| Description | Apprenticeship to a freeman was one of the qualifications for admission to the freedom of Chester. As early as 1557, the Assembly ordered that no apprentice was to be admitted to the freedom of the city until he had served seven years and that every apprenticeship was to be enrolled within six months. This order was renewed several times in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It lapsed during the Civil War, but was repeated in 1646 and again in a review of city byelaws in 1685. In 1690, the Assembly issued stricter regulations: the clerk of the pentice was to enrol indentures in a special book and endorse them with the date of enrolment. Each apprenticeship register contains the date of the indenture, the apprentice's name, his parent's name and trade, the apprentice's place of residence if outside Chester and his master's name and trade. After 1690, the registers also contain the date the indenture was enrolled. A fifth volume notes when an indenture was left at the 'Pentice Office' and when and to whom it was returned. There are gaps in the series. |