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Until the start of the Civil War, which you can read about on our timeline, life was similar to in Tudor times. There was a definite class system. The gentleman would be the lord and nobles, knights and squires. They would be very wealthy and have a large amount of land. Then we had the citizens who, amazingly, lived in cities. These people would have very important jobs such as lawyers, accountants and merchants. Next came the yeomen who would own a smaller amount of land and were quite well-off. Finally came the labourers who would be the farm workers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters and brick layers. You may notice that the class system mainly applied to men. Women took the class of the man they married. Housewives had to have some knowledge of medicine and be able to treat her family's illnesses. Only the wealthy could afford a doctor. After the Civil War, things changed a lot. By 1700 only 40% of people worked on the land. Others, in towns, had jobs with a salary. The salary was then used to buy food and goods. Instead of being asked to plough this field one day and tend these animals on another, people had regular work. Merchants would buy wool and hired people to spin and weave it into cloth. The work was often done in the spinners own cottage and the phrase “cottage industry” appeared. The cloth would be collected and made into clothes elsewhere. People no longer saw clothes all the way from spinning to wearing. Skills became more specialised. People now worked for money not for needs. They would spend that money to buy their needs.
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