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Key Workers: Toward an Occupational History of the Private Music Teacher in England and Wales, c.1861–c.1921

Making particular use of material drawn from the Census of England and Wales, this article confirms that music teaching was above all an urban activity, increasingly dominated by women, albeit with some local variation, and that the highest provision of teaching was invariably in middle-class areas. Seaside resorts and suburbia were especially prominent market locations by the early twentieth century, with the south-east particularly favoured. The often-derided part-time teacher is shown to have been a key figure in working-class communities. While teachers showed little interest in formal professionalization, it is argued that they were probably better paid than has been assumed and were able at least to maintain a social position within the lower-middle and skilled working classes that most were born into. Although women's careers were frequently short, for a growing minority, music teaching was a serious career option. It is suggested that teachers met contemporary needs rather more effectively than some have claimed.