What age were boys apprenticed as blacksmiths? (William DEWING)

[Jang]

I'm trying to identify the William Dewing who was apprenticed to Charles Pettifer of West Raynham in 1771. Would he have been about 12 or 13 when he began his apprenticeship?

Jan

[mckha489]

If boys could go to sea with the Royal Navy Age 13 I’m quite sure they could also be apprentices to a trade

[solidrock]

is this him?...

Willm. Dewing
Residence Place    Reepham, Norfolk, England
Gender    Male
Christening Date    08 Feb 1758
Christening Date (Original)    8 Feb 1758
Christening Place    St. John, Norwick, Norfolk, England
Father's Name    John Dewing
Mother's Name    Anne

[Jang]

Yes, Mckha489, I thought 13 was a likely age.

Thanks, solidrock, a likely possibility. I'll see if I can find out what happened to him.

[Jang]

Sadly, William Dewing, infant, was buried in Reepham in 1759 :-(

[LizzieW]

I have a half 4 x g.uncle John who was apprenticed at 8.  It's a sad story.

His mother (my 5 x g.grandfather's 1st wife) died when he was only a few months old, so his father (my 5 x g.grandfather) re-married about 18 months later and had another son (my 4 x g.grandfather).  Then sadly, my 5 x g.grandfather died when my John was only 5.  Not unexpectedly his mother my 5 x g.grandmother then re-married in less than a year.  By now John was aged 6 and had lost both his parents and was, in effect living with a couple who weren't his parents, not only that his stepmother was already aged 50 by now, having married my 5 x g.grandfather at a late age.  Then 2 years later, John aged only 8 and classed as a "poor child" was apprenticed.  I don't what else happened to him apart from the fact he died aged 51 in 1797.

[Jang]

Thanks LizzieW, I hadn't really considered such a young age. Life could certainly be tough back then.
I wonder if apprenticeships were ever started at an older age?

[LizzieW]

Jang - In 1841 my 2 x g.grandfather was an apprentice parfumier/hairdresser, he was 15 but I've no idea what age he was when he started his apprenticeship.  I guess children were sent out to be apprentices when their parents/step parents could no longer look after them.  When I was young, boys (and some girls) were apprenticed at 15.  I guess in the late 1800s/early 1900s apprenticeship ages were the age children left school.  My dad, for instance, left school aged 14 in 1926 and went to work at a silk and cotton yarn dyers.  Whether he was an apprentice or not I've no idea, I do know that at some stage he left there and went to work as a waiter at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.  I guess, hard though it probably was, being a waiter was preferable to being in a factory that dyed materials.  I think the smell in there would have been awful.

[Mowsehowse]

For anyone that doesn't already know of it, you might find this site helpful.

http://blacksmiths.mygenwebs.com/