Some Aspects of Early English Apprenticeship

Abstract

The story of apprenticeship is so interwoven with the general and industrial history of England that it is almost impossible to touch upon any portion of it without travelling over ground already well known. There are, however, certain aspects of the subject which can, perhaps, bear further investigation. It is the purpose of this paper to deal mainly with three such aspects of early English appientice-ship, namely, its flexibility, its use as an instrument of monopoly, and lastly, but most important, the continuity between the guild system and the national and compulsory system established by Statute in 1562.