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

[youngtug]

You have to differentiate between "poor/workhouse" apprenticeships and normal trade apprenticeships. Although 7 years was the minimum age required to be an apprentice I think it mainly was applied to poor children on parish relief and did not involve a proper trade but was a way of getting the children off the parishes hands/books/

[Rena]

I think he could even have been a bit younger in that century.

I've got a 19th century Norfolk census showing a shoemaker's daughter was a "Pupil Teacher", aged just 12.
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This is from Wikipedia:-
"In the early years of the Industrial Revolution entrepreneurs began to resist the restrictions of the apprenticeship system, and a legal ruling established that the Statute of Apprentices did not apply to trades that were not in existence when it was passed in 1563, thus excluding many new 18th century industries.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge founded many charity schools for poor students in the 7 to 11 age group. These schools were the basis for the development of modern concepts of primary and secondary education. The Society also was an early provider of teacher education"

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By the 1880s education was compulsory for children aged 5 to 10

[LizzieW]

You have to differentiate between "poor/workhouse" apprenticeships and normal trade apprenticeships. Although 7 years was the minimum age required to be an apprentice I think it mainly was applied to poor children on parish relief and did not involve a proper trade but was a way of getting the children off the parishes hands/books/

Are you suggesting that my half 4 x g.uncle was actually in a workhouse?  Or the whole family?  In one way I hope it was the whole family, my 4 x g.grandfather would have been 4 at the time, as the other thought that John's stepmother just put him into the workhouse when she re-married is too awful to think about.

[youngtug]

Maybe in a workhouse, or on parish relief, ie; living at home but receiving  aid from the parish funds.

[youngtug]

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/education/apprenticeship.shtml

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

[youngtug]

More;  https://www.londonlives.org/static/IA.jsp

[Mowsehowse]

Maybe in a workhouse, or on parish relief, ie; living at home but receiving  aid from the parish funds.

Definitely worth enquiring if the parish overseers rate books survive.

[Jang]

Thanks for the feedback everyone   

Mowsehowse, thanks for reminding me about the blacksmith site. Interestingly William Dewing isn't listed but my 3g grandfather, Francis Taylor, is. The reason I'm interested in this William Dewing is that Francis Taylor married Mary Dewing in East Raynham in 1782 and I'm trying to work out how he's related to Mary. She did have a brother William born in 1740 but he died in 1748.

Jan

[Jang]

Checking back the original apprenticeship record, I found it was for William DewSing, which I assumed to be an error for William Dewing. I found a marriage for a William DEWSING to Elizabeth Claseby in Great Snoring in 1778, which would fit with the end of his 7 year apprenticeship. William's parish is Burnham Westgate which is where Mary Dewing was baptised, so I'm guessing that this William Dewsing is her brother. (He made his mark on the marriage entry so wouldn't pick up the misspelling.)

But … I can't find a baptism for him. Mary was baptised in 1754 in Burnham Westgate - parents Charles and Joice Dewing, so I'm looking for her younger brother.