Discover whether your ancestor was one of the 609 apprenticeships recorded here as being indentured to Manchester tradespeople, ranging in date from 1700-1849. Apprentices were not necessarily paupers, as is usually the case, and many were not originally from Manchester, which makes these records of much wider interest than you may at first realise.
Discover whether your ancestor was one of the 609 apprenticeships recorded here as being indentured to Manchester tradespeople, ranging in date from 1700-1849. Apprentices were not necessarily paupers, as is usually the case, and many were not originally from Manchester, which makes these records of much wider interest than you may at first realise.
The amount of information listed varies, but the Manchester Apprenticeships records usually include the following information about your ancestor:
Name of the apprentice
Age
Name of the master
Occupation
Length of the apprenticeship
Ages are not stated in the early indentures. The first instance in this collection of noting a child's age is in No. 42 (item number within the Manchester Archives records), 1730. Here it is given in the form "now about eleven years of age". Ages are stated with more certainty from 1810 (No. 390).
This collection consists of 609 indentures, ranging in date from 1700-1849, most of which were promoted by the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of Manchester and their successors, the Guardians of the Poor of the Manchester Union. The full title is Manchester Overseers of the Poor Apprenticeship Indentures.
Also included are 68 indentures made between private parties, the apprentices not necessarily being children or paupers, and 14 promoted by the overseers of places other than Manchester. Many of these record apprenticeships to Manchester tradespeople. Others have no apparent relevance to the work of the Manchester Overseers of the Poor.