England Trade Apprenticeship Records - International Institute

Trade Apprenticeship Records
The trade companies kept control of apprenticeships that lead to freedom of their company. Corporations of cities and boroughs were also interested in keeping records as these young men would also be applying for the freedom of the city or borough. The latter freedom gave them the right to trade in the borough and also to vote in Parliamentary elections. Register books of apprentices bound to members (freemen) within the jurisdiction of their company and/or when the apprentices were presented at about the same time to the company’s governing body (the Court) were kept:


 * By the livery companies of London from the 16th century. So many people went up to London to learn their trades or gain their qualifications that these resources apply to the whole country.


 * By the Corporation of the City of London; these include indentures from 1681 and enrolments from 1786 and are arranged chronologically and indexed by name, not by the company. Records after 1915 are held by the Chamberlain’s Court at the same address.


 * By trade guilds in other towns and cities.


 * By some corporate boroughs.

Register books give the following information: 


 * Name and age of apprentice.
 * Date of binding or presentment. 
 * Name of father, mother or guardian. 
 * Place of origin. 
 * Term of the apprenticeship. 
 * Master’s name and address. 
 * The amount of the premium paid to the master. 
 * Amount of any fees or gifts due to the company. 
 * Records of any turnover to another master.

The company’s Court Minutes and Wardens’ Accounts may also contain information about apprentices and often start earlier than the registers, and the court minutes may have more details than the registers. From 1694 to about 1861 there was an orphans’ tax payable to the Chamber of London on bindings and used to support orphans. Most companies have a separate series of Orphans’ Tax Registers which just give the names of the apprentices, date of binding or presentment and the tax paid. These three alternate sources can be used to augment the registers, being especially useful when the registers no longer exist.

Many apprentices died or did not complete their apprenticeship for other reasons, and in some periods this was the majority. Apprentices completing their time would normally then be admitted to the freedom of the company and further records exist of this event. Some who had served their time moved away, possibly back to the town they came from originally, and either took up the freedom of a company elsewhere, or did not continue in that trade.

Indexes to Trade Apprentice Indentures
Indexes of apprentices’ names are great, but better ones also contain indexes by occupation, place and master. The latter are especially helpful in tracing a master who has moved, providing he continues taking apprentices. As with any index, be prepared to be quite creative with spelling, including the name’s first letter. Major collections include:


 * Wall’s index of Crisp’s Apprenticeships, a collection of 1525 apprenticeship indentures 1641-1888 is on films 1818412-5. The early ones are mainly pauper apprenticeships. Note: these are not Crisp’s Bonds which are not for apprenticeships (Camp 1998).


 * The 180 mariners’ indentures (1780 and 1818-1845) in the Trinity House collection are included in Camp’s 1987 index book.


 * Cottrell has indexed the Watermen and Lightermen’s Company bindings and these are now on CD.


 * Webb is gradually indexing the rest of the surviving London companies’ apprenticeships at the Guildhall Library up to 1800 or to the end of the volume containing that year (see chart below). Boys, and some girls, from all over Great Britain are here, and it is always worth checking all these booklets, since the master is not necessarily in the company named for his trade.

Nine companies retain their own records thus an application has to be made directly to the Clerk of the Company:

CHART: The 76 Ancient London Companies and 2 Societies† whose surviving non-current records are in the Guildhall Library Those in italics are the 49 whose apprenticeships have been indexed by Webb, one~ by Wallis, and one* by Cottrell.

Various town and county listings have been made, for example East Surrey FHS has produced fiche of Battersea 1602-1902, Croydon 1802-1843, Mitcham 1700-1844, Mortlake 1614-1915, Reigate 1672-1796 and Wimbledon 1690-1895 apprenticeships.

Inland Revenue Apprenticeship Records
In 1710 a tax or duty was imposed on apprenticeship bindings. Four kinds of apprenticeships were exempt:


 * Those where the indenture fee (or premium) was under one shilling, typically those to relatives.


 * Apprenticeships paid for by the parish, usually pauper children whose parents were on relief.


 * Those at the expense of a charity, which could be a public charity or an individual bequest.


 * Apprenticeships in the many industries that did not exist at the time of the 1563 Statute (Hey), the most notable being the 18th century cotton trade.

Naturally, people avoided the tax if they could and there were masters who avoided paying the duty and thus did not get their apprentices registered. Nevertheless it is estimated that up to one million apprenticeship bindings are recorded in these books, mostly to masters in England, Wales and Scotland, but also a few abroad.

Collection of taxes caused records to be made, hence genealogists are eternally grateful for any government taxation! The Inland Revenue Apprenticeship Books are divided into two sets according to where the payments were received:


 * 1) City registers where the tax was collected in London on apprenticeships anywhere.
 * 2) Country registers containing entries, made in London, for the indentures for which duty had been paid to district collectors and sent in batches to London. The Scots Indentures are with the country registers but listed separately.

From 1710 to about 1752 the registers contain:


 * Number of the indenture.


 * Date tax paid and indenture registered. The books record tax paid up to 1811, but the latest indentures registered therein were signed in 1808.


 * Name of apprentice and father, or mother if she was widowed, or guardian, and residence. From 1752 to its demise in 1811 the father’s name is not given.


 * Name and trade of the master, and his residence.


 * Term of the indenture.


 * Premium paid to the master.


 * The amount of tax (duty) paid by the master, assessed at 6d for every £1 up to £50 (2.5%), and 1s for every £1 over £50 (5%). Note that the duty had to be paid within two months of signing the indenture, or double was charged up to a maximum time of one year after the end of the apprenticeship, thus a span of up to eight years. The duty was raised in 1804 to a sliding scale from 15s to £20.

These Inland Revenue records are at the Public Record office in IR 1 with indexes called Apprentices Of Great Britain from 1710-1762 and 1762-1774 in IR 17 and on film (see charts below). There is no index yet for those for 1775-1811.

CHART: Summary of Inland Revenue Apprenticeship Records 1710-1811 These are on 49 films, starting at

Some county indexes have also been made, for example for Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire, and these may include entries to 1811.

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