including phrenologist, palmist etc, made it sound pretty much of a charlatan.

Hi
You've got me thinking, with one a Photographer and the spouse a Phrenologist, I could imigine these two running a business on the seafront somewhere. Having your photo taken then getting dragged in to have your skull examined.
seeker 8041