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Apprenticeship in England: Difference between revisions
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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 turning 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".<br> | 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 turning 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".<br> | ||
== The tax on Apprenticeship Indentures 1710-1811 == | == The tax on Apprenticeship Indentures 1710-1811 == | ||
{{main|England Apprenticeship Indentures 1710 to 1811}} | |||
{{main|England Apprenticeship Indentures 1710 to 1811}} | |||
The discovery of the main record of apprentices in the past, that of the tax on apprenticeship indentures between 1710 and 1811, was due to the professional genealogist Gerald Fothergill (1870-1926). He was active in lobbying for the preservation of records and one of his hobbies was to read acts of parliament and then consider what records would have resulted from them. Some time in the 1920s he found the Act imposing this tax and went to the [[England Apprenticeship Indentures 1710 to 1774|Inland Revenue Office]] at Somerset House and asked if the records still survived. They did, and he then persuaded the authorities to tranfer them to Public Record Office (now The National Archives, at Kew). | The discovery of the main record of apprentices in the past, that of the tax on apprenticeship indentures between 1710 and 1811, was due to the professional genealogist Gerald Fothergill (1870-1926). He was active in lobbying for the preservation of records and one of his hobbies was to read acts of parliament and then consider what records would have resulted from them. Some time in the 1920s he found the Act imposing this tax and went to the [[England Apprenticeship Indentures 1710 to 1774|Inland Revenue Office]] at Somerset House and asked if the records still survived. They did, and he then persuaded the authorities to tranfer them to Public Record Office (now The National Archives, at Kew). | ||
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The early entries for five counties (Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire and Wiltshire) have been printed and typescript abstracts of those for Cambridgeshire for 1763-1811 are available. After 1774 the large unindexed volumes naturally take time to go through. They have been microfilmed to 1811 by the Genealogical Society of Utah. | The early entries for five counties (Bedfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire and Wiltshire) have been printed and typescript abstracts of those for Cambridgeshire for 1763-1811 are available. After 1774 the large unindexed volumes naturally take time to go through. They have been microfilmed to 1811 by the Genealogical Society of Utah. | ||
In 2011 complete indexes to the names of the apprentices and their masters, the places involved, and the dates, were made available on the subsription website [http:// | In 2011 complete indexes to the names of the apprentices and their masters, the places involved, and the dates, were made available on the subsription website [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1851 http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1851|Ancestry.com]. | ||
{{see also|Apprenticeship in London and Borough Towns|Parish, Factory and Charity Apprenticeships}} | {{see also|Apprenticeship in London and Borough Towns|Parish, Factory and Charity Apprenticeships}} | ||