Yesterday, Eve Read (Archive Specialist at the Norfolk Heritage Centre) gave a fascinating lunchtime talk in The Archive Centre, on Women’s Lives in the Census. She explained enumeration practices and the purpose of the census, the ways in which suffragettes protested in the census, and some common inaccuracies such as age and occupation. She told us about family and working life, even bringing this to life with a recording of a horsehair weaver (from the Norfolk Sound Archive).
Of particular interest to me was a rare example of an 1821 census, for the parish of Bradfield. This parish was part of the Gunton estate. The General Register Office did not take responsibility for the census until 1841 so this early census would have been taken by the overseers of the poor and can be found in parish records at the Norfolk Record Office (NRO PD47/26).
Following this theme, I thought it would be interesting to focus on estate records which might reveal more about the lives of women in rural Norfolk.
Most of the papers relating to labour on the estate focus on building and repair work but there is one hidden gem, which lists the wages of household servants and gamekeepers, 1822-39 (GTN 3/1/16/38). The pages at the beginning and end of this volume are extremely fragile, having been kept in damp conditions before we received it, so it is undergoing conservation treatment and we hope to make a microfilm surrogate available. In 1829, a nursemaid paid just £8 8s. per year and Miss Harbord’s maid was paid £16 16s. To put this in context, a postillion was paid £10 10s. per year to guide the horses pulling the Harbords’ carriage, the butler was paid £87 10s. and Pierre le François, the cook, was paid £105.
Gunton Hall servants' and gamekeepers' wages, 1822-39 (GTN 3/1/16/38)
The series of pay sheets for labourers such as gardeners, sawyers and bricklayers tends to focus on maintenance and repair work carried out by men.
Paysheet for the fortnight ending 30 May 1901 (GTN 3/1/16/13)
I discussed these paysheets and various other sources in my recent lunchtime talk, A Norfolk Estate and its Tenants. I have turned my notes into an online resource, which can be read by clicking here.
The agent’s correspondence gives a vivid picture of the social history of women in the Gunton estate.
On 21 September 1861, William Windham Baring, Gunton agent, wrote a letter, in his capacity as a magistrate, advising on the case of the famaily. It appears that they were keeping their house in a ‘very dirty state’ but that unless it affected their neighbours nothing could be done about it. On Mr Payne’s lifestyle, the agent commented
‘… if a man with £1 per week chooses to deprive himself of the necessities of life I am not aware of any means of punishing him for so doing.’
The more serious issue was the hint of possible domestic abuse, with William Windham Baring stating,
‘If he threatens his wife or materially ill treats her in any way on her complaint a summons might be granted and the man punished.’ (his emphasis, GTN 3/7/2/2, pp.128-130)
In the same letter-book, the agent applies for a summons against a woman caught snaring a hare. He describes this as a ‘new dodge’, in which a man sets the snare and sends a woman to fetch the hare, assuming that she will not be charged (GTN 3/7/2/2, p.267).
guntonarchive 
I was particularly interested in the notes of your talk and especially the farmer Edward Green. My g grandfather John Knights was a steward at “Mr Greens Farm” at Happisburgh in 1903 – was this farm part of the Gunton estate? The Knights family came from Antingham.
That is very interesting. The names Green and Knights appear in the Gunton rentals. Happisburgh was not part of the Gunton estate, so it may be difficult to establish whether there was any connexion. It might be worth having a look at NROCAT, our online catalogue.