Poor Law

What are Apprenticeship Records?

Apprentices were of two kinds; trade apprentices and poor apprentices.

Trade Apprentices

Apprenticeship usually started when the child was ten (or seven for the navy) and seldom after eighteen, and lasted seven years or until the age of twenty one. Apprentices were usually bound by their parents to a master to learn a trade. From the early eighteenth century indentures were drawn up as evidence of the apprenticeship agreement and they were held by the master and the father, and so are usually lost. You may find details of apprentices in guild records.
You will find details of any surviving records in the catalogues which can be searched online.

In 1710 a stamp duty was levied on bindings and this caused the establishment of a central register of apprentices kept by the Inland Revenue. The registers are among the Inland Revenue records at The National Archives. You will find indexes to some of the registers with the Society of Genealogists.

Poor Apprentices

The Poor Law Act of 1601 gave Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor the power to apprentice to any trade or husbandry any child under sixteen whose parents or family were unable to provide maintenance.

Until 1757 apprenticeship was by indenture; after that by any properly stamped deed. Before and after that date it was often done merely by agreement and entered in the vestry minute book.

You may find details about parish apprentices recorded in parish registers, vestry minutes and overseers’ accounts.

These records were usually kept in the Parish Chest and have been transferred to the Record Office. You will find details of any surviving records in the parish catalogues which can be searched online.

You will find some useful information about apprenticeship records on the website of The National Archives and the website, The Workhouse.