Hi Tony
Thank you for your suggestions.
I have consulted both those sites. The Parish Register has information on finding Watermen and Lightermen ancestors and refers to the Binding Books transcript thus:
" The Apprentice Bindings books (which record the name of the apprentice, the date of binding, the master’s name and mooring, and the date of freedom (i.e when the apprentice having learned his trade, qualified to get his own license) cover the period 1688 to 1949.
The original records are held in the Guildhall Library in London. (Address; Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ Tel; 020 7332 1863;
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/guildhalllibrary .
If you are not able to get to the Guildhall, then we offer a number of alternatives.
The binding records entries (over 65,000 of them) have been transcribed by Rob Cottrell and are available in a PDF searchable format on CD-ROM.
This product is available from our Shop. Click here for more information.
Once you have the date and place of birth, you can search the Parish registers to obtain further genealogical information on your family. "
As previously stated I have consulted the Cottrell transcript but the date and place of birth are not recorded
and not just on the person I am looking at but others of the same era. The information transcribed is as described in the first paragraph quoted above.
There seems to be a missing step in the process as it jumps from the Apprentice Binding Books to "once you have the place and date of birth you can search the parish records".
I was hoping someone familiar with the records can tell me where I find the date and place of birth. Was there an Indenture giving the age of the apprentice, place of birth and father's name? I have also tried the Apprentice Tax Records with no luck.
I have a sub to Find My Past. I didn't realize these were free sites to people living in the UK. Maybe I should get my sister involved.
Venelow