I have noticed that on a 1940 wedding certificate there is no occupation recorded for the wife.
The lady had not been married before and did not have children so at 18 years old and in war time I would have thought she would have been in employment.
Any ideas ?

Phil,
Conscription for unmarried women did not start until 1941, and it was not extended to married women till 1943
Dave

Hi Dave,
Thank you, I thought it started earlier.
That explains things.

The 1939 Register recorded employment so may help.

My aunt married in 1942 and worked for Batchelors canning factory but declined to have that noted on her wedding certificate.
Lyn

It was very common for the bride to not have an occupation recorded.
Dave

Phil, yes that is correct. It was relatively rare for the bride to have an occupation declared. This is quite easy to confirm using our marriages over to the left.
Dave

Just to put it in context it looks like more than 90% of brides have no declared occupation on marriage
Dave

Observations based on our transcription of Walkley St Mary marriages, 1870-2009 (7,029 marriages)

The *first* entry listing a bride's occupation was in 1914 (the 2,781st marriage)

There were short periods when brides' occupations were regularly listed in 1922/23, 1930 and 1933-38

From May 1944 to 1954 only a handful of entries do *not* have brides' occupations

From 1956 to 1965 there are *no* brides' occupations

Since 1965 again most entries have occupations

I conclude the attitudes and practice of individual clerks/ministers has a lot to do with whether this information is asked for and recorded.

Hugh

Marriages which take place in church are recorded in the church registers. Those records are collected every 3 months by the GRO who will issue certificates on request.
The church does not generate a birth cert
Dave