The careers pursued by Tattersfield sons have, not surprisingly, been strongly influenced by where they were born.
By far the largest number came from the Dewsbury/Heckmondwike area, in the centre of the Yorkshire heavy woollen district. Many were weavers or clothiers in the early years of records, and the more successful became blanket manufacturers, employing significant work forces. Some had allied trades as fullers, tailors, dyers and warehousemen. There was a sprinkling of farmers and labourers too. Often the trades ran in families.
The early migrants to York (Chart 5), from about 1800, moved to a city sited on a main river, the Ouse. They were mostly watermen. After a couple of generations, this gave way to glass workers, bricklayers and labourers. In Hull (Chart 6) there was a family of butchers.
The earliest known Tattersfield in London (Chart 7) was a sail maker, around 1805-1808, but for the next three generations most of his descendants were fishmongers. One of them is said to have had the nickname “King of Billingsgate”
The first to move to Leeds (Chart 8) carried on as a clothier, but that was not to last. The Lancashire Tattersfields (Chart 9), though apparently started by a waterman, were predominantly tailors in the early years, much more so than their Yorkshire counterparts.
A few Tattersfields chose the army as their career, some ending up in the US Cavalry, as described under “Some Tattersfields who Emigrated from England”. Then came conscription in World War 1 and again in World War 2, with a vast expansion of the number of Tattersfields who became temporarily involved in warfare.
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