As a placement student here at the Dorset History Centre, I was given wider rein with this blog to write about an apprentice of my choice. I headed to the archives of my favourite spot in Dorset, Lyme Regis. In this collection I found the apprenticeship indenture of a seven-year-old boy Henry Lock, whose family have an interesting background, particularly his father.
Henry was one of five siblings, the other four being: Sally, Sam, James and James. The first James Lock died at the age of four in 1785, therefore the second born son was also called James in honour of his late brother. Of the five, Henry seems to have been the only one to receive an indenture and partake in an apprenticeship. The reason for this is unknown as there are no records to give us further information.
The children’s parents were James and Leah Lock who wed on the 1st April 1781 in Charmouth, which is interesting considering just under a month earlier James had received a removal order from Charmouth to Lyme Regis. The reason for the removal is unknown but it would be interesting to know how he managed to stay in Charmouth long enough to marry. He and Leah evidently moved soon after the wedding as their first-born son James was also born in this year but in Lyme Regis. You can read about another instance of removal orders being complicated to understand in a previous blog.
Young Henry’s indenture took him to Allington with his new master George Bishop, whose family I tried extensively to research but struggle to find any ground on which to further a story. All I know is that Bishop was a Twine Spinner and therefore so was Henry. Twine-spinning was one of the bigger trades in Allington because of its proximity to Bridport.
Bridport has a rich history within the textiles industry particularly in producing, twine, netting and rope. English Heritage have written a detailed document on the history of Bridport and West Bay detailing the industry of flax and hemp. These two crop outputs came into import when Henry travelled across to become an apprentice for the Bishop family, they were the seeds that he likely worked with and were responsible for the continued growth of the industry into the nineteenth century within Bridport and the surrounding areas.
In the final blog that Ben and I have written, Ben will look at the story of Sarah Cribb, another apprentice in Tyneham.
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Further Reading:
English Heritage. “Bridport and West Bay: The Building of the Flax and Hemp Industry.” Historic England. Accessed 23 June 2023. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/bridport-and-west-bay/bridport-and-west-bay/
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This has been a guest blog written by Molly Butcher, who spent four weeks at Dorset History Centre doing work experience. If you would like to contribute a guest blog for publication, please get in touch: archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk