Apprentice compositor printer 1870s (ish)

[fisherj]

I am trying to make sense of how and where William Henry MABLY b. 1859 Cornwall learned to be a printer compositor. 

I'd be interested to hear from someone who knows how compositor apprenticeships worked in practice. 

I've read on line that:

Apprenticeships generally started at age 14 and lasted 7 years.
And that you could not get married in that time. 
The person (master) providing the apprenticeship had to be paid.
The apprentice did not get paid.
Also that after the end of an apprenticeship you had to leave the company.

It would be great if someone can help me sort the fact from the fiction!!

Many thanks

[Pennines]

fisherj -- I think that the rules you are quoting are probably pre 1834 and refer to those who were apprenticed from a Workhouse, where the master would be paid a sum to take the young boy -- thereby the lad would not be supported by the Poor Law Guardians of the Parish. He would be 'kept', fed and clothed by the Master.

There were all sorts of strict rules in place in each Parish regarding apprenticeships - they weren't allowed much fun!! Also if they completed an apprenticeship in thoes days - it would gain them a 'settlement' in that Parish, if they hadn't been born there in the first place. The Guardians and the Justices were most careful about a settlement being gained by an outsider - as that person may one day, need to be supported by that Parish.

Hence I suspect that after 1834 -- the rules which applied would depend upon the indenture taken out - to which each party would have had to agree -- I am sure they were nowhere near as strict.

I may be completely wrong about this and stand to be corrected. By coincidence my own Gt Grandfather was a Journeyman Printer - sadly I don't have a copy of his indenture!

[keyboard86]

Hi a hard man/boy to find on census, is this the birth record you have?

William Henry MABLEY March qtr 1859 St Germans 5c 36?
Keyboard86

EDIT ok got him 1881, 1891/1901 and 1911 1891 born Devonport , 1901 Trevanson,1911 b Newbridge.
1891 RG12/995/51/6
1901 as MABBY RG13/1149/130/46
1881 census as Henry Mably 22 b Cornwall RG11/2537/97/26


Where his parents Thomas & Elizabeth Mabley who married Sept qtr 1858 Stoke D her maiden name being DAVEY?

If his mother died on one of your other threads 1861 where was William H b 1859 in 1861/71?

[fisherj]

Thanks for the advice that the rules were less strict after 1834.  I can't find an apprenticeship indenture for him.  And i am curious to know why he moved so far from Wadebridge.

Yes - you have found the right birth.  He does take some detective work to find in 1861 and 1871.

His mother Elizabeth MABLY died in Jan 1861 in Sunwell, Anthony where WHM was born.   I guess they were living with her father who had been a widower since 1855.

So at the time of the census WHM is with his paternal grandparents in Trewethert, Endellion, Cornwall.

His father Thomas MABLY is working in Trevanson, St Breock - which is near Wadebridge.

Then Thomas remarried in 1862 - Ann Nute.  Her mother was unmarried and disabled.  A poor family i think.  Thomas did not sign his marriage cert so it is curious that WHM was not only literate but had all the skills to be a compositor.

Then Thomas died in 1868.

So in 1871 WHM is with his (step) mother Ann MABLY and half sister in St Breock.  He is called Harry in that census which is the name he went by in later life.  He is 11 yrs,  a scholar.

Ann MABLY became the caretaker which i guess means cleaner of the Mechanical Institute /reading room in Wadebridge so i can only surmise that he was able to mix with influential people there. 

I don't know whether he would have had to pay to attend school.

Somehow he managed to buck the trend in his family... social mobility.

I am guessing that his profession would have had some status because of the skills needed.

If anyone has some thoughts on his i'd love to hear them!

[fisherj]

Sorry - despite my long post above  .....

WHMABLY is in Barton St Mary, Gloucester in 1881.  He is a lodger, single, a compositor in the household of William F EVANS, also a compositor.  And he is called Henry MABLY in this census.

In 1882 he married Emma Jane BRENTON who was also from Wadebridge.  He taught her to read but she could never write.

So in 1891 they are in Mundesley Street Reading.  His surname is written as MABLEY and his place of birth Devonshire.

In 1901 they had moved to Henry Street Reading and by 1911 they are living in Sherman Road Reading where they and then their descendents lived until 1967.

On another forum someone has suggested this evening that GWR could be the link between Wadebridge, Gloucester and Reading.... if GWR had local printing offices.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone that knows about this. 

My guess is that W H MABLY served his apprenticeship in Wadebridge. 

There was one printer, Quintrell, living and working in the main shopping street in Wadebridge where WHM and his stepmother lived in 1871, actually not far from them.  In 1871 when he was 11yrs, a scholar, the printer's census record was that he was employing one boy.  I can help myself from imagining that WHM was that boy who later went on to become his apprentice. 

If he had been an apprentice in Gloucester from the age of 14 years to 21 years I am not sure how he could have kept/had a relationship with Emma Jane through that period - who was from Wadebridge and became his wife.

Many thanks and sorry for yet another long post.