Debbie Beavis
 
 

The Merchant Shipping Act in 1823 required all ships over 80 tons to carry at least one apprentice. The legal documents binding an apprentice to his Master and known as indentures, were required to be filed with the Customs Officers in the ports at which the apprentice was enrolled. Records of these early indentures may be found amongst customs records in CUST classes at the Public Record Office.

The Merchant Shipping Act of 1835 formalised the registration of Apprentices. From this date, registration of apprentices in London was to be conducted by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. Indentures for Apprentices at other ports continued to be filed with the local Customs Officers, and further regulations in 1844 required that these indentures were to be submitted quarterly to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen.

Compulsory apprenticeship for all was abolished in 1849, but indentures of those apprenticed continued to be filed and submitted as before. The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen extracted names from these indentures and entered them in registers. These registers are now held by the Public Record Office as follows:

BT150 - Indexes of Apprentices 1824-1953

Piece numbers 1-15 give name, age, date and the length of indenture, plus the name of the Master to whom he was apprenticed.

Piece number 15 onwards includes the port at which he was first signed on, and the name of his first ship.

There are separate registers for London and for Outports, each register covering a span of dates. The registers are alphabetical and the information of a good standard.. ie in the main, the information required has been correctly entered. Searching is straightforward.

Only those indentures for every fifth year have been preserved and these are now held in classes as follows:

BT151 - Apprentices' Indentures 1845-1950

BT152 - Apprentices Indentured for Fishing 1895-1935

Many apprentices did not complete their term or else did not complete it with the same Master. They may turn up in ordinary seamen's registers from 1835. If the apprentice was indentured after 1835 but no ship name is shown, it may still be possible to locate the ship as long as the name of the master is given. By tracing the service records for the Master (see posting on tracing British Master Mariners) and locating all crew agreements for the relevant period, the name of the apprentice is often discovered. Note that it is not possible to do forward searches in crew agreements, only retrospective searches are possible based on the information given concerning 'previous ship in which served.' Note also that apprentices will often also appear in later indexes and registers of seamen's tickets or indexes of Master Mariners and Mates and a retrospective search allows a full record to be compiled.

This is a brief guide to searching apprentice records at the Public Record Office. The PRO has recently updated their series of  online leaflets including that for Apprentices, and the most recent version is available  at their website http://www.pro.gov.uk   They have also placed their catalogue on line which may also be accessed via their website and will allow you to decide exactly which documents you may need.
 

Last updated 21.04.02ef

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