Occupation of Widows on Death Certificates

Lionheart

The death certificates I have received for those who were widows at time of death always show their occupation as "widow of (late husbands occupation)".

In my case the widow worked either as nurse or as a seamstress after her husband died. I'm talking about the early 1900's

Were there any situations where the actual wife's occupation was put on the death cert or was it always ignored in favour of the husband's?

shanew

I have one where a widow's occupation is mentioned, my gtgtgt-grandmother was a nurse/midwife. This is not mentioned on her marriage cert, but does appear on her death cert. She attended the birth of my grandmother..

Jellybaby1

I have a birth record and the next door neighbour was entered as 'midwife' as she was called in to assist help deliver the child. She was not an official or trained nurse or midwife, she just had the experience of bearing eight children of her own so she knew the job inside and out! Oops, sorry, no pun intended! Also, another of my family was a dressmaker but because she worked from home and didn't pay tax on income she never entered that on official forms. However, as she only earned a pittance she would never have been eligible to pay tax anyway, but she didn't know that and kept it from the authorities as she was so scared she'd be arrested or thrown into jail for non payment of tax, poor dear.