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3 In the nineteenth century labour censuses were held in the Netherlands in 1889 and 1899. The results of these censuses were published in the Uitkomsten der beroepstelling in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. The results for Amsterdam, which were used in this research, are in the library of the University of Amsterdam. Directories contain the name, address and occupation of members of the middle and higher classes. People had to pay for an entry in these directories and as a result the entries are in themselves an indication of wealth. Unfortunately the Amsterdam tax registers have been destroyed. Information on taxes could only be obtained indirectly by noting who was inscribed on the electoral roll from which all women, and men who paid less than 56 guilders in poll tax, were excluded and could not vote in municipal elections. Directories, electoral registers and the institutional archives are all housed in the Municipal Archive of Amsterdam.

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7 The population registers consist of books. It would be possible, of course, but very time-consuming to look into the books directly and select people by age because date of birth is registered.

8 Giele, J. ed., Een kwaad leven. Heruitgave van de ‘Enquête betreffende werking en uitbreiding der wet van 19 September 1874 (Staatsbland no. 130) en naar den toestand van fabrieken en werkplaatsen’, 3 vols. (Nijmegen, 1981; first published 1887)Google Scholar; Enquête gehouden door de Staatscommissie benoemd krachtens de wet van 19 Januari 1890 (Staatsblad no. 1), vol. 3: Amsterdam [1892].Google Scholar

9 The population at death differed in its marital status and age distributions from the living population, containing more widowed elderly and persons over the age of 70. It was, however, not the intention of this article to present a cross-sectional analysis of a representative sample of the population but to examine changes over the life course in the household and work patterns of the elderly.

10 The household typology was based on Gordon, C., The Bevolkingsregisters and their use in analysing the co-residential behaviour of the elderly (NIDI report 9) (The Hague, 1989)Google Scholar and has also been used by Bulder (see Bulder, E., The social economics of old age: strategies to maintain income in later life in the Netherlands 1880–1940 (Tinbergen Institute Research Series) (Rotterdam, 1993).Google Scholar

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12 Table 1 does not consider headship rates. This topic will be discussed later on the basis of Tables 6 and 7.

13 Stavenuiter, , Verzorgd of zelfstandig, 189–95.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., 191.

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19 Stavenuiter, M., ‘Ouderdom in egodocumenten. De dagboeken van Gedeon Jeremie Boissevain’, Groniek 112–13 (1991), 177–88.Google Scholar

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21 In the Netherlands in the nineteenth century people formally came of age at the age of 23; see Uitkomsten der beroepstelling in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden op den een en dertigsten December 1889 (The Hague, 1894).Google Scholar

22 Knotter, A., Economische transformatie en stedelijke arbeidsmarkt. Amsterdam in de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw (Zwolle, 1991), 123.Google Scholar

23 The social stratification of family heads in Amsterdam in 1855 and 1884 is based on research by Boudien de Vries; see de Vries, B., Electoraat en elite. Sociale structuur en sociale mobiliteit in Amsterdam 1850–1895 (Amsterdam, 1986).Google Scholar

24 Stavenuiter, , Verzorgd of zelfstandig, 146–7.Google Scholar

25 This evidence is derived from a parliamentary inquiry of 1890 into the working conditions of the lower class (Enquête gehouden door de Staatscommissie benoemd krachtens de wet van 19 januari 1890).

26 See Tilly, L. and Scott, J., Women, work and family (New York, 1978)Google Scholar; Schilstra, W. N., Vrouwenarbeid en landbouw in Industrie in de tweede helft der negentiende eeuw (Nijmegen, 1976)Google Scholar; Morée, M. and Schwegman, M., Vrouwenarbeid in Nederland, 1870–1950 (Rijswijk, 1981).Google Scholar

27 The higher percentage of women recorded as working in domestic service in 1881 is an artefact of the low registered employment rate in that year. For only 12 per cent of the elderly women was an occupation recorded in 1881, compared with 26 per cent of working women over the age of 16 in 1851. Domestic servants, however, were always relatively well recorded in the population registers. This would have increased their share of the number of employed women.

28 Tilly, and Scott, , Women, work and familyGoogle Scholar; Dorsman, J. and Stavenuiter, M., Nooit gehuwd, maar niet alleen. Vrijgezelle vrouwen uit de arbeidende klasse in de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw (Hilversum, 1993).Google Scholar

29 Vries, De, Electoraat en elite, 160.Google Scholar

30 Municipal Archives of Amsterdam, File PA 506–44: Minutes of the ‘Rozenhof’, 5 05 1859.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., 1 July 1876.