The London parish apprentice and the early industrial labour market

"Recent historians of early industrial labour have tended to diminish the role of the parish apprentice in supporting the particular requirements of manufacturers during the early stages of industrialisation. While recognising that the full extent of the contribution of the parish apprentice specifically to early textile manufacturing will never be known, the purpose of this paper is to indicate its importance as a source of youthful labour and in providing some flexibility to local and regional labour markets. Although its focus on the provision of children from London parishes misses the contribution of apprenticed children from the locality and region of early textile factories, such an emphasis permits conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the capital’s labour markets and its role in shaping the network of child workers. There are three main strands to this paper. The first explores the supply of parish apprentices to the early textile mills. Using evidence from apprenticeship registers and indentures from a sample of twenty three London parishes during the period 1780-1820; it suggests that although several parishes absorbed the majority of their poor children within the locality, most met at least some of the requirements of the early textile trade outside the capital. In several of the parishes in the sample local apprenticeship opportunities were apparently limited and textile factories in the south and midlands of England as well as the north absorbed the majority of available poor children. The second strand considers the demand for pauper children from the early textile manufacturers and makes some tentative observations about their impact on individual enterprises. Thirdly attention will be directed towards the processes of factory parish apprenticeship and its follow-up. Evidence of a qualitative nature, namely meetings of poor law officials, reports of factory visits, and interviews with parish apprentices themselves, indicates not only that more formal structures were in place than has previously been seen to be the case, but also that at least as much care was taken when binding children to textile factories as with any other type of apprenticeship. Conditions were less universally bleak than conventionally supposed, and factory apprenticeships equipped children for adult employment"