Apprenticeship in London and Borough Towns: Difference between revisions

Apprenticeship in London and Borough Towns (view source)

Revision as of 14:25, 19 December 2008

3,068 bytes added , 19 December 2008

no edit summary

VisualWikitext

Emptyuser

0

edits

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 From 1750 freemen were allowed to employ non-freemen "strangers" in the City and their licences to do so are also at the Guildhall Library, 1750-1845, indexed for masters and journeymen to 1761 and then only for masters to 1810. "Alien brothers" and "stranger brothers" were from overseas (and could not be apprenticed or freemen), "foreign brothers" came from the provinces.
 '''Honorary Freemen'''. The Freedom of the City could also be given as an honour and full details of those who were made Honorary Freemen are given in two volumes London's Roll of Fame 1757-1959 (1884 &amp; 1959) published by the Corporation of London. They are also listed 1674-1998 in Vivienne Aldous, My ancestors were freemen of the City of London (Society of Genealogists, 1999). These honorary freemen should not be confused with those who purchase freedom by redemption.
 Honorary Freedom was also given in 1900 to members of the City Imperial Volunteer Force who were about to fight in the Boer War, in 1915 to any former pupils of the Corporation of London schools who served in the First World War, in 1918 to the sons of members of the court of common council who had fought in the War, in 1920 to constables who had served in the city police reserve from 1914, and in 1945 to the sector or block commanders of the city fire guard during the Second World War.
 '''King's Freemen'''. In 1784 discharged servicemen, their wives and children, were given the right to trade in any town in the British Isles. Although not technically freemen they are usually referred to as "King's Freemen". In don certificates were issued from 1784 to 1873 when the right was abolished, but those for 1815-54 are missing. The papers contain discharge certificates and, in the case of wives and children, marriage and baptismal certificates. The numbers are not great but there is a card index at the Guildhall Library which may repay investigation.
+<br>
+'''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Borough Towns'''
-'''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Borough Towns'''
+Guilds similar to those in London arose in much the same way from religious fraternities in many provincial boroughs and cities in the 12th century. They flourished in medieval times, controlling the quality and price of the goods produced by their members, but declined rapidly after the Reformation and had largely disappeared by the early 17th century. In some place, however, guilds were founded at later dates, and were characterised by amalgamation and subsequent decline. A few guilds or companies continue today, but usually have only social and charitable purposes.<br>
+Some towns such as Preston in Lancashire had a single guild, called a Guild Merchant, with a large membership, but in other towns there were many small guilds. Newcastle upon Tyne had 36. A Guild Merchant to which people practising all kinds of occupations belonged, though its main concern was retail trade, survives at York. Its apprenticeship records have been published on microfiche and include a surprising number of girls.
+Shrewsbury is fortunate in having a good number of surviving guild records and many continue to the end of the 18th century. There were originally thirteen companies in Shrewsbury, many of which amalgamated over time so that, for instance, one company covered saddlers, painters, glaziers, plumbers, curriers, tinplaters, booksellers and lorriners.
+In Sheffield the records of the Cutlers' Company, which had a strict control over the city's many small workshops, are particularly important, factories not appearing here until the 19th century. The apprenticeships 1624-1791 were printed by R.E. Leader in his ''History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire in the county of York'' (2 vols., 1906).
+In many places the powers of the guilds passed in the second half of the 16th century by charters of incorporation to the governing bodies of their towns. In these boroughs the corporations enrolled those who had completed their apprenticeships and admitted them as freemen. This gave them the right to trade in the borough (until 1835) and a vote at borough and, in some places until 1918, at parliamentary elections.
+Freedom could be obtained by servitudem patrimony and (until 1835) redemptionm and in some towns it could also be gained by marriage to the widow or daughter of a freeman. In the first two categories the details recorded usually include the father's name and place of residence. In most towns, other than London and York, women were not admitted to the freedom. As in London applicants for the freedom of the borough had usually to be free of the guild or company, though at Alnwick one had to be free of the town before one could become free of a guild.
+The numbers of freemen in almost every pprovincial town declined rapidly after 1800. In most places only about half the adult male labour-force had at any time consisted of freemen, though control must have varied from place to place. In early times the completeness of the registration may be suspect and later some men avoided freedom because of the expense involved.
 to be continued