Making an Irish Free State City – Insights into occupation 1926

The 1926 Census was the first in Ireland in which complete and distinct occupational and industrial distributions of the population were recorded. The General Report, published in 1926, and digitised now on the Central Statistics Office website outlines that in previous censuses the classification used for jobs was a mixed one, perhaps rather more occupational than industrial. As a consequence, in 1926 it was not possible to establish comparisons with previous censuses on a purely industrial or occupational basis.

The Industries theme of the 1926 census recorded that 1,223,014 persons who were “at work” were recorded and classified according to the industry in which they were engaged in. The business of their employers if they were employees was recorded, or their own business, or they were employers or working on their own account. A notable exception occurred in the case of private domestic servants who were allocated to the ‘personal service’ industry.

Almost exactly two-thirds of the employed population in the Irish Free State were ‘producers’ with 53% of those involved in agricultural production. Notably, there were 648,575 persons engaged in agriculture, and of these 646,295 persons were working on farms. The remaining 2,280 were engaged in gardening, forestry, etc. Only one-fifth of the farmers were employers of labour.

In terms of those employed on farms, for every 100 farmers there were 98 persons assisting relatives and 42 employees. The proportion of relatives assisting increased regularly with size of farm from 70 per 100 farmers on holdings of 1-5 acres to 120 on holdings of 100-200 acres. Employees increased more rapidly again to 371 on holdings of 200 acres and over.

About one-half of the agricultural population were engaged on farms less than 50 acres in Leinster and Munster, while in the other provinces about two-thirds are on farms less than 30 acres. In the Irish Free State there were 53 persons engaged in agriculture per 1,000 acres of crops and pasture.

There were striking differences between the provinces not only in the proportions of agriculturists, but also in the proportions of persons engaged in general production, in distribution, in professions and in personal service. The difference between Leinster and Munster and the other provinces was due in part to the fact that the cities in these provinces performed services for the whole country.

Productive industries were well distributed all over the country – dressmaking, 9,223; sawmilling, 3,251; carpentry, 7,977; coopering, 377; shoe-forging, 6,452; sheet metal working, 962; carriages, carts, motor car bodies, making, 1,767; building and contracting (local authorities), 10,703.

In commerce and finance, 114,237 persons were employed. By far the most important groups were trading in grocery and provisions, with 19,495 people. In the general drapery trade, 15,040 persons were employed.

Next in order of size were the fresh meat trade, with 5,721 employees, general stores, with 5,223 employees, chemists’ shops, with 4,582 employees, trading in metals and tools, with 4,521 employees, and trading in coal with 4,408 employees.

The remaining large industrial groups, public administration and defence, professions and personal service were more diverse again. In the group public administration and defence, there were 76,146 persons employed, 61,563 were employed by the central govt in education, in posts and telegraphs, in the civic guard, and in other government departments such as local government.

In terms of jobs for young people, 71% of all boys 14 or 15 years of age were employed in agriculture. Large numbers of the boys were described as agricultural labourers (1,505 living in and 1,473 living out). Of the 5,102 boys entering non-agricultural occupations between 13 and 15 nearly a third (1,583) become messengers and a large number (579) become shop assistants.

A total of 48% of men between 25 and 34 years of age were employed in agriculture. A high level - 82% - of men over 70 were employed. The comparatively large percentage of old persons engaged in agriculture was largely due to the older persons being the “survivors of larger rural populations in Ireland”.

Only about a third of the girls taking up work between 13 and 15 years of age entered agriculture. Of the 5,894 entering non-agricultural occupations at this age nearly two-thirds (3,723) become domestic servants, a large number (663) take up sewing, dressmaking, etc, and 378 become shop assistants.

About one-tenth of teenage males and females entered ‘personal service’, which included hotels, public houses, hair-dressing, etc, as well as private domestic service. In commerce, about 6% went into ‘public administration' and ‘defence’ and about 3% each of male and female teens took up transport jobs.

An interesting statistic highlighted in the General Report was a split of occupations for those with Roman Catholic and Protestant religion. Of the Civic Guards, 98% were Roman Catholics. On the Protestant side, 7.5% of the occupied males were of this religion. They made up 28.8% of all male clerks (barring public administration). They formed 42.9% of the clerks in insurance, 40-3% of brewery clerks, 36.4% of bank clerks, etc.

To be continued…

May 2026 historical walking tours with Kieran: All tours free, 2 hours, no booking required.

Friday evening, 15 May: Cork Through the Ages, An Introduction to the Historical Development of Cork City; meet at the National Monument, Grand Parade at 6.30pm.

Sunday afternoon, 17 May: The South Bank – The South Parish and its Histories, meet at the Ronnie Herlihy Pocket Park, Langford Row, just opposite intersection of High Street, Summerhill South and Douglas Street at 2pm.

Sunday evening, 24 May: The Lough and its Curiosities; meet at green area at northern green of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough, Lough Church end at 6.30pm.