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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 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". | 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". | ||
'''Parish, factory and charity apprenticeships''' | '''Parish, factory and charity apprenticeships''' | ||
'''1. Parish (or pauper) apprentices''' | '''1. Parish (or pauper) apprentices''' | ||
The Statute of Apprentices of 1563 gave powers to two justices of the peace to bind out as apprentices the children of paupers, vagrants and of those "overburdened by children". A further Act in 1593 llowed the overseers of the poor to raise a rate to pay their premiums. The Poor Relief Act of 1601 encouraged the use of apprenticeship by allowing the churchwardens and overseers, with the consent of two justices, to bind out any child for whom they were responsible "where they shall see convenient". | The Statute of Apprentices of 1563 gave powers to two justices of the peace to bind out as apprentices the children of paupers, vagrants and of those "overburdened by children". A further Act in 1593 llowed the overseers of the poor to raise a rate to pay their premiums. The Poor Relief Act of 1601 encouraged the use of apprenticeship by allowing the churchwardens and overseers, with the consent of two justices, to bind out any child for whom they were responsible "where they shall see convenient". | ||
The intention was to stop children roaming about and begging and, indeed, forming the gangs which had terrorised Elizabethan England. Any child under the age of 14 could be disposed of in this way and in 1696 this upper age limit was increased to 16. Girls served until they reached the age of 21 or were married and boys to the age of 24. Getting rid of the child by apprenticing it became a standard way of reducing the poor rate and when, in 1691, apprenticeship by indenture gave the child legal settlement in the parish in which it was being trained, there was considerable incentive to place that child anywhere but in its home parish. | The intention was to stop children roaming about and begging and, indeed, forming the gangs which had terrorised Elizabethan England. Any child under the age of 14 could be disposed of in this way and in 1696 this upper age limit was increased to 16. Girls served until they reached the age of 21 or were married and boys to the age of 24. Getting rid of the child by apprenticing it became a standard way of reducing the poor rate and when, in 1691, apprenticeship by indenture gave the child legal settlement in the parish in which it was being trained, there was considerable incentive to place that child anywhere but in its home parish. | ||
Encouraged by the 1601 Act that the apprentice be "put forth very timely" almost eighty per cent were aged 13 or under. At Aymestrey in herefordshire only six per cent were 14 or 15, whereas 18 per cent were 12, 20 per cent were 11, 24 per cent were 10, 14 per cent were nine and 10 per cent were only eight years old, a fairly typical pattern. | Encouraged by the 1601 Act that the apprentice be "put forth very timely" almost eighty per cent were aged 13 or under. At Aymestrey in herefordshire only six per cent were 14 or 15, whereas 18 per cent were 12, 20 per cent were 11, 24 per cent were 10, 14 per cent were nine and 10 per cent were only eight years old, a fairly typical pattern. | ||
In rural places the youngest children were invariably put out to husbandry or housewifry but it was not always easy to find masters for very young apprentices, sometimes as young as seven. Some people may have been glad to have a slave to work in the house or on the farm, even if that slave had to be housed and fed for 15 years, but the more prosperous rate-payers might well not want obviously unsuitable young girls or boys from poor families as "apprentices". | In rural places the youngest children were invariably put out to husbandry or housewifry but it was not always easy to find masters for very young apprentices, sometimes as young as seven. Some people may have been glad to have a slave to work in the house or on the farm, even if that slave had to be housed and fed for 15 years, but the more prosperous rate-payers might well not want obviously unsuitable young girls or boys from poor families as "apprentices". | ||
As a result, another Act in 1696 compelled qualified parishioners, chosen by rotation or ballot, to take children, a refusal being punishable by a fine of £10. At Stevenage the children were numbered and lots drawn, but at neighbouring Hitchin, which was a little more humane, the masters were carefully selected in church and security asked of them "to keep the prentice like a Christian". This little ceremony took place on the seceond Tuesday after Easter, called Binding Tuesday. Here, indeed, the tenor-bell was sometimes rung to celebrate that a town-child or poorling was out of his "binding tyme". | As a result, another Act in 1696 compelled qualified parishioners, chosen by rotation or ballot, to take children, a refusal being punishable by a fine of £10. At Stevenage the children were numbered and lots drawn, but at neighbouring Hitchin, which was a little more humane, the masters were carefully selected in church and security asked of them "to keep the prentice like a Christian". This little ceremony took place on the seceond Tuesday after Easter, called Binding Tuesday. Here, indeed, the tenor-bell was sometimes rung to celebrate that a town-child or poorling was out of his "binding tyme". | ||
At Hatfield in 1773 eight yeomen appeal to Quarter Sessions against the £10 fines imposed at Petty Sessions for refusing to take an apprentice, but only one appeal was allowed. The more prosperous householders became resigned to paying fines and in some parishe fines were so frequent that they became an important source of income. Leeds was said to have raised £1,000 a year from them. Halifax certainly raised £100 to £150 a year and one poor child at Ovenden, who it seems was completely unacceptable for any purpose, regularly added £50 a year to parish funds by his unsuitability. | |||
The obligation to take an apprentice might be argued at Quarter Sessions and 1700 alone three paupers apprenticed by the overseers of Hoddesdon were discharged, in one case because the widow who had been forced to take a child was " old and not of any trade or calling or held any lands to employ or teach the said apprentice", in the second because the master held land but did not live there, and in the third because the master, a tailor "was not of ability nor had business enough" to keep an apprentice. In 1743 the indenture of William Babam, a poor child apprenticed at Hemel Hempstead, was cancelled because he "was infirm, unhealthy, and not able to do any service or work". | |||
In the majority of parishes no premium was paid for pauper children, though a few clothes might be provided. When premiums were paid, which was probably in less than a third of cases, they varied enormously from place to place and over time. A large sum might have to be given if the child were handicapped in any way. Any premium paid came from the poor rate, but sometimes the overseers would sell an orphan's possessions or obtain some contribution from the father of an illegitimate child. A low-cost arrangement ridding the parish of any liability for a long period would be most desirable; particularly one which placed the child's place of settlement away from home. | |||
The indentures of pauper apprentices differ from those of other apprentices. Unlike the indentures of ordinary apprentices they invariably show the age of the child and they do not name its parents. The names of the father of illegitimate children, however, may be deduced from their indemnity payments and were sometimes noted in the margin of the indenture. | |||
The majority also contain undertakings by the masters ensuring that the apprentice will not become a charge on the parish during its term and that he will provide "double apparel" for the boy or girl at its end. This was usually, though not always, the case with factory apprentices. It enabled them to be decently clad at least when first seeking work. | |||
If the indenture itself has not survived there may be a bond by the master guaranteeing to carry out its terms, or their basic details may have been entered in the vestry minute books or in the parish registers. In a few places a separate register of pauper apprentices was maintained in accordance with an Act of 1766. | |||
'''Factory apprentices''' | |||
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to be continued | to be continued | ||