England Finding Poor and Charity Apprentices - International Institute

Poor and Charity Apprentice (cont.)[edit | edit source]

CHART: Charity Apprenticeship 1744

THIS INDENTURE Tripartite made the Twenty First Day of January in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the second by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and so forth and in the year of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and forty four BETWEEN Thomas Burkeredge minister of the parish of Send in the County of Surrey, Robert Boughton and John Hind Church Wardens of the said Parish of Send of the first part, John Pantlin the Elder a poor man of the said Parish of Send and John Pantlin the Younger son of the said John Pantlin the Elder of the second part, and George Marsh of Ripley in the said County Surry Taylor of the Third part. WHEREAS One Anne Hayne late of London widow in and by her last Will and Testament bearing Date on or about the Tenth Day of January which was in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred and two Gave to the Minister and Churchwardens of the said Parish of Send the Sum of Three Hundred pounds to be by them laid out in the Purchase of Lands of Inheritance so that the profitts thereof might be laid out in putting forth poor mens’ Children Apprentices, which said money hath been laid out by the preceding Minister and Church wardens in the purchase of such Lands as the said Will Directs

NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH that the said John Pantlin the Younger hath by and with the Consent as well of the said Minister and Churchwardens as of his said Father put himself apprentice to the said George Marsh to Learn his Art or Trade of a Taylor and with him his Executors and Administrators after the Manner of an Apprentice to serve from the Twenty Fifth Day of December now last, for and during and unto the full End and Term of seven years and fully to be Compleat and Ended. During which Term the said Apprentice his said Master faithfully shall and will Serve, His secrets keep and his commands Gladly do. He shall do no Damage to his said Master nor see it to be Done by others but to his power shall forthwith Give Notice to him thereof. The Goods of his said master he shall not waste nor Lend them to any Hurt. Matrimony during the Term aforesaid he shall not Contract. He shall neither Buy nor Sell without his Masters Leave. Taverns, Inns or Alehouses he shall not Haunt, at Cards, Dice or any other unlawful Game he shall not play whereby his said Master may be Damaged, nor from the Service of his Master Day or Night shall absent himself but in all things as an Honest and faithfull Apprentice shall Demean himself to his said Master and all his Family During the said Term. AND the said George Marsh in Consideration of the Sum of Twelve Pounds of Lawfull money of Great Britain to him before the Ensealing hereof in Hand paid by the said Minister and Churchwardens being part of the Rents and profitts of the Lands purchased with the money so Given by the said Will of the said Anne Hayne as aforesaid, The receipt whereof he the said George Marsh Doth hereby Acknowledge, DOTH hereby undertake, promise and Agree for himself, his Executors and Administrators to and with the said Minister and Churchwardens That he the said George Marsh his said apprentice in the Art or Trade of Taylor, which he now useth, shall and will Teach and Instruct or cause to be Taught and Instructed, And that he and they will find and allow to the said Apprentice necessary and sufficient Wearing Apparrell of all Sorts, meat, drink, washing, Lodging, Phisick and all other necessarys During the said Term, And that the said Apprentice at the End of the said Term shall be well and sufficiently clothed with apparell of all Sorts. IN WITNESS whereof the parties abovenamed to these presents have hereunto Sett their hands and Seals the Day and Year first above written.

George Marsh [Seal]

Sealed and Delivered, being first duly Stamped by the abovenamed George Marsh in the presence of Barty Hone, J. Chatfield

Rec’d the Day and Year above written of and from the above named Minister and Churchwardens the Sum of Twelve pounds being the Consideration money above mentioned where by them paid unto me. I say received by me.

George Marsh

Wittness Bartty Hone, J. Chatfield.

[Original in Surrey County Record Office Spelling original but some punctuation added. Only the master and witnesses signed.]

Finding Pauper and Charity Indentures[edit | edit source]

Charity Apprenticeships could be with the records of the charity, and application to local archives would enable such organizations to be discovered. If they were used for paupers or less well-off families then they could be in the parish chest material. Poor Apprenticeships will be in the vestry minutes and in the records and accounts of the Overseers of the Poor for the child’s originating parish. These will be found in the FamilySearch Catalog under ENGLAND-COUNTY-TOWN-POORHOUSES, POORLAW ETC.

Indexes and Lists of Poor and Charity Apprenticeships
These can be found in:

Vestry minutes and Churchwardens’ accounts.
Overseers of the Poor minutes and accounts.
Workhouse minutes.
Boards of Guardians of the Poor Minute Books
Registers of Poor Indentures kept by larger parishes, for example Mitcham, Surrey Parish Poor Apprenticeship Book on FS Library film 1470829.
Factory Apprentice Registers, especially in the northern cotton trade.
Petty Sessions records, for example 18 children ages 10-13 from Deptford, Kent to Holywell, Fintshire in 1792 (Highley).

Their names and details will be in at least one of these, if they survive, even if the individual indentures have been destroyed. Some of these records were indexed contemporaneously, and there are also modern indexes for many parishes available from Family History Societies and county archives. Bedfordshire lead the way with a county-wide book index of all surviving poor law documents; others such as Surrey are on CD. As pauper apprenticeships were not subject to the Inland Revenue tax imposed from 1710-1811, they do not appear in those records (IR 1) or their indexes (IR 17).

CHART:
Halifax Masters taking Pauper Apprentices 1800-1801 (FS Library film 1551141)

cellpadding="1" width="600" border="1"

|- ! scope="col" | Date of Indenture
! scope="col" | Masters Name and Trade
! scope="col" | Apprentice Name
|- | Mar 19 1800
| colspan="2" | Received of John Greenwood the sum of ten Pounds in lieu of having an apprentice
|- | Apr 4
| colspan="2" | Received of Thomas Gregory the sum of ten Pounds in lieu of having an apprentice
|- | Apr 28
| Luke Greenwood dresser
| William Holden
|- | Do
| John Gurr esq gun maker
| Thomas Oates
|- | Jul 21
| William Gregory grocer
| Sarah Bates
|- | Jul 21
| Thomas Gledhill currier
| Esther Beverly
|- | Jul 21
| Thomas Greenwood cotton manufacturer
| Joseph Nicholl
|- | Jan 7 1801
| colspan="2" | George Green comb maker Paid the fine in lieu of having a Parish apprentice
|- | Aug 10
| colspan="2" | Miss Mary Grimshaw Pd the fine in lieu of having a Parish Apprentice
|}

CHART:
Extract from Index of Halifax Pauper Apprentices 1783-1828

cellpadding="1" width="600" border="1"

|- ! scope="col" | Date of Indenture
! scope="col" | Apprentice Name
! scope="col" | Masters Name and Trade
|- | 1820 Aug 19
| Gaukroger, Joseph | Smith, Thomas coalminer |- | 1828 Mar 8 | Gaukroger, William | Wiseman, James |- | 1827 Sep 29 | Gibson, Charles | Crapper, John rope maker |- | 1787 Aug 8 | Gill, James | Sokald, Josh tailor |- | 1831 Apr 30 | Gill, John | Townsend, John carpenter |- | 1807 Aug 1 | Gill, William | Webster, Jno (Bradfield) paper maker |- | 1785 Oct 17 | Gilpin, Betty | Gaukroger, Josh farmer |- | 1803 Nov 7 | Gledhill, Ann | Werwall, Wm hosier |- | 1830 Oct 30 | Gledhill, Harriot | Child, Ann milliner |- | 1828 Mar 8 | Gledhill, Mary | Worstenholme, Isaac innkeeper |- | 1816 Apr 18 | Gledhill, William | Gledhill, Eli painter |- | 1821 Mar 3 | Gordon, Elizabeth | Wilson, Nicholas cotton manufacturer |- | 1823 Dec 9 | Green, Edward | Farrer, John hatter |- | 1807 Aug 9 | Green, John | Green, Isaac butcher |- | 1826 Mar 25 | Greenwood Abraham | Wainhouse, Nathaniel innkeeper |- | 1830 Sep 11 | Greenwood, Mattw | Stooles, Benj. (Southowram) coachmaker |- | 1821 Dec 8 | Greenwood, Noah | Sykes, Isaac cordwainer |}

Good general references on the whole subject of apprenticeships are those by Hey (The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. Oxford University Press, 1996), Fitzhugh (The Dictionary of Genealogy. A. and C. Black, 1998), Herber (Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999), PRO leaflet D80, Golland (Compell’d to Weep..’ The Apprenticeship System. Genealogists Magazine Vol 23 #4, page 242-254.), Litton (People on the Move Part 4: Children. Family Tree Magazine Vol 17 #11, page 10), and Gibbens (Records of Apprenticeship: A Lesser-Used Source. Family History News and Digest Vol 10 #4, page 167-171, 1996). Item 2 on FS Library film 0599736 has the enticing title List of English Apprentices and Freemen’s Records; it contains both trade and poor apprentices but is disappointing as it is a 1967 typescript and has been superceded by more modern county and parish listings. The law relevant to apprenticeships was discussed by Chitty in 1812 (A Practical Treatise on the Law Relative to Apprentices and Journeymen, and to Exercising Trades. Clarke and Sons, London. FS Library film 0873960 item 3). Disputes between masters and apprentices were taken to the Quarter Sessions and details of the complaint and the outcome are in the records, which are usually filmed.

_____________________________________________________________

Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online courses English: Occupation Records-Professions and Trades and English: Occupations-Military and Services offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at wiki@genealogicalstudies.com

We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.