Apprenticeship Records as Sources for Genealogy

Domestic Records Information 80

IR 1/62, Apprenticeship Books, 1781-1784

Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  Apprenticeship Books, 1710-1811 - IR 1
3.  Apprenticeships not Recorded in the Apprenticeship Books
4.  Some Other Apprenticeship Records in The National Archives
5.  The National Archives' Library Bibliography

1. Introduction

The Statute of Apprentices in 1563 forbade anyone to enter a trade who had not served an apprenticeship. Whilst the full rigour of this statute was modified by subsequent Acts of Parliament and by legal judgements, it remained on the statute book until 1814.

Until the Statute 8 Anne c.5 (1710) made stamp duty payable on indentures of apprenticeship, no central register of apprentices was kept in England and Wales, and evidence of apprenticeship must therefore be sought locally, in the surviving papers of firms, parishes, charities and individuals. (See, for example, W B Stephens, Sources of English Local History (1981).

2. Apprenticeship Books, 1710-1811 - IR 1

For the years 1710 to 1811 the Commissioners of Stamps kept registers of the money they received from the duty on indentures. These now form the Apprenticeship Books (IR 1 ) at The National Archives. Duty was payable by the master at the rate of 6d for every £1 under £50 which he received for taking on the apprentice, and 1s for every £1 above that sum. The deadline for payment was one year after the expiry of the indenture; it may therefore be necessary to search the records of several years' payments in order to find a particular entry, even when the date of the indenture is known.

The information in the registers was supplied by the local collectors of the duty and entered up by the Stamp Office clerks. In the country registers entries are arranged generally chronologically by collection area, so after 1774, you need to know roughly in which area your ancestor was apprenticed and where the duty would have been paid. Collection returns will vary depending on the amount of business, so you need to check the registers carefully so as not to miss a series of entries. If the apprenticeship was in Middlesex or one of the home counties the duty may have been paid in London, and be entered in one of the London registers.

The Apprenticeship Books record the names, addresses and trades of the masters, the names of the apprentices and dates of their indentures. Until 1752 the names of apprentices' parents are given, but after that year rarely. Microfiche copies of indexes of masters', and of apprentices' names, both from 1710 to 1774 will be found in the Microfilm Reading Room; this replaces and extends former record series IR 17 which has now been destroyed. These are copies of those created by the Society of Genealogists, and a further set of copies are in the Guildhall Library, London.

Where the stamp duty was paid in London, entries will be found in the 'City' registers in this series; where it was paid elsewhere, entries will be found in the 'Country' registers.

A typical entry in the fiche index to apprentices will look like this:

3. Apprenticeships not Recorded in the Apprenticeship Books

Formal indentures involved some trouble and expense. By the eighteenth century apprenticeships were often undertaken without any formal indenture, especially in common trades such as weaving. In many trades it was expected that men would bring up their sons or nephews to the trade. Further, it was ruled that the Statute of Apprentices did not extend to trades which did not exist when it was passed in 1563; this excluded many eighteenth-century industries, most notably the cotton industry. In many areas the Statute was not enforced, and in the Yorkshire woollen industry formal apprenticeship hardly existed by the end of the eighteenth century.

A large proportion of those who were formally indentured were taken on by masters at the expense of the parish or a public charity. These indentures were exempt from stamp duty (8 Anne c.5) and the apprentices are thus not included in the registers. In such cases, local or charity records, if they survive, are likely to be the only source of information.

Apprentices of London Companies do not appear in the apprenticeship registers, these are recorded if they became freemen in the registers from 1681 to 1923 of the Clerk of the Chamberlain's Court, Corporation of London and are now held at the London Metropolitan Archives. Apprenticeship records of the individual livery companies are in the Guildhall Library.

4. Some Other Apprenticeship Records in The National Archives

Apprenticeship is touched on in the records of a number of other departments. The following notes indicate some of the records which yield names of individual apprentices.

War Office

The Alphabetical Guide to War Office and other Materials (PRO Lists and Indexes, liII) gives several references, particularly to letters and Law Officers' Opinions on the recurrent controversy of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries whether apprentices might enlist in the army or be recruited against their masters' wishes. A list survives of recruits surrendered for this reason between 1806 and 1835 (WO 25/2962 ).

Admiralty

Correspondence on the subject of Apprentices will be found by means of the Digest and Indexes (ADM 12 ), under headings such as 'Boys' (code 13) and 'Apprentices in Dockyards' (code 41.16). References from this source must be keyed up with the lists of correspondence of the Admiralty (ADM 1 ) and Navy Board (ADM 106 ). The Miscellaneous Registers of Greenwich Hospital include apprenticeship registers (ADM 73/421 , ADM 73/448 ). Marks and results of examinations for dockyard and artificer apprentices from 1876 will be found among the records of the Civil Service Commission (CSC 10 ).

Registrar General Of Shipping And Seamen

Under the Merchant Seamen Act of 1823, ships of over 80 tons had to carry apprentices, whose names were to be enrolled with local customs officials. Under the Merchant Seamen Act of 1835 registration of apprentices in London was to be by the Registrar General, to whom also returns of regional registration (still made by local customs officials) were to be submitted quarterly. Compulsory apprenticeship was abolished in 1849, but registers were still maintained of those who were apprenticed after that date. Indexes of Apprentices registered in the merchant service between 1824 and 1953 will be found in the series BT 150 , where the earlier volumes give the apprentice's name, age, the date and terms of his indenture, and the name of his master. Later volumes (BT 150/15 et seq.) include also the port where he signed on and the name of the ship. Samples of the original indentures, including some for fishing vessels, will be found in BT 151 and BT 152 .

Board Of Trade

The Indexes to Papers retained (BT 19 ) include references to Apprenticeship, which may be keyed up with the correspondence of the various departments of the Board as explained in the Guide on the Research Enquiries Room shelves.

Poor Law Union Papers

The Index of Subjects (MH 15 ) includes mention of Apprenticeship, mainly to questions of policy and precedent. The references there given may, in some cases, be keyed up with the papers of the individual Poor Law Unions in MH 12 , which may yield further records not mentioned in the Index.

5. The National Archives' Library Bibliography

The following recommended publications are available in the The National Archives' Library (www.library.nationalarchives.gov.uk/library). Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/bookshop).

(ri2187) Last updated: 2 July 2008 | © Crown Copyright 2002