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'''Rising through marriage''' | '''Rising through marriage''' | ||
In due course an industrious apprentice might marry his master's daughter or even the widow. The apprentice who married his master's daughter had several advantages. His livelihood was assured with an existing clientele. He needed no help from his parents in starting a separate business and with luck he might inherit that of his master who meanwhile had a new partner that he knew well, could rely on, and would not become a rival when he himself was perhaps not so active. The dowry too would be less. In the early 17th century some eight per cent of London aldermen were former apprentices who had married their masters' daughters. A strictly supervised apprentice would have little opportunity to meet girls of his own age other than the household servants who would probably be of a lower social class. | In due course an industrious apprentice might marry his master's daughter or even the widow. The apprentice who married his master's daughter had several advantages. His livelihood was assured with an existing clientele. He needed no help from his parents in starting a separate business and with luck he might inherit that of his master who meanwhile had a new partner that he knew well, could rely on, and would not become a rival when he himself was perhaps not so active. The dowry too would be less. In the early 17th century some eight per cent of London aldermen were former apprentices who had married their masters' daughters. A strictly supervised apprentice would have little opportunity to meet girls of his own age other than the household servants who would probably be of a lower social class. | ||
There were advantages too in marrying the master's widow and thus acquiring the firm or shop. In 1775 Thomas Dawnsley, a barber's apprentice of 23 who had just finished his term, married his master's widow, Mrs Searles of Southwark, aged 74. He was her fifth husband; all had been barbers. Such marriages were quite common even into the 19th century. In dangerous but quite prosperous trades, like plumbing and farriery, women were often widowed young, and continued to manage the firm with the help of journeymen and apprentices. Indeed, women blacksmiths are often seen in 19th century trade directories. For them marriage was an obvious and practical solution. | There were advantages too in marrying the master's widow and thus acquiring the firm or shop. In 1775 Thomas Dawnsley, a barber's apprentice of 23 who had just finished his term, married his master's widow, Mrs Searles of Southwark, aged 74. He was her fifth husband; all had been barbers. Such marriages were quite common even into the 19th century. In dangerous but quite prosperous trades, like plumbing and farriery, women were often widowed young, and continued to manage the firm with the help of journeymen and apprentices. Indeed, women blacksmiths are often seen in 19th century trade directories. For them marriage was an obvious and practical solution. | ||
'''Apprenticeship in decline''' | '''Apprenticeship in decline''' | ||
With the growth of population at the end of the 18th century | With the growth of population at the end of the 18th century <span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1229602496980_463"></span>and the greater demand for goods, opportunities for work became more widely available and the use of formal apprenticeship, except in some skilled trades, began to decline. Because the 1563 Act had carefully listed all the trades to which it applied the lawyers held that it did not extend to trades which had not existed when it was passed. In some trades the use of indentures, except for paupers, had become much less common and in many areas the Statute was clearly not enforced. | ||
The traditional forms of apprenticeship were inflexible, taking seven years to produce a skilled worker, and ill-matched to rapid change in either the economy or society. The boy had little or no say in his career, which was largely dictated by the financial situation of his father. The ill-treatment and exploitation of so-called apprentices as cheap labour in factories and the sweated trades helped to bring the system into disrepute. | |||
Sections of the 1563 Act were therefore repealed in 1814 and it was no longer possible to prosecute anyone who practised a trade without having served a seven-year term. It is thought, however, that the number apprenticed was not immediately affected. Even as late as 1906, over 20 per cent of working males aged 15-19 were apprenticed and it was only the educational revolution of the 20th century that brought the system almost to an end. In 1993 the government, drawing on its best aspects, introduced Moder Apprenticeships, for teaching particular technical skills. | |||
The historian Jim Golland, quoting Crabbe's ''Peter Grimes'', wrote of apprentices as "compell'd to weep", but that is no more true of all apprentices than it is for all girls in domestic service or boys at a boarding school. For many a child of humble origin, without prospect of other education, one of the most appealing aspects of the apprentice system was that it might indeed prove to be their road to fame and fortune. James Dawson Burn said in his ''Autobiography of a beggar boy'' (1882), "I think I am entitled to credit for one act of wise determination, and that was in serving my apprenticeship to a trade. I look upon this as the grand tyrning point in my existence; to me it was the half-way house between the desert of my youth, and the sunny lands of my manhood". | |||
to be continued | |||