Find your ancestors in Wiltshire Marlborough Apprentice Books 1655-1693

What can these records tell me?

You will find information including -

• First name
• Last name
• Occupation
• Event date
• Apprentice first name
• Apprentice last name
• Apprentice details
• Master first name
• Master last name
• Location

Discover more about these records

Although there was a Statute of Labourers and Apprentices in 1563 the laws under which most pauper children were apprenticed was by the Poor Law Acts of 1601 when parish officials, churchwardens and overseers of the poor, with consent of the justices were empowered to apprentice any child under 16yrs old whose parents were unable to maintain them until 24yrs old for a boy (until 1777/8 when the age was reduced to 21yrs, and 21yrs or marriage for a girl). As can be seen from the following records, the trades to which the Marlborough children were apprenticed varied somewhat. Masters also had to comply with the regulations in that they had to provide for the apprentice during the term of service and to carry out conditions of the undenture. Naturally, it was the earnest hope that all these children would learn a trade to maintain themselves and earn a living and therefore not be a drain on parish finances, although, as can be seen from the large collection of settlement and vagrancy examinations for Marlborough, this did not always happen.

These records are those of apprenticeship indentures for poor children of Marlborough and are varied in their content. All the apprentices and their masters/mistresses are of Marlborough unless otherwise stated. St. Mary's (St. Mary the Virgin) or St. Peters (and St. Paul the Apostles) shows the apprentice and/or master was of that parish.

In nearly all the indentures, it was a requirement that the girls were to be taught to read the New Testament in English and the boys to read and write the New Testament in English. Whether this meant the master or mistress was to instruct these children in reading and writing or whether they were to be sent to a school to be taught is not clear. It will be noticed that not every female apprentice had the occupation she was to be taught shown and therefore it has been assumed that these girls would have been apprenticed to housewifery.

When a child was apprenticed and completed the full term of that apprenticeship, he or she would have then gained a settlement in their parish of service, if the apprenticeship had been to a settled parishioner.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the staff of Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, previously Wiltshire Record Office, for making the documents consulted readily available. To Jean Cole for compiling the information and the help from the indices of David Mattock.