Cambridge District Scout Archive
In the 1940’s W T Thurbon, long standing Secretary of the District compiled the following list of the given occupations of leaders, past and present for the use of the Executive Committee.
The parameters of the list are not clear from the notes. Clearly from other sources more than one Scouter on National Service was involved in Cambridge. WTT may have ignored war time roles. Whether the list is for those active with scout sections or includes those in District roles is not stated.
| Occupation | Past | Present | Total |
| Agriculture | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Accountancy, Administration and Office Work | 12 | 16 | 28 |
| Banking | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Civil Service | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| Local Government | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| Medicine and Nursing | 5 | 7 | 21 |
| Holy Orders | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Teachers, including University | 19 | 18 | 37 |
| University Servants (Non clerical) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Building and allied Trades | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Draughtsman | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Instrument Makers | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Radio and Electricians | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| Engineers (including PO Engineers)(not Radio) | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Undergraduates and students | 16 | 43 | 59 |
| Housewives | 9 | 9 | 18 |
| Hairdressers | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Retail trades | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| Tailoring and Dressmaking | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Surveyor | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Boat builder | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Metallurgist | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| N S {National Service?} | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| RAF | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Printer | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| WRAC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Insurance | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Store ……… | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Travellers etc. {travelling salesmen} | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Factory | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Horticulture (Adam was a gardener, …. is mainly Eve) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Bookbinding | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Youth Hostel | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Glass blower | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Milk ……….. | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Research Chemist | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Van Driver | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 126 | 156 | 282 |
Jobs
The list of occupations reflects both the Town and the University. The Instrument makers, radio engineers, and glass blowers all stem from service industries to the university or from industries that stemmed from university expertise. Both Pye and Cambridge Instruments were major ‘high tech’ industries.
Another list gives reasons for leaving by women, presumably on the return of warrant. In these lists he used a separate set of divisions of occupations to that given in his compilation of Occupations past and present. The additional categories are in bold.
- Consultant 1
- Bank 1
- Typist 1
- Nurses 3
- Medical auxiliaries 2
- Traveller 1
- Factory 1
- Teacher 2
- Horticulture 1
- Bookbinder 1
- Clerk 4
- Gardener 1
- Youth Leader? 1
- Housewife 5
- Student 2
- Agriculture 1
- Secretary 2
- Civil Service 1
Traveller refers to a Travelling salesman or representative for a company, unless I have misread this line. The usual depiction of the role involves covering an area of the country and staying at Inns often labelled Commercial. Not a job best suited to regular attendance at a Scout meeting.
No conclusions from this compilation remain in the archives, nor have I yet come across any actions that may have stemmed from the results. However, he was a man who looked for patterns in the figures when considering a problem.
JWR Archivist Oct 2019
Cambridge District Scout Archive 