Apprenticeship in London and Borough Towns

In London, where apprenticeship is concerned, things are seldom what they seem. You may find your ancestor calling himself "Citizen and Pavior" and think that he paved roads. You may turn to London Apprentices: Paviors' Company and find his apprenticeship, and think that he was indeed in that trade. You would probably be wrong, however, on both counts.

In London, in the majority of companies, the company name had very little if anything to do with the many different trades that its members followed. A Citizen and Pavior could just as well be a baker and, in that case, his apprenticeship, although recorded by the Paviors' Company, would be to learn the art if baking. The indenture itself (if it survives) would say, for instance, that the boy "doth put himself Apprentice to John Bloggs, Citizen and Pavior, of London, by Trade a Baker, and living in Saint Mary Axe, To learn his Art", i.e. the trade of baking.

Guilds and Companies. The old craft and trade guilds in the city originated from groups organised for religious and social purposes which, in the Middle Ages, "adopted" a number of key trades and eventually came to monopolise and regulate them. Nearly all the older guilds obtained royal charters granting incorporation, allowing them to have a common hall and to own land. Their ordinances or by-laws were recognised by the city authorities and allowed them to regulate apprenticeships, prices and wages, to set standards for products and to enforce those standards by carrying out searches for inferior goods, to settle disputes among their members and to maintain a trade monopoly.

However, with economic and social changes between the 16th and 18th centuries the majority of guilds or companies lost the links with the trades from which they took their names. However, the Watermen and Lightermen still control the apprenticeship of those working on the River Thames and, in more recent years, many companies have attempted to re-connect themselves with their original trades. They have retained an importance in the city because of their involvement in its government and their charitable work. The last "ancient" company was formed in 1709 but at least a further 25 have been founded since 1940. Many smaller ones disappeared or were amalgamated with others over the years.

Freedom of the Company. Full membership or "freedom" of a company could be obtained at any age in one of three ways:

1. by "servitude" on the completion of a term of apprenticeship to a person who was already a freeman,

2. by "patrimony" or right of birth (open to any legitimate child born after its father's or, since 1976, its mother's admission to freedom),

3. or by "redemption" or purchase, i.e. on the payment of a fee.

Freedom of the City. In the early 14th century the acceptance of the companies into the administrative system of the city gave their freemen the right to obtain (on payment of fees) the Freedom of the City. It was this Freedom of the City as opposed to that merely of the company, that gave (in the words of Christopher Cooper writing in Archives, vol. 16 (1984) 323-53), "the exclusive right to trade by wholesale and retail within the city, immunity from tolls at markets and fairs throughout England, freedom from impressment into the armed forces, and the right to elect the city's aldermen and common councilmen". Since 1835 it has been possible to be free of the city (by redemption) without being free of any company, though some may join a company afterwards.

The Livery. By ancient right, often confirmed by charter, a limited number of the senior members of the main companies, may wear a distinctive dress or livery. That number has been fixed by the Court of Aldermen since 1712. The liverymen of these "Livery Companies" elected the lord mayor, sheriffs and some other city officers, and, from 1725 until the reforms of 1832, they also elected a member to represent the city in Parliament. This division of company members into freemen (sometimes called yeomen or bachelors) and liverymen exists only in London. Today there are altogether about 22,500 liverymen entitled to vote at elections.

to be continued