How can I determine what occupation and religion my ancestors are?

I'm a complete amateur when it comes to geneology. How do I find out the occupation and religion of an ancestor if I only know roughly where they were born, their name and have a birth, maybe christening, and death date, but nothing more, mostly interested in 1400-1700s as I have some names from then. This is specific to the British Isles. I'm desparate to know.