Apprenticeship indentures 1710-1811 at Ancestry

[vivdunstan]

Ancestry have launched a new database for genealogists based on records at The National Archives in London of apprenticeship indentures between 1710 and 1811. These were originally described by Ancestry as English records, but they include Scotland and Wales too. They've now been renamed (better) to United Kingdom.

It's possible to search by name (for master and/or apprentice), or by keyword. Searching by keyword opens up the option to search for apprentices in specific places, including specific towns. And it's also possible to step through the scanned registers a page at a time. The indentures are grouped geographically, so for example the Scottish Borders ones are together, and likewise those for Dundee and surrounding areas tend to be together too.

The numbers of references varies by size of place. For example there only seem to be 4 Whitsome (including variant spelling) references, whereas there are 15 search results for Coldingham, though 2 of those are apparently are in England - need to check. Beware though that place names can be mistranscribed. My 6xg-grandfather Dr Richard Somner in Haddington variously lived in Maddenton and Huddington - nope! And of course places can be written in different ways, so you might need to be creative to pick up on all references. And if a parish is large, like Coldingham, you might have references to specific small settlements within it, like Reston (another 3 references for me).

But well worth checking out for anyone with an Ancestry subscription. I don't think the Essentials subscription will let you look at much in terms of the results. Probably need a Premium or Worldwide subscription.

The UK Ancestry link for it - but it should be available through Ancestry.com as well - is http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/DB.aspx?dbid=1851

EDIT: And forgot to say, the records give the names of the master and apprentice, as well as the trade they were being trained in, and the date.

[Alex]

Thanks for the heads-up Viv. Nice to see a database that is searchable by place

I will have to look for my Wing folk now - several years ago I bought the apprenticeship books 1710-1754 on CD from Archive CD Books, but never got around from wading through them page by page.

[vivdunstan]

There are lots of Wing, Buckinghamshire refs in the apprenticeship records on Ancestry, so I think you will be in luck! I was also delighted to see lots of Wortham, Suffolk references for my husband (his not-quite-official one place study), which included my husband's ancestors among them. Have to go hunting his paternal ancestors though. Dunstan is a ridiculously common surname in that part of Cornwall, a bit like Smith anywhere else.