Apprentices

[g eli]

I have found a record for Dorothy Slack becoming indentured to John Oldknow as a framework knitter in 1789.If I have my facts right, Dorothy was only 9 and her sister Sarah who was indentured at the same time was 7.
Is it likely that they would be apprenticed this young?
Liz

[maddys52]

According to the familysearch wiki, although according to the "custom of London" the minimum age for apprentices was 14, in some areas and trades including framework knitters, the age could be much younger:
"Some trades that required physical strength did not suit very small children, but in low-skilled occupations, such as nailing, ribbon weaving, framework knitting and cotton manufacture or with farm and house servants, work could begin at a much lower age."
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Apprenticeship_in_England

[Jomot]

It sounds as though they may have been Parish/Poor Law Apprentices. 

https://www.genguide.co.uk/source/apprenticeship-indentures-parish-poor-law/42/

[g eli]

Thank you for your replies and suggestions.I had considered that they may have been a charge on the parish but so far have found nothing to confirm this.
Liz

[jim1]

Too small to work the machines but small enough to crawl underneath & clean out the debris without stopping the machines.
Almost certainly "lived in" with other apprentices.
This was an exploitation of the apprentice system & a way of getting cheap labour & offloading unwanted children from the Parish.

[g eli]

You know it happened, but somehow (possibly because it was in the past) you shrug it off, until it concerns one of your ancestors, in this case the master.
Liz

[Andrew Tarr]

You know it happened, but somehow (possibly because it was in the past) you shrug it off, until it concerns one of your ancestors, in this case the master.
Liz

You seem to be somehow ashamed of this.  It is history, and as such we can learn from it.  I suspect the behaviour you seem to regret continues in oriental sweatshops that some of our high-street suppliers depend upon ...

[dowdstree]

By modern standards it does seem dreadful that young children were exploited in such a way.

As Andrew Tarr has pointed out it still continues today in various parts of the world.

My own great grandfather was working in the Jute Mills in Dundee aged 10 in 1871. Probably crawling under machinery.

Dorrie