The Apprenticing of Poor Children (1699-1730)

The details which follow are presented as closely as possible to how they appear in the Lowestoft Settlement and Apprenticeship Book: Suffolk Archives, Ipswich - 01/13/1/3. But, it has not been possible to replicate completely an identical layout of the document. Original spelling has been maintained and use made of square brackets to provide extra information and clarify matters where needed. Mauve-coloured highlighting is intended to make the individual years and other dates immediately visible. 

A List of ye names of such poor Children of ye Towne of Lowestoft as have been Bound Apprentice from ye year 1699 and also of ye Masters they were Bound too

In ye year 1699

Samuel Gay bound to Mr John Wilde of Lowestoft [Merchant]

In ye year 1701

Mary Gay to Mr. Matthew Arnold of Lowestoft [Brewer]

John Darby to Nicholas Clubb of Oulton yeom[an]

Rachel Angell to William West of Barnby

Rob[er]t Roberts to Rob[er]t Collier of Lowestoft [Husbandman ]

Owen Britten to Thomas Goddle of Lowestoft Mariner

Thomas Roberts to Anthony Barlow of Lowestoft [Innkeeper]

Francis Corey to William Wells of Lowestoft [Innkeeper & Merchant]

Susan Titlow to Mr John Jex of Lowestoft [Merchant]

Christopher Davis to Mr Samuel Munds of Lowestoft [Merchant]

In ye year 1702

Ann Corey to Mr James Wilde of Lowestoft [Merchant]

Thomas Ling to Simon Ling of Lowestoft Collermaker [Harness Maker]

[ ? ] Angell to Simon Canham Snr [Senior] of Lowestoft [Mariner]

Thomas Britten to Mr John Hayward [Mariner & Merchant]

Thomas Corey to Mr John Stannard of Lowestoft [Innkeeper]

John Titlow to John Bye of Lowestoft

John Kersey to John Kindersby of Lowestoft [Fisherman]

In ye year 1703

John Titloe [Titlow] to John Goddle of Lowestoft Mariner

In ye year 1704

Sarah Gay to Daniel Harper of Oulton yeom[an]

Katherine Smith to Thomas Richardson of Haddiscoe Thorpe N[orfolk]

In the year 1706

Edmund Custings to Mr Robert Ibrook of Lowestoft Mariner

John Custings to Mr Peter Goddle of Lowestoft Mariner

In the year 1707

Anne Smith to James Postle of Lowestoft Cordwainer

Paul Christian to James Primrose of Lowestoft Baker

Simon Tills to Richard Belson of Lowestoft Baker

Christopher Sones to W[illia]m Calver of Kirkley Blacksmith

In ye year 1708

Alice Tills to Thomas Andick [Andike] of Lowestoft [Innkeeper]

Elizabeth Clarke to Jno [John] Peach of Lowestoft [Yeoman & Brewer]

In ye year 1709

Jno [John] Spalden [Spalding] to Mr. Tho:s [Thomas] Spratt of Lowestoft [Fisherman]

In ye year 1710

Anne Spalton [Spalding] to W[illia]m Jackson of Lowestoft [Fisherman]

Rich[ar]d Spalton [Spalding] to Mr James Ward of Lowestoft [Merchant]

Elizabeth Tyles [Tills] to Mr John Jex Sen[ior] of Lowestoft [Merchant]

Eliz[abeth] Turner to Francis Hewson of Shadingfield

Samuel Clarke to Daniel Long of Lowestoft [Mariner]

John Clarke to John Clarke of Lowestoft [Lighthouse Keeper]

[Lowestoft no longer referred to – just places beyond the parish.]

In ye year 1711

Margaret Thorny to Humphrey Overton [Innkeeper]

Eliza[beth] Allexander to John Shepherd

John Webb to Rob[er]t Woolage [Fisherman]

In ye year 1712 

Fuller Buxton to Mr John Jex Jun[io]r [Merchant]

In ye year 1713

James Kemp to Mr Matthew Arnold [Brewer]

Susan Custings to Mr John Barker sen[io]r [Merchant]

John Allexander to Jonathan Belgrave [ Shoemaker]

In ye year 1715 

Phil[ip] Thistle to Henry Cheaney [Cheney]

Alice Thistle to Stephen Browne of Kirtly [Kirkley]

James Ling to Rob[er[t Candler [Miller]

William Read to John Barker Mariner

Rebecca Smith to Peter Barker [Cooper]

1716

Ely [Eli] Albert to Mr John Hayward [Mariner & Merchant]

W[illia]m Addams to Thomas Manning [Mariner & Merchant]

Eliza[beth] Thistle to Henry Morris of Beccles [Keelman] (now here by certifict) [certificate]

In the year 1718

Thomas Bunnett to Mr Thomas Bream [Brame] [Fisherman]

In the year 1720

Francis Jenny to to Joseph Buckenham of Benacer [Benacre]

Edward Bunnett to John Fish of Yarmouth

In the year 1721

Robert Denny to Richard Kingsborough [Fisherman & Mariner]

Robert Britten to Henry Williams

In the year 1722

Tho[mas] Gardiner to Andro [Andrew] Watling [Watson]

[ ? ] Jeney [Jenny] to Simd [Simon] Landifield [Mariner]

In the year 1723

[Henry] Denney to Thomas Leget [Leggett] Shew maker [Shoemaker] - tradesman also found referred to in parish registers as Legood

[John] Boxston [Buxton] to Daniel Manni[n]g Shew maker [Shoemaker - and Tanner]

[ ? ] Cook to Henry Moise [Moyse] Shew maker [Shoemaker]

John Gardener to Mr Robert Hayward Master [Mariner]

Josep[h] Bleak [Blake] to Mr Simont [Simon] Canham [Mariner]

Ye Girle Tittellow [Titlow] to Simont Meuses [Simon Mewse] [Butcher]

Ye Girle Cap[p]s to Samuel Collet [Mariner?]

Ye boy Gardner to Mr William Standly [William Winstanley] [Innkeeper]

Ye boy Tittellow [Titlow] to George Theabold [Theobald] [Baker]

gurle [girl] Capes [Capps] to dindery [Charles Dringanary] [Maltster]

In the year 1725

Tho[mas] Tripp to Tho[mas] Tripp Cooper

In the year 1726

Tho[ma]s Childres[s] to Mr Matthew Arnold Jun[io]r [Brewer & Merchant]

William Morris to Mr Sam[ue]ll Dixon Marriner

1727

Nicholas Bollard to Thom[a]s Wattson Marriner

Mark Childrege [Childress] to John Kittridge [Ketteridge] [Fisherman]

1728

John Ashl[e]y to Sam[ue]l Cousings [Cousens] in Corton

William Bardwell to Mr. Jno [John] Peach [Yeoman & Brewer]

Jno [John] Titteler [Titlow] to Mr Thomas Ketteredge jun[io]r [Fisherman]

Marg[ere]tt Tittller [Titlow] to Jno [John] Hudson Saylor [Sailor]

In the year 1729

George Cook to Will[ia]m Cook in Wrentham Cordwainer 

Ye Boy returned with the money to Capt[ain] Long [Daniel Long, Mariner & Churchwarden]

[Both elements of this entry are crossed through with a single line.]

George Cook to Jno [John] Foreman of Norwhich [Norwich]

Certificate now Living here

1730

Mary Gooch to Richard Briggs of Bunnel [Bunwell] in the county of Norfolk Woolcomber 

Sarah Denny [No further details]

Hen[ry] Denny from Tho[ma]s Legood [Legate] [Shoemaker] to Edw[ar]d Grimstone [Grimston] [Innkeeper]

Rob[er]t Bollard to Mr James Munds [Merchant?]

Sarah Bardwell to Peter T[h]rower in Blundeston

Overall number of placings 

• 83 in all: 55 boys (George Cook mentioned twice) - 25 girls - 3 with no Christian name given.
• Out of the 83 total number of placements, 68 were in Lowestoft itself and 14 in places beyond the parish, with a single case in 1730 where no information is given other than the name of the child herself (who may well have been sister of the apprentice in the following entry).
• In the details relating to the year 1716, Elizabeth Thistle was obviously apprenticed into domestic service at Beccles, with her employer Henry Morris then moving into Lowestoft on a settlement certificate (of which there is no record in the parish Settlement and Apprenticeship Book). As a keelman (the keel being the forerunner of the wherry on local inland waters), he would probably have plied regularly between the two places with all kinds of cargo: grain, malt, hay, bricks, lime, timber and coal.
• In 1729, George Cook’s apprenticeship in Wrentham had obviously not worked out (for reasons unknown) and he was returned to Lowestoft with the premium payment (which could vary widely, according to conditions). He was then apprenticed to an employer in Norwich, who relocated to Lowestoft with certification from his home parish – again, with no record of this being made in the list of certificated entrants to the town.
• There was one other case of a recorded change of apprenticeship – in 1730 – where Henry Denny (having nominally spent six to seven years with Thomas Legate, a shoemaker) was transferred to Edward Grimston, an innkeeper. Legood (al. Leggett) had actually died in early November 1727, his burial being recorded in the parish registers on the 7th of the month. His widow’s burial took place on 7 February 1729, so it looks as if Henry Denny had stayed on with his former master’s spouse before her own decease left him with no one in authority over him. His baptism had taken place in St. Margaret’s Church on 12 July 1713 – so, he would have been ten years old when he was apprenticed, fourteen when his master died and fifteen (rising sixteen) when the wife departed also. But was he apprenticed to become a shoemaker or had he been in domestic service? Or was it even a combination of the two? With an innkeeper stepping in, to take him on, shoemaking alone does not seem to have been the case. 

Explanatory notes

• The establishment of apprenticeship for young people had been established during Elizabeth I’s reign with the passing of an Act of Parliament in 1563, known as the Statute of Artificers, which sought to regulate wages, create useful employment and introduce apprenticeship to the craftsmen and merchant levels of society. 
• The young people mentioned above were either from impoverished families or had lost one or both parents– all three of these situations being able to put them in a position of need. Placing them out to apprenticeship was a common means, at the time, of helping them to cope with the situation in which they found themselves. 
• It is likely that some of the apprenticeships did not work out favourably, while others may well have been the start of enabling both boys and girls to make their way in the world. And there is no easy means of ascertaining, here, which of these outcomes was the result.
• It is also likely that the girls, wherever they were placed, would have been trained up as live-in domestic servants of one kind or another. All of the people taking on apprentices were men, of some substance in the community – though of varying degrees of wealth. In the matter of taking on a child apprentice for household service especially, the wife would most likely also have had some kind of input.
• Though it is also possible that a boy could have been taken on, to be trained in domestic-related skills, the majority here (perhaps even all of them) would have been apprenticed to the trade of the man to whom they had been bound. In the case of innkeepers, there would of course have been an important element of domestic training involved in being able to function effectively in that particular environment.
• In the case of mariners and fishermen, the boys bound apprentice would have been trained up to a life at sea, acquiring the necessary skills to make a living there
• The men regarded as what may be termed leading citizens of the town are indicated by use of the abbreviation Mr (“Master”) – a term of respect, at the time.

List of the names of such Persons as refused to take Poor Children Apprentices in the Township of Lowestoft and were fined for ye same as Followeth in ye year 1701

• The fine imposed for refusal to take an apprentice was obviously a standard one of £4, which may well have been the case for those years preceding the point at which the sum was first recorded. Payments received are shown for 1717-1730.
• Men declining to take on a young person possibly did not want the responsibility of training him or her for the task in hand, or had no need of such assistance, or regarded the effort involved not worth the premium paid to them by the parish. 

Capt Nath: Long & John Jex Junr Church Wardens their Acc[oun]t of money disburst [disbursed] about binding out poor Children Apprentice as foll[ows]

• The length of apprenticeship varied a good deal, generally being quite a bit longer for boys than it was for girls. Both genders could be bound as young as eight or nine years old, though the average age was probably more in the range of ten to twelve years or twelve to fourteen. Boys, in particular, were often committed to spending seven or eight years learning their particular trade. 
• it was customary to provide an apprentice with a new set of clothes before he or she embarked upon his or her course of training.
• Thomas Bream’s apprentice (Thomas Bunnett) is referred to in the opening list of children bound to various masters. There is no record of John Durrant taking a boy on at the same time.
• There are also no references to an apprentice named George Cudden placed with Edward Wolton [Walton?] of Kessingland, nor of a child with the surname Mayes taken on by either John Barker Snr. or Jnr. And Sarah Britton is not to be found with Nathaniel Colman, either.
• With the sums of money itemised above, it has not been possible (either with these or those which follow) to get a fully accurate alignment of the individual components in the two- or three-column set-up.

• The total of money paid out was for 1718-20.
• The apprenticeships of Francis Jenny and Edward Bunnett are both recorded.
• The premiums paid by the parish to the employer taking an apprentice varied according to the length of time to be served. 

• The payment made to John Jex would have been for expenses of some kind, incurred by him during the previous year, while he was serving as Churchwarden.
• The apprenticeships of Robert Britten, Robert Denny, Thomas Gardiner and a boy surnamed Jenny are all recorded.
• There is no record of a girl named Bridget being apprenticed to any member of the Spratt family [fishermen & mariners].
• James Ward’s payment of 4s 4d to John Frary seems to have been some kind of residual sum owing at some point. Frary having previously appeared in the records, being fined for having declined to take an apprentice in the year 1709. It wasn’t until 1717 that confirmation of the payment of fines was recorded.

Mr John Frary and Mr William Utting Church Wardens there [sic] Acc[oun]t of Money disburst about binding of Poor Children Apprentices as follow

• Indentures for apprenticeship had two written copies produced: one for the master and the other for the parents of the child being bound or for the Churchwardens (the latter being in the case of orphan children). The documents would have been mainly written to a specific format by a local scrivener or lawyer.
• The money disbursed for the nine pairs of indentures referred to was payment for the documents prepared for the first nine transactions shown above– all of these apprentices being recorded in the main list. So is that of John Gardener to Robert Hayward (making ten apprenticeships in all– the largest number recorded in a single year, during the period covered).
• There is no explanation able to be offered for Robert Hayward and his apprentice (a boy surnamed Gardner) having the zero sum of money being written down with the year 1725 appended to the former’s name– unless, for some reason or another, the apprenticeship had not gone ahead.
• The sum of 8s itemised for the preparation of two sets of indentures prepared for Henry Durrant’s and Richard Belsen’s apprentices would seem to suggest that it cost 2s to have an indenture drawn up. Both men are seen to have been fined in 1725 for refusing to take on an apprentice. So, had they relented and agreed to co-operate?
• In the earlier accounts for 1719-20, a sum of 5s 6d is given as the price paid for a set of two indentures, which would have been 2s 9d each.
• There is no record to be found in the main list of children apprenticed of a girl surnamed Burnell being bound to an Edmond Hymns [Hyams?] and of her going to London.
• The four entries following on from the Edmond Hymns entry must relate to this particular transaction, which had obviously been undertaken– but not recorded.
• Both of the Childress brothers have their apprenticeships recorded in the opening list (1726 & 1727), with the same misspelling of the surname used in the entry for Mark being bound to John Ketteridge/Kitteridge (1727).
• The reference to Mr Candler is connected in some way with Robert Candler (miller), who had taken on an apprentice (named James Ling) in 1715. The boy would probably have been well out of his apprenticeship (of whatever kind it was) by 1727, but the sum owed by Candler was possibly connected in some way with money spent by the Parish during his period of training.

Capt[ain] Daniel Long and Mr John Ellis Churchwardens an Account of Money Disburst about binding out Town Children Apprentices as Follow

• All four of the apprenticeships above are to be found in the overall list of children bound to various masters.

Mr Daniel Long and John Durrant Churchwardens an Account of money Disburst for Binding out Towne Children

• There is no record in the main list of of a boy named John Ketteridge being apprenticed.

Postscript

As a final comment, to round off this piece of Lowestoft’s history, it is perhaps worth saying that scrutiny of the parish registers to ascertain details of all of the apprentices’ baptism dates, and of their parents’ burials – where these are traceable and recorded – would provide further information to add to the overall picture of apprenticeship in the town and create some sense of feeling to add to its mere statement of fact. However, a search of this nature would take many hours and there just hasn’t been the time needed to undertake such a task. When this writer carried out full family reconstitution of the Lowestoft parish registers 1561-1730 for the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure (CAMPOP), during the mid-1980s, the exercise took eighteen months to complete, with 1,500 hours of working-time devoted to it.

CREDIT:David Butcher