Elizabeth Boswell - parish apprentice
Whether a young person was apprenticed privately by the parents or through the parish system, an indenture was signed and agreed between all parties to legalise the matter. Two copies of the indenture were written and "indented" at the top. One copy was kept in the parish chest and the other by the master or mistress of the apprentice until the apprenticeship ended, when it was presented to the apprentice. The indenture also had to be approved by two or more justices of the peace at the local court.
This indenture was created for a poor child, Elizabeth Boswell, who was aged only eight years old on 15 April 1768 (reference: PR/1,977/4). She was apprenticed to Thomas Kitchin of Bleasby who was a farmer but who would teach her spinning, knitting and other types of work. It is interesting that the same Thomas was one of the churchwardens of the parish as well as one of the overseers of the poor. Unless Elizabeth married she would stay working for Thomas for 13 years until she was 21 years old.
See the indenture in more detail here [PDF 2345KB] 
See a transcript of the indenture here [PDF 24KB]
Sometimes the Overseers of the Poor of a parish would be involved with the fate of apprentices. These three letters form part of a series of correspondence found within the parish records of Mansfield. They are interesting as they reveal the perils of being placed as an apprentice, particularly if moved some distance from the home parish. Luckily for William Hopewell the overseers of Mansfield wrote to the parish in Nottingham for confirmation of the character of Thomas Lawson and his suitability to take on an apprentice before completing the legal aspects of William's apprenticeship, thus finding out in time that Thomas was an "improper person" to take him on.
Letter from Thomas Lawson, 7 October 1829 (PR/11,482/59) [PDF 2667KB]
