This table lists all of the livery companies whose apprentice records have been abstracted and indexed. Click the company name for more details.
The archives of the Society are in part deposited at the Guildhall Library, while much of the more modern material remains in the care of the Society. The Minute Books of the Court of Assistants begin in December 1617, and contain details of apprenticeships from April 1618. Apprenticeships from two volumes are listed here. All those from GL Ms 8200/1, the Minutes from 1617 to 1651, are given, and those from GL Ms 8200/2 for the period from 1651 to the end of 1669. The volume of information in the Minutes varies, but for the majority of apprentices full descriptions were given of family and origins. Some bindings which were not made before the Court of Assistants but that came to light later are also recorded here. Contemporary manuscript indexes can be found at the end of both volumes of minutes.
The Court of Assistants were active in examining potential apprentices' physical and scholastic suitability for the trade throughout this period. A number of those presented were initially rejected or deferred. When such an apprentice was later accepted, the dates of their prior examinations are given in brackets at the end of the abstract.
Information on later apprenticeships can be found in the remainder of GL Ms 8200/2 (ends 1680) and GL Ms 8200/3 (ends 1694). From 1694 onwards registers with accounts of Orphans Duty survive (GL Ms 8207), and information on Apothecaries' apprenticeships for the period after 1700 based on these records can be found in P.J. Wallis and R.V. Wallis, Eighteenth century medics: subscription, licenses, apprenticeships (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1988).
The records of 2,088 Apothecaries' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Its records are principally deposited at the Guildhall Library. The first apprenticeship register (Guildhall Library Ms 12,079/1) covers 1535-1602, but has no details of parentage, etc. The next volume (GL Ms 12,079/2 covering 1602-61) contains such details from about 1623, and it is from there that the details have been abstracted. However, from 1623 freedom admissions, which are interspersed with apprenticeships, give the details of pre-1623 apprenticeships. Puzzlingly, however, the original apprenticeships in these cases are, frequently, not to be found in their correct earlier chronological place. One can only assume that the register is a later compilation from two separate conflated records, and where an apprenticeship resulted in a freedom, the freedom admission was sometimes recorded with the apprenticeship details, rather as two separate entries. Dates in the early part of GL 12,079/2 are often expressed by Saints' Days. These have been rendered in the abstracts into the modern form of the date, with double-dating (ie Old Style and New Style) for the period before the 25th March each year. (NB The index to the abstracts uses only New Style dates.)
After a brief gap 1661-1665 (punctuated by a few entries for 1663; the court minutes for the period also give no details) the record resumes with GL Ms 12,080/1 which covers 1663, 1666-1721. This register is badly faded and many entries to the mid-1670s (and a few in 1702) are totally illegible. A number of entries were recovered (or corrected) however, from GL Ms 12,072 (rough court minutes 1643-70) and Ms 12,074/1 (rough court minutes 1670-1706), though these volumes are themselves damaged and do not consistently give details of apprenticeships.
Abstracts were also made from GL Ms 12,080/2 which covers 1721-1826. However, as usual in this series, no abstracts were made of records after the end of 1800. From the 1740s the premium paid, and after mid-1769, the residence and occupation of the master is given in the manuscript, but this has been omitted in this index.
The records of 3,509 Armourers' & Brasiers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 1,385 Basketmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
GL Ms 5349/2 contains similar records 1728-71, GL Ms 5349/3 1766-75 and GL Ms 5349/4 1776-1806. There is a certain amount of overlap between GL Ms 5349/2 and GL Ms 5349/3; all information about an apprenticeship in either register has been conflated into a single entry here.
The records of 497 Bowyers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The early series of Court Minutes from which most of the earlier entries in the database were taken consist of a series of annual reports, mainly August to August. These have been bound up into a series of volumes. This has led to some years being omitted, and some being in other ways misbound.
The Brewers' Wardens' Accounts books begin as early as 1501. However, they do not provide a detailed record, containing the names of the parties and in some years the exact date. They have been used here to add entries after the start of the detailed apprenticeship records of the company in 1531. The first account book (GL Ms 5442/1) contains the accounts for 1501/2-1507/8 and 1541/2-1545/6. The second volume (GL Ms 5442/2) contains the accounts from the years missing above. However, this book has clearly been made up from loose sheets, and many years are misplaced and jumbled. The third book of accounts (GL Ms 5442/3 contains accounts 1546/7-1561/2, the fourth (GL Ms 5442/4) accounts for 1563-81 and the fifth (GL Ms 5442/5) covers 1582-1616. There are two sets of accounts for 1546-7; there are minor differences between the two set which have not been fully collated. All these volumes have been used silently to fill in gaps in the Court Minutes.
The first Brewers' Company Court Minute Book (GL Ms 5445/1) is labelled 1531 to 1584, however this is clearly due to a misreading as it begins on 5 Oct 1531 and ends in 1554, From 1531 the minutes run for a year. There is then a gap from 5 Sep 1532 to 22 Oct 1538. There are further gaps after 4 Sep 1539 until 7 Oct 1544 and from after 9 Aug 1552 until 4 Sep 1553.
The second volume of Court Minutes (GL Ms 5445/2) begins 23 Sep 1557 and ends in 1563. The third volume runs from 1563 to Aug 1568, but the minutes are missing from Aug 1566 to Aug 1567. The fourth volume begins in Sep 1568 and ends in Aug 1573. The fifth volume begins in Sep 1573 and ends in Aug 1578. The apprenticeships in the sixth volume start in Sep 1578 and end in Aug 1582. The seventh volume began in Aug 1582 and ends Aug 1586. The eighth volume begins in Aug 1586 and ends in Aug 1589. The ninth begins in Sep 1590 (i.e. there is a year missing) and ends in Aug 1596. Ms 5445/10 begins in Sep 1597, so again there is a gap. There is also a most peculiar problem in the Wardens' Accounts: there is a section headed 1596, but it contains the apprenticeships of 1591! The volume is very badly misbound, but a section for the missing period was found, eventually, though not headed. GL Ms 5445/10 ends in Aug 1600. Again, there is a gap until GL Ms 5445/11 starts in Sep 1601.
GL Ms 5445/11 ends in Jul 1603, and GL Ms 5445/12 does not begin until Sep 1604, again a gap which has been made partially good by the warden's accounts. GL Ms 5445/12 is itself misbound in places, with the minutes from the beginning of Dec 1604 to 11 Apr 1605 following those for Sep 1605, an error made even more confusing by a minute on the first page of the misbound section being dated (in error) Dec 1603. One result of this is that Reynold Scoles was apparently discharged from his apprenticeship before he was apprenticed! This register ends in Aug 1612, and GL Ms 5445/13 begins in the same month. It ends in Aug 1620, when GL Ms 5445/14 begins. This volume is misbound Oct-Dec 1621 being placed after May 1622. It ends in Aug 1628 when GL Ms 5445/15 begins. This in turn ends in Aug 1634 and GL Ms 5445/16 starts. This register ends in Aug 1642.
GL Ms 5445/17 starts in Sep 1642. In this volume most of year 1646/7 has been bound in upside down and there are two copies of 1651-2 and the record ends in Aug 1652. In GL Ms 5445/18 starting in Sep 1652 there are two copies of 1652-3, 1653-4, 1654-5 and 1655-6. It ends in Aug 1659. GL Ms 5445/19 starts in Sep 1659 and ends in Aug 1665. The next volume (GL Ms 5445/20) does not start until Sep 1666.
In GL Ms 5450 the apprentices' fathers' parishes and occupation are usually (but not invariably) given. In a few cases after about 1760 more precise places (such as streets) are sometimes given; they have been omitted from these abstracts. In a few records the person paying the fee has been noted by name; where this is not the father it has been noted. Where the father is noted as dead this has been denoted in the text by "deceased" against their occupation or status (or parish in the few cases where the occupation is not given).
Later in the eighteenth century fewer and fewer masters actually practised the trade of brewing; in cases where a master's actual trade is given, this will be found in brackets after his name. Sometimes also in the later records a place is given for the master. This has been omitted except where it is not (as it almost invariably is) within the old London County Council area. Also omitted has been 'considerations', the fees paid by apprentices (or rather their parents, etc.) to the master for the apprenticeship.
The records of 5858 Brewers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
It is fairly clear that the register for the period 1713-63 has at some time been lost, the court minutes of this period not detailing the apprenticeships. Some of these apprenticeships will have been taxed and recorded in the Inland Revenue records which were the basis for the indexes to them for the 1710-74 period which are at the Society of Genealogists and the Guildhall Library. These records only give the name and parish of the father to about 1750, and in any case less than a quarter of London apprentices seem to be recorded in them judging from the records of the Tylers' and Bricklayers' Company which were collated with this source.
The court minutes, on occasion, record the presence of a witness, virtually always a relative of the apprentice; where such witnesses have been named, they have been noted in this abstract. Occasionally, also, the court minutes note the age of the apprentice; this has also been included in the abstract.
The records of 886 Broderers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The Court Minutes of the Blacksmith's Company start in 1605, with some apprenticeships from 1604 recorded, and full details concerning apprenticeships from as early as 1596 on which there were turnovers from 1605 and later. The first minute book (GL Ms 2881/1) contains Jun 1605 to Jul 1611 (apprenticeships 1604-11) and the second (GL Ms 2881/2) Jul 1611 to Sep 1617. There is then a gap before GL Ms 2881/3 which contains 1626-31 and GL Ms 2881/4 which continues with 1631-39. There is a parallel series of minutes, the first volume of which, GL Ms 2882/1, covering 1625-33, contains some entries not in the GL Ms 2881 series. Apprenticeships have been taken from these records from 1605 to 1632. Furthermore, some early freedom admissions by apprenticeship give details of parentage, where no record of the apprenticeship itself survives. Details of these entries have been included in the index. Occasionally, also, an early freedom admission has included details not given in the apprenticeship entry itself - these have also been added, without comment, in this index.
The regular series of apprenticeship registers of the Blacksmiths' Company runs from February 1631/2 to 1781 (GL Mss 2886/1-5) with a gap from May 1652 to February 1679/80. This gap has been partially filled from the Court Minute Books (GL Ms 2881/6 to Jul 1658 and GL Ms 2881/7 from Aug 1658 to Jun 1662 and Sep 1667 to Feb 1667/8). There are no Court Minute Books for the remainder of this gap, the regular series not resuming until 1686. Even for this period, entries are not detailed and only contain the names of the apprentice and of the master.
Details are not given in entries from mid-1776. Entries subsequent to 1776 have been taken from the Orphans' Tax Book 1747-1856 (GL Ms 2889/2), with further details added from the Court Minutes. However, again the Court Minutes 1766-78 (GL Ms 2881/14) merely state the number of apprentices bound. The succeeding volume for 1779-85 (GL Ms 2881/15) does give the names of the apprentices and the master from the beginning but no details until Mar 1781. The rough court minutes 1769-79 (GL Ms 2882/16) is similarly uninformative. From 1781 details have been added from Ms 2881/15 to the record and then from the following volume for 1785-1828 (GL Ms 2881/16).
There are 13,248 apprenticeships recorded in this index.
Its surviving records are at the Guildhall Library and consist of three court minute books which contain details of apprenticeships and freedom admissions. Their covering dates are 1615-46 (Guildhall Library Ms 5204/1: 13 Jan 1614/15 to 20 Nov 1622; Ms 5204/2: 13 Dec 1622 to 26 Nov 1632; Ms 5204/3: 11 Jan 1632/3 to 4 Sep 1646). The registers contain full details of parentage, etc. for freedom admissions. Of those by apprenticeship, quite a few apprenticeships predate the start of the court minutes.
Virtually the final entry is a minute concerning the uniting of the Brown Bakers' Company to the White Bakers' Company, which became henceforth the Bakers' Company, on 22 Jul 1646.
The records of 657 Brown Baker's apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Detailed records start being kept for this company in the Warden's Accounts for 1585. They run to 1588 (Guildhall Library Ms 6440/1), and there is then a gap to 1592, when the series resumes (GL Ms 6440/2 1592-1646). There is a further gap after 1646, until surviving registers of apprentices as such start to be kept for this Company in 1654.
There is some considerable evidence that the compilation of the 1654-1730 volume was conducted very carelessly. The names of both people and places, therefore, are frequently contorted into an unrecognisable form. To give some examples an apprentice quite clearly called Quenenn in the Ms, comes from the Guildford butcher family of Quennell (indeed his brother is apprenticed later, correctly spelled). It would seem likely that the volume was compiled from another, and copied inaccurately. Another is stated come from 'Worton Overy' which is clearly Burton Overy and another 'Cook Norton' instead of Hook Norton.
There are gaps between Sep 1659 and Oct 1662 and the end of Aug 1666 and the beginning of May 1667 which cannot be filled from any other source. The register is in one hand from 1662 to 1713. Since there was more than one change of clerk in this period, it would seem to be a copy from another, now lost, source. Thus may be at least a contributory factor in the poor orthography noted above.
There is a gap in the records of apprenticeship bindings from 1730-43. This is made up by a combination of the Orphans' Tax book which survives for the period and the warden's accounts (GL Ms 6440/7). Unfortunately, there is also a gap in the warden's accounts after 1738, made worse by the defective nature of the Orphans' Tax book, from which many apprenticeships are omitted in the period which can be checked against the wardens' accounts. The court minutes at this time give turnovers, but not original apprenticeships. At this period, however, parentage is only rarely given in the freedom registers and never in other records. For those apprentices who were made free this has been ascertained from the register of freedom admissions (GL Ms 6446/1). Furthermore this period has been checked against the Inland Revenue Apprenticeship Registers indexes at the Society of Genealogists for those not found in the freedom admissions.
The series resumes with GL Ms 6447/3 (1743-49), GL Ms 6447/4 (1749-82) and GL Ms 6447/5 (1782-1821). As usual in this series, the last volume has been copied to the end of 1800 only.
There are 9,659 apprenticeships recorded in this index
The archives of the Company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. A small number of apprentices for the year 1668 are recorded in Guildhall Library Ms 4919, but without details, and the systematic record does not begin until 1678, when starts an appenticeship binding book which continues to 1776 (GL Ms 4914/1), followed by another which contains bindings from 1776 to 1848 (GL Ms 4914/2). As usual abstracts have been made here only to the end of 1800.
Ms 4914/1 has been bound incorrectly, and there is therefore some chronological confusion. In particular, there are now gaps between an entry in May 1686 and one in October 1691 and between November 1691 and June 1692. There is also a gap after May 1696 until July/August 1697. These cannot be filled from the court minutes (GL Ms 4907/1) which runs from 1668 to 1800, as this does not give any apprenticeship details. However, the last gap can be filled with the names of the parties only from an Orphans' Tax book (GL Ms 4913/1) which runs from 1694 to 1773. Since no dates are given in the latter it is not clear whether this is a complete record of the gap, but it would seem so. This book augments the record on odd occasions afterwards.
From about 1709 to the 1760s, quite a number of entries are annotated with 'dead' or similar notes. It is not certain when they were added, but they are reproduced in this index. Some notes in the 1730s and 1740s are in pencil and very difficult to read; they probably would be invisible, and certainly illegible, on microfilm.
Widows of masters are sometimes described as 'consort of the fellowship of carmen'. It is noticeable that in this company, widows took apprentices in more frequently than normal; presumably women were able to carry on this trade more easily than most. Female apprentices, however, are as rare as in most companies.
The records of 2,444 Carmens' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Such records as survive are principally deposited at the Guildhall Library. Much of the archive of the Coachmakers' and Coach Harnessmakers' Company was lost through enemy action in World War II. Most fortunately, G. Elland (who produced a history of the Company) had compiled a list of pre-1800 apprentices on slips, and from these slips (which presumably no longer survive) Colonel F. Wall compiled a typescript index, of which there are copies in the Company's archives (preserved at the Guildhall Library) and at the Society of Genealogists. This current index was prepared from the copy at the Society of Genealogists.
Some editorial changes have been made in preparing the abstracts. Christian names have been extended, modernised and standardised. 'Auty' and 'Anty', which both appear in the typescript, have both been rendered Anthony. Place-names, where they can be identified with certainty, have been modernised. A differential is made between 'in Ms' which notes dubious entries in the typescript itself, and 'in Ts', which references annotations made by Cliff Webb. Unidentified places have been placed in single inverted commas - these inverted commas do not appear in the typescript. Parishes have been allocated (in square brackets) to some smaller places - these again do not appear in the typescript. In some cases, the original copyist has shown pre-1752 dates in double-dated form, e.g. 1727/8. In most cases, however, this has not been done to dates from 1st January to 24th March. In all these cases in this index, there has been no alternative to retaining the form used in the typescript, which leaves it uncertain whether, for example, 1 Jan 1727 is actually 1726/7 or 1727/8.
Due to the loss of the original manuscripts from which the slips and thus the typescript was compiled (not the case for the abstracts for other Companies records) any information given in the typescript has been included here, including a few freedom admissions, except that the designation citizen and coachmaker has been omitted where a master is being named, since he must always be a member of the Coachmakers' Company. In a number of cases the apprentice is shown in the typescript as being apprenticed 'to W.W.'. From other entries this is clearly 'to William Watson' and has been so rendered here.
A few entries pre-date the foundation of the Company in 1677. In these cases (e.g. Richard Foordham), apprentices to masters who were members of other companies took their freedom as of this company.
The records of 3,802 Coachmakers' & Coach Harness Makers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
In this book a court of 3 Dec 1746 notes the existence of various archives of the Company including old and new freedom admissions and apprenticeship registers, and an index to the old apprenticeship binding register, none of which appear to be extant.
The records of 42 Combmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The Cooks' archive is a complicated one. The first register of apprenticeships (Guildhall Library Ms 9995) is marked and listed as covering 'ca1656-94', the starting date being uncertain due to damage at the beginning of the register. However, closer examination as part of the process of generating these abstracts makes it clear that some information survives for apprenticeships from 1654. A series of court minutes starts with a volume covering 1663-1682 (GL Ms 3111/1), but there is a substantial gap until 1738 when the next volume (GL Ms 3111/2) starts, which volume continues to 1784. GL Ms 3111/3 continues to 1807, but has only been abstracted here to the end of 1800. From 1689 to 1745 there survive another series of court minutes (GL Ms 9994/1-5). GL Ms 9994/1 and 9994/3-5 are draft minutes; GL Ms 9994/2 is a fair copy (from 1690-93). GL Ms 9994/4 has been misbound so that several places are out of chronological order. GL Ms 9994/5 though covering 1724-45 has been wrongly labelled on the outside 1724-25.
These records can be further supplemented by the register kept of payments of the Orphans' Tax (GL Ms 3114); covering the period 1694-1861, this only gives the bare names of the parties, but is a useful check on the completeness of the other records, and has been used extensively (and silently) to supply missing information. In some cases, only the entry in the Orphans' Tax register survives. These (comprising some 42 entries) have been checked against the Apprenticeship indexes at the Society of Genealogists, and any details found there included. It is in line with the experience of similar checks in regard to other companies, that only ten of these apprenticeships were found recorded. Records with extra information from this source have been asterisked in the abstracts.
By the Charter of 1664, confirmed by an act of council in 1753, any freeman exercising the trade of cook was to be translated from their own company to the Cooks' Company.
The records of 3,073 Cooks' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The earliest records of the Company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. Guildhall Library Ms 6112/1 is the first surviving volume of the court minutes starting in 1628. It includes from the beginning details of apprenticeships. This volume predates the apprenticeship register beginning 5 Nov 1658. While courts are recorded 1646-49 (with freedom admissions), there are no apprenticeships noted from October 1646 to December 1649, and there are also none between March 1649/50 and June 1651. Presumably apprentices were bound during this period, but simply not recorded; indeed, there are turn overs of apprentices otherwise unrecorded in the years immediately following which probably reflect some of these.
The apprenticeship register which begins in 1658 (GL Ms 6113A) continues to 1853. However, entries after 1694 are only of turn overs. At the other end of the register are freedom admissions 1658 to 1856. Apprenticeships from July 1694 continue in GL Ms 6115/1 which ends in May 1781. GL Ms 6115/2 contains apprenticeships from July 1781 to 1827. As usual in these abstracts, apprenticeships have only been noted to the end of 1800.
The records of 2,737 Curriers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The next earliest record which has been included is GL Ms 7159/1 which contains apprenticeship bindings 1565-1604 and 1618-27. The binding and catalogue list the starting date as 1575, and indeed this is when the record appears to have been kept from. However there are one or two earlier entries recorded. The volume has been damaged and a few entries have been lost. Furthermore, in the latter section a few pages have been inserted in the wrong order, presumably at the rebinding.
GL Ms 7147/1 contains wardens' accounts 1584-1622 (though labelled 1586-1621); entries of apprenticeship are given. In early records only the surnames of the parties is given; sometimes from 1609 both surnames and christian names are given. This volume has been used to augment the record, reading names illegible or missing in the other sources for this period noted below.
GL Ms 7159/2 contains apprenticeship bindings 1604-18. The volume has been badly damaged and though repaired some entries are lost and others defective. In the repair one or two pages have been bound in out of chronological order. The damage has, to some extent, been made up from the first volume of Court Minutes (GL Ms 7151/1) which covers 1602 to 1670 (although its binding labels it as ending in 1667). This volume, however, only rarely gives full details and sometimes does not even give the christian names of the parties; it does however give turnovers, not in GL Ms 7159/2. It also only lists a small proportion of entries in the apprenticeship books. The basis of selection is not discernible.
From the end of the record in Ms 7159/1 (1627), entries have been taken from the Court Minutes. As stated above, however, only the bare names are recorded, and for some periods the record may well be defective. Certainly, the number of apprentices recorded in very low. The Cutlers' Company Ms 7151/2 contains court minutes 28 May 1670 to 25 Sep 1706. Though all entries have been noted, details are not give until 1677. The Cutlers' Company Ms 660/1 contains court minutes (with apprenticeship details) 1687-90 and purports to contain a similar record for 1712-19. However, on careful examination it became clear that this latter period was a record of the Clockmakers' apprenticeships for this period. As this manuscript was the basis of Fothergill's list at the Society of Genealogists, the error was perpetuated in that list. The record has been continued with GL Ms 7151/3 which continues the court minutes to 1730. Ms 7159/3 contains apprenticeship bindings 1718-1826. Ms 7159/3 records no entries between 18 May 1781 and 15 Jan 1789. Entries continue in the Orphans' Tax book (GL Ms 7160/1), which is, however, not completely legible, but entries have been completed and corrected from the Court Minutes (GL Ms 7151/5-6) for the period.
The earliest records have been conflated. A few entries, from which no useful information can be obtained have been omitted altogether. Sometimes, it has been possible to supply various information. The christian name is sometimes very likely, when only the surname is given, the month may sometimes be very likely from surrounding entries, and a parish may be assigned to a township, etc. All this editorially supplied information is in square brackets. A cutler who frequently takes apprentices at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century is 'Oliver Plucket', presumably in fact a member of the Plunket family of whom one Oliver became a archbishop, though the name is (almost) consistently spelled 'Plucket'.
There are 5,752 apprenticeships recorded in this index, 17,487 names have been indexed. I am grateful for the permission of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers and of the Corporation of London, Guildhall Library for their permission to publish this work. I am also most grateful to Mr Hinde, clerk of the Company for his encouragement during the course of this work and for permission to publish.
There were apprenticeship registers for this company from 1694, but Guildhall Library Ms 6212/1 covering 1694-1764 has been missing since 1971. Entries for 1765-1811 (after 1811 the register no longer gives the fathers' names) have been taken from GL Ms 6212/2 which continues to 1862. However, extra details are given in the court minutes (GL Mss 6207/1B and 6207/2) of some entries and these have been silently added here. There are however a series of court minutes, albeit incomplete, which start earlier than the registers of apprenticeships and which in the main give the details of apprenticeships in their period. GL Ms 6208/1-4 cover the periods 1663-64, 1665-70, 1675-83 and 1693-1706. GL Ms 6207/1 covers 1714-30, GL Ms 6207/1A 1731-56 and GL Ms 6207/1B 1756-81. GL Ms 6214 is described in the Guildhall Library catalogue, rather misleadingly, as an index to apprenticeships 1659-1709. It proves to contain a fairly full record of apprenticeships during its period, arranged in alphabetical sections under masters' names. It helps fill in several gaps in the court minutes, but because some entries only appear in one or another, both court minutes and this 'index' have been searched for this period. However, this record has its limitations: it has at some point lost (suggesting it was originally kept on unbound sheets) references to apprenticeships to masters with surnames beginning with 'Q' and 'Y'. Furthermore, while in the early years only an occasional extra entry appears in the court minutes, after about 1700 it has a smaller and smaller proportion of the entries that can be so recovered from the court minutes. There is no discernable pattern in these 'lost' entries, and it is impossible to know how many are lost from the periods when no court minutes survive. In particular, however, it would seem highly likely that our record of apprenticeships for the last part of 1706, and 1707-09 (a period when court minutes do not survive) are likely to be very far from complete. Entries between the two records have been conflated without differentiation into one sequence in this index, except for a few where differences are sufficient to make it necessary to note.
The combination of these records means that details of Distillers' apprenticeships survive from only just over twenty years from their foundation. The loss of GL Ms 6212/1 only results in apprenticeships between 1710 and 1713 being lost. Of these a few, no doubt, might be recovered from the general indexes to Apprenticeships at the Society of Genealogists mentioned above.
The records of 1,713 Distillers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
It would appear that there is only one register of apprenticeships which survives, covering the years 1706 to 1746 (Guildhall Library Ms 8169). The bare names of apprentices can be recovered from 1694 to 1861 in the Orphans' Tax books (GL Ms 8170/1-2) which have not been copied here.
There is an error in the binding of GL Ms 8169, so that some entries in 1744 are to be found six folios past where they should be. The last six folios bound in as A, B, C, D, E and F, are actually respectively folios D, B, E, F, C (which reversed), A.
The records of 2,311 Dyers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 43 Fanmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The archives of the Company are deposited at the Guildhall Library, and two apprenticeship binding books, the first (Guildhall Library Ms 5526/1) starting in 1619, and the second (GL Ms 5526/2 starting in 1744) have been abstracted to compile this index. GL Ms 5526/2 continues to 1811, but entries have only been extracted to the end of 1800.
Clearly at one time there was a volume previous to ours, since an apprenticeship of 1616 is noted in a turn over (see entry for Tatom). There are no entries between 24 Jul 1634 and 26 Oct 1635, so it would seem likely that a page or more is missing at this point.
There is evidence that this volume (like no doubt many others) was compiled (in the manner of many parish registers) from slips of paper en masse. There are some errors which appear almost certainly to be mistranscription rather than phonetic errors. It would also seem to be the case from the number of late interpolated entries in correct chronological order, and the general orderliness of a lot of the pages.
From 1728 to 1741 the entries are quite frequently annotated 'free' and less frequently with other notes such as 'dead'. These and the occasional similar notes at other times have been reproduced in the abstracts.
There are several masters whose name appears to change rather more than the normal to be expected variations in orthography. Examples are: Jesse Pollet or Pollett who is sometimes known as Jesse Polley; Samuel Mobbs who seems later to have been consistently Samuel Mabbs; and Bulmer Hodgson also called Bulmer Hutchins. In places a master appears clearly as John Leaford, in others as more like John Seaford. Similarly, William Avery the apprentice is almost certainly William Every the master. It is possible there are some unrecognised examples, eg: William Bryan who disappears and William Browning who immediately appears as a master.
The records of 3,708 Farriers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
There are many entries whereby boys were hired to serve as 'singing boys'. These are generally for fairly short periods, between one and four years, but have been entered here as ordinary apprenticeships. Some of the apprentices have signed or made their marks and 'singing boys' normally give their ages which have been included here. 'Singing boys', who were employed in 'the stiffening or doeing off hatts setting the firrs' could only be apprenticed until they were 18 as singing boys and then had to be enrolled as proper apprentices, provided the master did not have his full complement of apprentices, and if he did to another master. Failure to do so resulted in a penal fine of 10s per week. These entries are not entered in the Orphans' Tax books, so are missing from 1708 to 1726. There are gradually fewer and fewer 'singing boys' as the eighteenth century goes on.
The first book gives entries of many apprentices turned over, or made free reciting their original apprenticeship in greater or lesser detail. In many cases, however, no details or date of the apprenticeship is given. Similarly, the second book refers back to many apprenticeships in the period 1682-92 for which they are no records. Many such entries, however, do not give a date for the original apprenticeship, and without this it was decided, with serious reservations to omit details of such entries as turnovers, filing of the papers as apprentice has gone to sea, etc. For the gap from 1708 to 1726, however, the Orphans' Tax books lists do survive. It was therefore decided to note all details possible after 1726.
There are some peculiar entries, for example Philip Wright is apprenticed in 1696 aged 37 and Richard Mighell aged 36 in 1706 both for seven years. These are well above the maximum age allowable, and there is no explanation given although the fact of the age being given indicates the clerk recognised the entry as unusual. They are also in the Orphans' Tax register, though there is nothing there to indicate it is out of the ordinary.
Other apprentices were apprenticed to two masters at the same time. These do not seem to be turnovers which are quite distinct in the record. An example is Thomas Tanner apprenticed 30 May 1698.
There are 4,069 apprenticeships records, and 12,453 names indexed, on English Origins. I am grateful for the permission of the Feltmakers' Company and of the Corporation of London, Guildhall Library for their permission to publish this work.
There are 8,318 apprenticeships recorded in this index including 24,741 names.
The records of 119 Fletchers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Its records are principally deposited at the Guildhall Library. There are three registers listing apprenticeships before 1800. The first (Guildhall Library Ms 6340/1) begins in 1643 and ends in 1701. The second (GL Ms 6340/2) starts in 1701 and its last entry is dated 2 Sep 1734. The third (GL Ms 6340/3) has first entries dated 2 Aug 1736 and last dated 7 Jun 1779. The small gap 1734-1736 does not seem to be able to be filled, as there is also a gap in the court minutes for the same period. No details of apprenticeships are given in the register 1701-02, but a few of these have been recovered from GL Ms 6335 which is a rough list of apprenticeships 1695-1701. For the period after 1779, the court minutes of the Company have been examined in order to extract details of apprenticeships. GL Ms 6331/4 was used for the period 1779 to 1782, GL Ms 6331/5 covers 1782 to 1797 and GL Ms 6331/6 covers 1797 to 1815, of which only apprenticeships before the end of 1800 have been abstracted..
The records of 3,390 Founders' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 229 Framework Knitters' apprenticeships have been abstracted
The first volume of minutes (GL Ms 5401/1) begins in 1748, but the first apprenticeship is recorded in 1750 in this volume and in an engrossment (GL Ms 5402) covering the period 1748-70. GL Ms 5401/2 covers the period up to 1791, and GL Ms 5401/3 1791-1815. All these volumes have been abstracted.
From the mid-1770s street addresses are given in London as well as, or more usually instead of, parish names. Where possible these have been converted (silently) into the parish name. At about the same time, the 'consideration' starts to be recorded - in a very high proportion of cases 'for love and affection'. This has been omitted in the abstracts.
The records of 169 Fruiterers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 136 Gardeners' apprenticeships have been abstracted
The Company was one of those adopting the practice for the first few years of always, or almost always, 'turning over' an apprentice immediately to another master, the first named master being the beadle or other official of the Company. This official master has been ignored in this index.
The records of 915 Glass-Sellers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 1,676 Glaziers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The first volume of court minutes (Guildhall Library Ms 4591/1) covers the years 1675 to 1679. There is then a long gap in the court minutes only very partially filled, as far as records of apprenticeship are concerned, by GL Ms 4592/1 which contains details of apprenticeships 1735 to 1748 (as well as freedom admissions 1738-48 not abstracted here). The apprenticeship record is annotated with whether the apprentice became free or not 1735-43 which has been rendered in the abstracts "‹
The records of 1055 Glovers' apprenticeships have been abstracted
A single apprenticeship register (Guildhall Library Ms 2455) covers all the apprenticeships from 1693 to 1837. This index covers all these records.
Almost all the early entries in the register contain a 'turn over' from an official of the Company. These have been ignored in the text, and only the 'real' master has been noted where the 'turn over' is simultaneous with the original binding. However, these early masters are almost universally members of another livery company, presumably because there were few people free of this company, so recently founded. The normal 'conventional' master from 1693 to 1700 was Richard Brady, from 1700 to 1721 George Meakins, from 1722 to 1734 John Leech, from 1734 to 1740 Richard Drury, after a gap from 1746 to 1760 by Robert Wrathall and after another gap by James Dennis from 1769 to 1788. The last such entry is the apprenticeship of William Lewis (11 Sep 1788). These masters' names have been omitted from the text of the abstracts. After the 1740s there are few of these entries, as almost all apprentices were apprenticed immediately to their real intended master. The masters not of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers' were chiefly of the Blacksmiths', Goldsmiths', Grocers', Longbowstringmakers', Merchant Taylors' or Weavers' Companies.
Perhaps because of this small size, some masters are annotated in the form 'one of this company, citizen and vintner'; for an example, see the apprenticeship of Thomas Eades in 1728.
Until 1726 (and for three entries in 1820) the register is annotated 'F' or 'dead' in the margin of many entries. 'F', of course, signifies that the apprentice later took the freedom of the Company. In the abstracts "‹free›" and "‹dead› " (after the date) have been used to denote these sorts of entries.
The records of 1,261 Gold & Silver Wyre Drawers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The early accounts from 1451 give the names of apprentices and their masters. It is possible therefore to list these, however no other details are given, and there are some gaps in the series (of which the longest is from 1505 to 1511). Furthermore, in some years only the name of the apprentice is given, not that of the master. Entries of some apprenticeships only survive from the note made when the apprentice was made free. These early records have not been included, being more usefully included in any subsequent publication of Grocers' freedom records.
Detailed records of apprenticeship for this Company, giving the name, parish and occupation of the apprentice's father start in 1629, with Guildhall Library Ms 11,593/1, which continues to 1665. Guildhall Library Ms 11,571/13 (being Wardens' Accounts 1642-52) has been used to fill a small gap Jul-Nov 1651, though details of parentage are not, of course, given in this source. The series of apprenticeship registers continues with Guildhall Library Ms 11,593/2 (1660-1712 – there is an overlap at the beginning which has been collated here) and Guildhall Library Ms 11,593/3 (1712-1786). Grocers' apprentices from 1783 to 1799 were taken from Guildhall Library Ms 11,598/5 which lists new freemen as well. For 1799-1800 Guildhall Library Ms 11,598/6 was used, which continues to 1815.
The early entries occasionally make note of a bond given by a sponsor (usually a relative of the child) for the apprentice. Details of these have been noted in the text.
There are 10,964 apprenticeships recorded in this index.
The earlier entries are taken from the court minute book 1656-1745 (GL Ms 5220/2). Almost every entry in the first 20 years or so refers to apprenticeship to the same master, who was probably beadle of the Company. At the same time the apprentice is noted as having been 'turned over' to another master, who was the master for whom he or she was really intended. The name of the first master has been omitted here. A separate register especially for apprenticeships constitutes GL Ms 5224, which covers 1745-1902. This has been abstracted until the end of 1800. From about 1765 the address of the master has been given, but this has been omitted except where it is outside the London area.
The records of 1,837 Gunmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 154 Horners' apprenticeships have been abstracted
The records of this company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. Guildhall Library Ms 6649/1 contains court minutes 1642-43 and 1654-65, which include details of apprenticeships during this period. GL Ms 6648A is a clerk's memorandum book for the period 1655, 1659-70. The beginning of the volume is very badly faded and partially illegible. Strangely, despite overlapping the court minutes in GL Ms 6649/1, entries do not appear in both volumes, indeed the only exception is one which, by being struck through in one, emphasises that apprenticeships were only entered in one or the other, but it is not clear whether there was a system as to which volume recorded them. After a further short gap, the main series of court minutes resumes with GL Ms 6648/1 covering 1673-81. GL Ms 6648/2 partially overlaps GL Ms 6648/1 starting in 1678 and ending in 1688. Succeeding volumes used in this index are GL Ms 6648/3 (1688-1714); GL Ms 6648/4 (1714-52); GL Ms 6648/5 (1752-76); GL Ms 6648/6 (1777-94) and GL Ms 6648/7 (1794-1818 copied to 1800 only). A few dubious entries were elucidated using an index to the period 1673-1726 (GL Ms 6654).
In some records of this court the meeting is only dated as "Lord Mayor's Day"; entries thus dated have been rendered in the form '.. Nov [year]' in the abstracts.
The records of 1,516 Innholders' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The archives of the Company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. While there are early archives including apprenticeships, details of parentage and birthplace do not appear before 1655. This first register (Guildhall Library Ms 16,982/1) contains details of apprenticeships 1655-1740. Ms 16,982/1 also includes turnovers 1719-39 in a separate sequence. Ms 16,982/2 contains apprenticeships 1740-1810 (copied here to 1800 only) and turnovers (in a separate sequence) from 1741-51 and from 1773-1804. It would appear that turnovers before 1719 and between 1751 and 1773 were either never recorded or have not survived.
The social status of apprentices to the Ironmongers' was generally high. Sons of esquires, gentleman and clergymen abound, though there are the normal large numbers of sons of skilled artisans (especially members of other livery companies) and a few from labouring backgrounds. Some apprentices, usually from obviously wealthy backgrounds, were placed with masters described as being members of various trading (as opposed to Livery) Companies. The Companies mentioned are the East India Company, the Muscovy (or Russia) Company, the Eastland Company, the French Company, the Levant Company, the Turkey Company, the Hambro Company and the Royal African Company. In some cases also, a bond is noted as having been given, and this has been noted in the abstracts.
For a period in this company's records, any close relationship between apprentice and master is noted. While it is obvious from such clues as shared and unusual surname in other records that there was frequently a blood relationship, it is useful to have it confirmed, especially as uncles etc. might not share the same surname as the apprentice. Uncle is probably the most common relationship mentioned, but brothers, cousins and even grandfathers also appear.
The records of 2,826 Ironmongers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
There are only a few records of apprenticeship to this company. Firstly, there are two manuscript registers of, inter alia, apprenticeships; GL Ms 21,113 covers 1604-14 and 1661-68 with a single entry of 1709, and GL Ms 21,112 covers 1611-61. Even in the period of overlap some entries are unique in each volume. In addition, GL Ms 21,111/1 is the court minute book for 1670-1717 (apparently the only one to survive from before the nineteenth century) which contains some apprenticeship records 1714-17. All these have been abstracted here, as have the freedom admissions 1714-17 also recorded in the court minutes.
The records of 297 Longbowstring Makers' apprenticeships have been abstracted
The records of 470 Loriners' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
There are apprenticeship registers for this company from 1775, but no details are given. The court minutes of the Company survive from 1647. Some details of apprenticeships are given in them, though patchily. In the first register (Guildhall Library Ms 5963/1 covering 1647-74) no details of apprentieships are given. Even in the second and third registers (GL Ms 5963/2 covering 1674-1726 and GL Ms 563/3 covering 1727-85) the amount of detail given is very variable. At some periods the bare names only are given and from 1683-86 apprenticeships are again not given at all. Sixty apprenticeships without details were referred to the general index at the Society of Genealogists, but only six appeared, one without any extra detail. This is an even lower percentage than in other Livery Companies where a similar procedure has been tried. Details cease to be given in any records after 1757, and this index only covers apprenticeships to the end of 1760.
The records of 508 Makers of Playing Cards' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 1,881 Masons' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Unlike many other companies, it is not possible to recover details of other Musicians' apprenticeships from the court minutes since these only start in 1772. Renter wardens' accounts 1712-54 survive (GL Ms 3091) but also do not give the required details (unlike a few Companies).
The records of 735 Musicians' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
From 1725 to 1742 there are occasional marginal notations to the effect that the apprentice became free, etc. These are included in the abtracts.
The records of 1,503 Needlemakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The first surviving Court Minute Book of the Company covers 1623 to 1649 (GL Ms 5667/1), but contains no details of apprenticeship. The second Court Minute Book is for the period 1649 to 1793 (GL Ms 5667/2). It contains just one entry giving apprenticeship details prior to 1666, the details of which have been extracted.
The first book of Painter-Stainers' apprenticeships starts in 1666. The main registers of apprenticeship bindings, used for this index, are GL Mss 5669/1-2, covering 1666-1795 and 1796-1950. Only entries before the end of 1800 have been copied.
GL Ms 5669/1 has obviously suffered serious fire damage at some stage in its history. The volume has had a modern (1965) repair, but there has been some textual loss at the edges of pages. In some cases, lost words have been made good in an early 19th century hand, indicating that this damage occurred fairly early.
There are 3,919 apprenticeships recorded in this index. The records of 3,919 Painter-Stainers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of this company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. One volume (GL Ms 5652/1) contains the whole of the early apprenticeship records of the Company, from 1673-1805. There are no earlier court minutes detailing apprenticeships, the Company only obtaining its first charter in 1670.
The records of 1,322 Pattenmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
There is at the Society of Genealogists a typescript copy of the apprentices of the Paviours' Company to 1783 compiled on slips by Gerald Fothergill, typed up by Joan Mary Masters in 1971. The last entry Fothergill copied was dated 15 Jul 1783. This abstract continues the work up to the end of 1800. Both Fothergill's work and this have been taken from the archives of the Company which are deposited at the Guildhall Library. Fothergill used Guildhall Library Ms 182/1 (Court Minutes 1565-1611), GL Ms 182/2 (Court Minutes 1611-56), GL Ms 182/3 (Court Minutes 1656-70), GL Ms 182/27 (Apprenticeship register 1657-65), GL Ms 182/24 (Apprenticeship register 1664-1713), GL Ms 182/19 (Freedom register 1669-1766), GL Ms 182/20 (Freedom register 1762-96). Cliff Webb continued to abstract from GL Ms 182/20 until its end in 1796, GL Ms 182/21 continues coverage from 1796 to 1806, although to the end of 1800 is all that has been copied.
One or two corrections have been made to Fothergill's work; some entries in a loose bundle of indentures 1627-87 (GL Ms 183A/1) have been included and many entries omitted by Fothergill from GL Ms 182/27, presumably inadvertently. On the other hand a few early entries from 1564-68 which do not give any details of parentage have been omitted. The entries have been rendered in the standard form for these abstracts, thus omitting, for example, the place and occupation of the master (given by Fothergill) and also a few references to freedom admissions entirely.
The records of 951 Paviors' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The Pewterers' Wardens' Accounts survive from 1451 and give names but no details of apprentices and their masters from 1488. The Company's Court Minute Books also give names of apprentices and masters from their commencement in 1551, but without details until 1611. The first entry giving details is for 12 Nov 1611 and is in GL Ms 7090/3 which covers 1589 to 1611. Succeeding volumes in this series cover the following periods 1611-43 (GL Ms 7090/4), 1643-62 (GL Ms 7090/5), 1662-75 (GL Ms 7090/6), 1675-91 (GL Ms 7090/7), 1691-1711 (GL Ms 7090/8), 1711-40 (GL Ms 7090/9 and 1740-71 (GL Ms 7090/10). For three years - 1644-46 - the Court Minute books are deficient and a basic, undetailed record has been recovered from the Wardens' Accounts 1572-1663 (GL Ms 7086/3). Occasional clarifications have been made from some of the surviving rough court minutes 1702-71 (GL Mss 7104/4-26).
Apprenticeships 1764 to 1862 are contained in a special register of apprenticeship bindings (GL Ms 7102), which has been included here up to the end of 1800.
A recent publication The Pewterers of London 1600-1900 (C. Ricketts, London, 2001)lists all those who became free of the Pewterers' in this period, including details of their apprenticeship and other aspects of their careers. However, the online index here contains all apprenticeships in its period, whether the apprentice subsequently became free of the Company or not.
The records of 5,221 Pewterers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
This company has a much higher proportion of girls being apprenticed than normal, and the average social status of the fathers is low.
The records of 343 Pinmakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The first Court Minute book of the Company (Guildhall Library Ms 6122/1) starts in 1571. However, detailed records of apprenticeships do not begin until 1597. Even thereafter, details are omitted in some entries, including almost all from 1605 to 1611. However, any entry, even if un-detailed, has been noted from 1597 onwards.
The register as it stands today is in considerable chronological disarray. It is not clear whether loose gatherings have been bound up out of order, or whether the misordering took place when the volume was rebound. Whatever the case, the current order of entries is as follows: 1571-1607; 1619-30; 1612-19; 1608-12; 1607-08; 1630-34.
The last entries in the volume are dated 13 Oct 1634 and the next volume (GL Ms 6122/2) records its first apprenticeship, without a break in continuity, on 13 Nov 1634. Its last entries are dated 29 Aug 1662. There is now a major gap, for which no record at all seems to survive of Plaisterers' apprenticeships. This is a great loss, as apprenticeships are being entered into at a record rate as the register ends. There do survive quarterage books for the period, from which the membership can be followed.
The next volume of Court Minutes (GL Ms 6122/3) does not commence until 13 Oct 1698. Its last entries are for 10 Sep 1761. Court Minutes continue with GL Ms 6122/4 whose first entry is of 9 Nov 1761. This register's last entries are dated 9 Nov 1793. The next volume of minutes was deposited in the Guildhall Library as Ms 6122/5 but has been withdrawn by the Company. The first entry is for 1 Apr 1794. Permission was granted to extract those entries dating from before the end of 1800. A few more years were searched for 'turn overs' of pre-1801 apprentices.
The records of 2,990 Plaisterers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The older records of the Company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. There are two specific registers of apprenticeship bindings. The first (GL Ms 2223/1), commencing in 1571 continues to 29 Dec 1680. The first 37 entries (containing 1571 to about 1580) are partially lost. The handwriting up to about 1600 is extremely crabbed and difficult and the orthography eccentric in the extreme. This, together with the habit of frequently omitting county names has left a larger than usual number of place-names which Cliff Webb has been unable to identify firmly. For example, in one example which was elucidated but only because access to the baptism register was available, Weybridge in Surrey was rendered in the manuscript 'Wakefield'. Until the 1620s, many dates are expressed as Saint's days. These have been rendered in ordinary dates in the abstracts.
The second register (GL Ms 2223/2) continues the record from 29 Dec 1680 to 1758. However, much of the record has been taken from the Court Minutes. These run 1669 to 1683 (GL Ms 2208/4), 1683 to 14 Nov 1711 (GL Ms 2208/5), 29 Dec 1711 to 29 Sep 1740 (GL Ms 2208/6), 29 Oct 1740 to 9 Nov 1775 (GL Ms 2208/7) and 25 Apr 1776 to 29 Dec 1800 (GL Ms 2208/8). From 1758, however, the primary record has been taken from the Orphan's Tax book 1694 to 1864 (GL Ms 2211). Although this record only gives the bare names of apprentices and masters, it is a useful checklist against the scattered (and thus easily missed) entries in the Court Minute books.
The register in the early eighteenth century is unusual in that it doesn't entirely restrict itself to bindings, turnovers and freedom admissions. In several cases entries are made giving such information as 'gone to sea' or 'become an Anabaptist preacher'. This is usually (though not always) when a master wanted to take on another apprentice in place of one who had not formally 'graduated'.
The records of 1,970 Plumbers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The first court minute book (Guildhall Library Ms 2184/1) covers 1691-1729. The second (GL Ms 2184/2) covers 1754-73, the third (GL Ms 2184/3) 1773-1800 and the fourth (GL Ms 2184/3) 1800-23. From the last minute book only two apprenticeships, taking the record up to the end of 1800 have been abstracted.
The records of 1,429 Poulters' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 199 Saddlers' apprenticeships have been abstracted here, for these small periods, showing what a substantial loss was sustained when the bulk of the Saddlers' records was lost.
In 1759, a court minute records special action taken to encourage membership, especially by non-spectaclemakers. The number of apprenticeships shows a marked increase from 1760, presumably in reaction to this.
The records of 829 Spectaclemakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The first register of apprentices (Guildhall Library Ms 6158/1 covering 1633-45) is only in roughly chronological order. Presumably the entries were made as they were registered at court, and the date of apprenticeship may therefore be some time before. Although there are only substantial numbers of entries from 1632, there is one isolated entry from 1629, presumably because of this factor. After the mid-1640s there are only occasional apprenticeships out of their correct chronological sequence.
The series continues with GL Ms 6158/2, containing apprenticeships 1662-85, which is damaged by what appears to be acidic damage to the paper in the middle of each page. It has invariably been possible to make good the name of the apprentice and master from the index at the back of the volume (which gives both these names) or from the Wardens' Accounts 1653-1701 (GL Ms 6152/3) which have been used (silently). The accounts also only give the bare names of the parties and the account year (as do earlier accounts from 1551). There are also two rough apprenticeship binding books (GL Ms 6159/1-2 covering 1686-1720 and 1720-82). These do contain full details and have been silently used to correct and add information. From late 1778 to 1782, indeed, GL Ms 6159/2 has been the primary source of information. However this lack of detail in some alternate sources means some information has been irretrievably lost. GL Ms 6161A contains presentation of apprentices 1674-85, bare names only, but exact dates which helped in a few cases.
After 1782, there is a full list of apprentices and masters in the Orphans' Duty book 1694-1867 (GL Ms 6160) in which, as usual, no details are given. The Court Minute Books (GL Ms 6153/12: 1747-79; GL Ms 6153/13: 1774-93 and GL Ms 6153/14: 1793-1821 give turnovers and also usually the name of the father of those apprentices admitted to the freedom. However, there is also in this period a rough Court Minute book (GL Ms 6154/4: 1782-98) which gives full details in almost all cases. A combination of these sources means that almost all details are available except for the period November 1798 to December 1799.
The records of 6,062 Tallow Chandlers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The following Guildhall Library manuscripts were used to compile this index: 7137/1 (1683-1700), 7137/2 (1700-15), 7137/3 (1715-37), 7137/4 (1737-58), 7137/5 (1758-85), 7137/6 (1786-1822). GL Ms 7137/5 is badly damaged, and some entries are lost or partially lost. Wherever possible this loss has been made good from details given in other sources internal to it and the next volume. Most frequently, this is where the apprentice is turned over to another master, but also some details have been gleaned from the admission of the apprentice to the freedom, and, occasionally, the warden's accounts in the volume have given a missing name. It is possible some more details of some of these may be obtainable from the central records of apprenticeship mentioned above.
The records of 2,320 Tinplateworkers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of 8 Tobaccopipemakers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
Three apprentice binding books have been abstracted to create this volume. The first, GL Ms 3302/1 covers 1604-1694, the second, GL Ms 3302/2, 1694-1759 and the third, GL Ms 3302/3, 1760-1935. As usual only pre-1800 apprenticeships have been included. The first few entries in GL Ms 3302/2 do not include details of parentage, but have been included anyway for the sake of completeness.
From mid-1766 a new clause appears at the end of binding in the form 'the master is a [occupation] and lives at [place] and the apprentice lives with him'. The index gives occupations other than turner, places outside the old London County Council (LCC) district, and any deviance from the apprentice living with the master.
The records of 7,400 apprenticeships have been abstracted.
A very wide range of social class is represented in the fathers of the apprentices to the Company. There are many labourers and equally many gentlemen and the occasional esquire. After the mid-eighteenth century many freemen did not follow the occupation denoted by their company name; where this is clear from the manuscript it has been given in brackets after the master's name. However, many did, and before 1750 the large majority were apprenticed to working bricklayers. It may be that the apprentices from more prosperous backgrounds often took up such occupations as building development in later life, or it may simply be that with primogeniture in force in most cases, younger children had to find a paying occupation, even if it was of a much humbler status than that of their parents. Also, in an era when life expectancy was much lower, and families much larger than now, children might be left in straitened circumstances by the death of the father. For a possible example, see an interesting entry of 1792 (George Gregory), where the son of a (deceased) gentleman was apprenticed to a master termed 'esquire' to learn the 'art and mystery of a bricklayer'.
It is noticeable that a number of masters are related to their apprentices, even where not the father. Apprenticeship to brothers, brothers-in-law and uncles are common, and, of course, many relatives do not share a surname. Researchers should certainly investigate the possibility of such a relationship. This possibility can also be used in reverse; masters would often take apprentices (related or not) from the geographical area they themselves had come from. This can be important, either where the master was not made free by servitude, or where for some other reason there is no clue to his origins from the record of his own apprenticeship.
A brief article on geographical origins based on the first apprenticeship register appeared in Genealogists' Magazine volume 25 no. 5, March 1996. Suffice it to say here that there appears to be a very substantial over-representation of the counties of the south Midlands, especially Northamptonshire and Leicestershire as the origins of apprentices in the 1612-44 period. Equally, the West Country, East Anglia, and, to some extent, Surrey, Sussex and Kent appear under-represented. This may reflect something peculiar to this company, an unexpected but actual population distribution of the time, or a real bias in the geographical origins of Londoners of the time. Only further research will tell.
The records of 3,728 Tylers' & Bricklayers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
The records of this company are deposited at the Guildhall Library. There is only one register of apprenticeships which gives details. This manuscript (Guildhall Library Ms 7142/1) only covers 1704-72. It also contains freedom admissions 1698-1773. Later registers of freedom admissions do not give details of apprenticeship, and neither do the court minutes of the Company, which survive from 1678. Until about 1764, the register notes in the margin those apprentices who subsequently became free, and this information has been given in this index.
The freedom admissions of the Company 1698-1803 have been abstracted by K.M. Walton and printed in index form in the Journal of the Furniture History Society Vol. IX, 1973. A copy of this list is available in the Society of Genealogists' Library. A list of masters of the Company appears on their web site (hhtp://www.upholders.co.uk).
The records of 1,319 Upholders' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
In the 1630s, in many months there is a section at the end of undetailed entries. In the 1640s, there is a similar section, but the names of the fathers are generally given, but not his parish or occupation. It is probable that these latter sections record those apprenticeships which did not take place at regular sessions of the Court, but at other times.
There are no details given in the apprenticeship register Mar 1741/2 to Oct 1751.
The records of 19,055 Vintners' apprenticeships have been abstracted which include 54,793 names.
There is a register of apprenticeships from 1596, but this only gives the names of the parties. The first register of apprenticeships to give details of parentage, etc. (Guildhall Library Ms 9488/1) begins 1 Nov 1666 and ends 12 Jul 1749. The second register of apprenticeships (GL Ms 9488/2) was only deposited in 1999. It contains apprenticeships 26 Jul 1749 right up to 1979, but as usual in this series, apprenticeships have only been listed up to the end of 1800.
In one section of the register, there are a number of annotations, the vast majority consisting of the single word 'free'. These have been included in the abstracts, but the absence of the 'word' free should by no means be taken to imply that the apprentice did not become free, as this annotation is only at certain periods and is very far from complete.
The records of 1,130 Wax Chandlers' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
At certain times the register gives the location of the master, often in the provinces. This has been given in the abstracts in parentheses after the master's name.
The records of 619 Woolmens' apprenticeships have been abstracted.
These notes have been adapted from the those appearing within the London Apprentices booklets published by the Society of Genealogists and authored by Cliff Webb (all except apothecaries) and Patrick Wallis (Apothecaries).
© 2000-2005 Cliff Webb, Patrick Wallis and The Origins Network