| |
Acknowledgements
We are pleased to acknowledge the generosity of Mrs Diana Grant
in making the data in this online index available. Thanks are also due to Miss
Liz Justham who assisted in editing the data for the website. |
| |
|
|
Staffordshire Apprenticeship Records
|
Background
|
| Apprenticeship was an arrangement whereby a young person learnt a trade that
would hopefully keep them in gainful employment for the rest of their working
life. It involved a legal contract, known as an apprenticeship indenture,
between the master and the parent or other legal guardian of the young person. |
| |
| The master contracted to provide training, clothing, board and lodging, in
exchange for a sum of money at the outset of the contract, paid to him by the
apprentice’s legal guardian. The apprentice contracted to work for the master
for a set period of time, to be of good behaviour – avoiding drinking and
gambling for example, and (in the case of boys) not to get married during the
period of the contract. The length of the apprenticeship might be a set number
of years, often seven – reflecting the regulation laid down in the Statute of
Artificers and Apprentices, 1563, that no-one could practice their trade
without having served a seven year apprenticeship. This regulation lasted until
1814. In other cases the apprenticeship lasted until the apprentice reached a
certain age, such as 18 or 21 years. Girls were usually apprenticed until 21
years of age or until their marriage. Sometimes very young children were
apprenticed, the youngest discovered in Staffordshire being at the age of four. |
| |
| The majority of surviving apprenticeship records held by the Archive Service
concern apprenticeships organised for pauper children, either by the guardians
of the poor, or by the trustees of charities established specifically for the
purpose of paying for pauper apprenticeships on behalf of the parish
authorities. Some privately arranged apprenticeship indentures also survive,
where a young person’s parents could themselves afford the fees. |
| |
| Apprenticeship was significant to the Poor Law administration in two ways.
First, it enabled the overseers to transfer the upkeep of the young to the
apprentice's master or mistress whilst having them taught a trade, to be
self-supporting in later life. The parish paid a fee to the master at the
outset, but after that expected not to be involved unless a problem arose.
Secondly, apprenticeship was a means by which settlement could be gained. This
was attractive to parish overseers, as a pauper apprenticed outside his parish
was a potential liability avoided. |
| |
| The apprenticeship indenture named the apprentice, the master and his trade.
Two copies were produced, one for the parish overseers of the poor and one for
the master. The latter was handed to the apprentice on completion of the
apprenticeship. Usually it is the parish copy that has survived, unless the
apprentice's copy was submitted for a settlement examination. Some parishes
also kept apprenticeship registers, in which similar details are recorded. |
| |
About This Index
|
| This index, compiled by Mrs. Diana Grant over the past five years, contains
around 12,500 entries relating mainly to apprenticeship indentures and entries
in apprenticeship registers, but also associated records, such as
correspondence between masters and guardians of the poor. We are very grateful
to Mrs. Grant for making the fruits of her research, useful for both family and
local historians, available to all through this website. |
| |
| Most of the records referred to are from the surviving papers of the guardians
of the poor of the historic parishes in Staffordshire, and of parochial
charities. There are also references to privately arranged apprenticeships,
although the survival rate of these records is not good. Most of the records
and documents referenced are held by the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent
Archive Service, although some are held elsewhere. For further details of what
the index does not include please follow the link below. |
| |
| Further information
about this index |
| |
Copyright
|
| The contents of this database are copyright of Staffordshire
and Stoke on Trent Archive Service and may not be reproduced by any means
whatsoever without permission. |
|
|