England Occupational Training, Apprenticeships - International Institute

Training and Qualification
A look at the printed and manuscript sources available for those who have qualified or trained in particular fields, and at licences granted to pursue certain trades.

The Apprenticeship System
From the Middle Ages the way in which men, and some women, learned their trade was by serving an apprenticeship with a master of that craft or mystery, as it was known. There were three kinds—trade, poor and charity apprentices.

Trade Apprentices
The Statute of Apprentices of 1563, which remained on the books until 1814, extended the practice already in use by the City of London Livery Companies to all market towns, and laid down that:


 * No-one could enter a trade unless they had served an apprenticeship of at least seven years.


 * The child had to start between the ages of 10 and 18, and his apprenticeship had to last until he was at least 21 years old.


 * The apprentice had to be the son of a freeman, not a labourer or one in husbandry, although there are many exceptions amongst the records.


 * The master had to be at least 24 years old and exercising an art, mystery or manual occupation.

The terms were modified by later Acts and by legal judgements, for example:


 * In 1703 boys as young as seven, until 1705 when the minimum age was raised to 13 (Camp 1998), could be apprenticed for up to ten years in the Royal Navy or merchant service to a shipowner, fisherman, ship’s gunner or shipwright.


 * In 1766-7, the maximum age for an apprentice was reduced from 24 to 21 which of course meant that 14 was the latest age for entering and was indeed the typical age of entry.


 * The term of apprenticeship was reduced to 4 years in 1889.

There were regulations in many trades regarding how many apprentices one master could take, and to his allowable ratio of employed journeymen to apprentices. A premium was paid at the outset by the child’s father with higher status trades such as lawyers and goldsmiths demanding much higher ones than millers and shoemakers. The boy would live in the master’s household receiving his training, clothes, board, and lodging. He was not allowed to play at unlawful games, absent himself, or marry without his master’s permission, which might explain some of those cases where children arrived prior to parents tying the knot. On the other hand, some 8% of apprentices in 17th century London eventually ended up marrying their masters’ daughters (Camp 2001).

Many masters treated their apprentices well and many apprentices were faithful, but both master and apprentice could file complaint with the chamberlain or the wardens of the company, and these would be recorded and acted upon. Quarter Sessions contain records of ill treatment by masters, who could be fined and have their apprentices turned over (re-assigned), also of apprentices who were impudent, lazy or who absconded. Jim Golland (Compell’d to Weep..’ The Apprenticeship System. Genealogists Magazine Vol 23 #4, page 242-254) describes some of the atrocious conditions that apprentices suffered. Apprentices would also be turned over to another suitable master in the event their own died or became incapable of fulfilling his duties. Drop-out rates from apprenticeships were high, up to 50% in London and Bristol in the 16th and 17th centuries (Hey), and reasons vary but the far higher death rate amongst young people then was one of them. Chitty (A Practical Treatise on the Law Relative to Apprentices and Journeymen, and to Exercising Trades. Clarke and Sons, London. .) describes the five ways in which an apprenticeship could be cancelled:


 * 1) By the full expiration of the term and therefore completion of the apprenticeship.
 * 2) By the bankruptcy or insolvency of the master, which did not release the master or his estate from the obligation to provide instruction and maintenance
 * 3) By the death of the master or the apprentice. If the master died, his estate still had to provide maintenance but not instruction.
 * 4) By mutual consent of the parties who signed the indenture, including the apprentice if now of age
 * 5) By the magistrates in cases of gross misconduct by master or apprentice.

The completion of the apprenticeship either with the original master or by being turned over to another, was necessary if the apprentice wished to acquire his freedom of a trade company or a corporate town.

Corporate towns had special property qualifications probably designed to ensure that only those boys with sufficient capital to set themselves up in business after their apprenticeship could be bound apprentice. The craftsmen to whom this applied were clothiers, drapers, embroiderers, goldsmiths, ironmongers, mercers, and merchants. Only their own sons, or sons of a father or widowed mother who had an estate of at least 40 shillings (£2) per annum could apprentice to such a trade in a corporate town. Three Justices of the Peace certified this to the mayor who enrolled it in the corporation records. If an apprentice came from another place his parent had to have an inheritance or freehold worth at least 60 shillings (£3) per annum. Some towns and trades had other specific regulations such as boys having to be English, legitimate and not handicapped (Golland).

The following trades had no financial conditions for apprenticeship: bricklayers, brickmakers, burners of ores and wood ashes, carpenters, coopers, earthen potters, fullers, limeburners, linen weavers, millers, millwrights, plasterers, ploughwrights, rough masons, sawyers, shinglers, slaters, smiths, tilemakers, wheelwrights, and woollen weavers of household cloth. It should be recognized that by the eighteenth century apprenticeships were often undertaken without a formal indenture being made. This is especially the case when a master took on his sons and nephews and in common trades like weaving and other areas of the woollen trades. Camp’s article Was He Apprenticed? (1992) has expressed the view that the majority of apprentices served their fathers or close relatives and thus no indentures were drawn up.

The apprenticeship system:


 * Provided a supply of trained craftsmen. 
 * Ensured high quality goods and thus the reputation of the guild. 
 * Regulated the numbers entering a trade thus retaining the guild’s monopoly and keeping prices and wages up. 
 * Allowed men to train to earn their living and thus be reasonably self-sufficient before marriage.
 * Kept adolescents busy and out of trouble for a number of years; by the 19th century the period varied from two to 16 years. 
 * As the Industrial Revolution advanced and a wider variety of education and employment opportunities were available the apprenticeship system dwindled in many trades. The Statute of Apprentices was repealed in 1814 but this did not spell the end of apprenticeships in Britain, which continued on a voluntary basis and still do. Even by 1906 over 20% of working men aged 15-19 were apprenticed (Camp 1998). My father apprenticed for seven years as a silk block printer in the 1930s, and my brother for six years in 1959 to bookbinding. The latter had to attend one day a week at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts to get theoretical background for his trade as well as English and Math. These old-style apprenticeships ceased in the 1970s; a new type exists but they are nothing like the quality of the old ones according to my brother.

Trade Apprentice Indentures
An indenture is any deed executed between two or more parties and written out in as many copies as there were parties—all on one sheet of parchment or paper (Fitzhugh). An indented or wavy line was drawn between the copies and sometimes the word chirograph, (meaning a document written more than once on the same sheet), is written across this line. The sheet was then cut along the line and the two parts could be matched together later if there was ever a dispute. After 1757 any properly stamped deed was sufficient, not necessarily in two parts with the wavy cut line, but the term indenture continued to be used. One copy of the apprenticeship indenture was kept by the father and the other by the master and these originals rarely survive. However they were registered by the city or company and these register books are available (see later).

The indenture recorded:


 * The name of the apprentice, and sometimes his date and place of birth.
 * His father, and sometimes his father’s residence and occupation.
 * The name of the master and his trade.
 * The start date and length of the apprenticeship.
 * The duties of both master and apprentice.

The index will note the trade practiced by the master, but only the original indenture will indicate whether the apprentice was to learn that trade or simply be a labourer, servant or housemaid to him or her. Since apprentices often stayed in their masters’ town after finishing their time, and would have gained settlement there after 40 days, then apprenticeship indentures can indicate temporary or permanent migration.

Copies of early trade indentures kept by the family and the master are hard to find but poor and charity indentures were kept in the parish chest and 17th and 18th century ones have more often survived and been filmed. You will find it instructive to note the gradual evolution of conditions for the apprentice from:


 * Payment of a premium to receiving a small wage.
 * Living in with the master with everything found to daily attendance and nothing found.
 * Length of 7-10 years to 5-6 years. Stringent social and moral restrictions to no comments on free time activities.

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