Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

These are my great-great-great-great grandfathers Indentures, from when he was apprenticed to an Engraver. My grandfather stayed with us at the end of his life, and the indentures came to my mother after he died. I gather they were conserved, possibly at the V&A, and remember them hung in the hall at home. They have since been remounted and framed as the label on the back of the current frame is from Bourne, Lincolnshire, and I imagine that happened some 20 years ago (1990 or thereabouts).

Through them I learnt that firstly women could be apprentices and masters at that time, and secondly that an apprentice's life was harsh! There is a long list of prohibitions including fornication, matrimony, gaming and visiting taverns and playhouses, and his father remained responsible for his medical care. The Apprenticeship lasted for seven years,

They are on pre-prepared parchment forms from a stationers in Holborn, which had spaces to fill in his/her, Master/Mistress, dates and any extra conditions as appropriate.