Paul Blake explains how you can trace ancestors who served as apprentices
Apprentices were bound historically to a master or mistress, to whom a fee or ‘premium’ was paid, usually in cash but occasionally in kind. Until
1757, this was by indenture, a legally binding document in which the detail was written twice, signed by the parties involved, including the master/mistress and the apprentice’s parents or other authority, who each kept a copy. Apprenticeships usually lasted seven years. Conditions were laid down on both sides: the master/mistress had to provide bed, board and training while the apprentice had to follow stringent rules regarding their conduct, including refraining from marriage. Until 1710, there was no central register of apprenticeships and the indentures are now mostly lost, although some may survive in local record offices.
Records Of Stamp Duty
From May 1710, stamp duty was introduced on the premium paid to the master/mistress if it exceeded 1s; the rate was 6d in the £1 for every sum of £50 or under, and 1s in the £1 for every sum over £50. Registers of these payments were kept by the Commissioner of Stamps.
There was much avoidance of the duty, and the numbers of apprenticeships in the registers declines rapidly towards the 19th century. The last apprenticeship listed in the apprenticeship registers is dated 1808. Therefore after this date local records will need to be used, although by this time the whole apprenticeship system was beginning to wane. The payment could be made at the start of the apprenticeship or at any time up to one year after the end of the apprenticeship.
Masters/mistresses did not have to pay stamp duty on the indentures of apprentices taken on at the common or public charge of any township or parish, or out of any public charity. As a result many indentures were never subject to duty, so were not recorded in the registers. In such cases, surviving local or charity records are probably the sole sources of information. Additionally, informal indentures had become increasingly common, with masters/mistresses teaching their own children and nieces/nephews.
The Stamp Duty Apprenticeship Registers are held at The National Archives (TNA) at Kew in series IR 1 in two main series: IR 1/1–40 (October 1711 to October 1810 City (Town) Registers) and IR 1/41–72 (May 1710 to September 1808 Country Registers).
They include the name of the apprentice; name, abode and tra
