English Gilds *

According to the 5 th Elizabeth , c . 4 , no one coul lawfully exercise , either as master or as journeyman , any art , mystery , or manual occupation , except he had been brought up therein seven years , at least , as an apprentice . Every householder dwelling in a city , town-corporate , or market town , might take

apprentices for seven years at least . But only those youths might be taken as apprentices whose parents possessed a certain fortune ; and none could be bound but those who were under twenty-one years of age . Whoever had three apprentices must keep one journeyman ; and for every other apprentice

above three , one other journeyman . As to journeymen , it was enacted that , in most trades , no person could retain a servant under one whole year , and no servant was to depart or to be put away but upon a quarter's warning . The hours of work were fixed by

the Act to about twelve hours in summer , and from day-dawn till ni g ht in winter . Wages were to be assessed yearly by the justices of the peace or the town magistrates , at every general Sessions first to holden after Easter . The same authorities were to settle all disputes between masters and apprentices ,

and protect the latter . The 1 st Jac . 1 ., c . 6 , expressly extends this power of the justices and town magistrates to fix wages to the wages of all labourers and workmen whatever .

It is evident that , as long as the regulations of the Statute of Apprentices were maintained , the position of the workmen was secure . The long term of service assured them the regularity of employment which they desired above everything . The magistrates were , according to the intention of the Act , to

assess tho wages so as to " yield unto the hired person , both in the time * of scarcity and in the time of plenty , a convenient proportion of wages ; " and the hours of work were not excessive , especially as the manner of carrying on industry was not then so exhaustive as it is now-a-days . Besides , tho

restrictions as to apprentices prevented a great competition from lowering the skilled workmen to the level of common labourers . But as Adam Smith tells us , the operation of this statute was limited b y interpretation to cities , towns corporate , and market

towns , and to those trades only which were established in England before the 5 th Elizabeth . In order to prove my assertion that tho Trades Unions ori ginated with the non-observance of these regulations , I will now successively consider , first ,

some of the trades subject to the 5 th Elizabeth , c . 4 ; then , some of those which wore incorporated by charter ; and lastl y , some which wore free from any restrictions , whether by charter or Acts of Parliament .

The woollen manufactures Avere the staple trade of England . I have already spoken in Part IV . of the great importance of the Craft-Gilds of the woollen weavers ; and we have seen how the great number of workmen employed in this trade led them to combine whenever there was a temporary want of

sufficient organization . Later on the the trade came under the 5 th Elizabeth , c . 4 , and was regulated besides by the 5 th and 6 th Edward VI ., c . 22 , as to the use of machinery , and by the above cited 2 nd and 3 rd Philip and Mary , c . 11 , as to the number of looms which one weaver might have .

Every master had served a seven years' apprenticeship . Though the 5 th Elizabeth , c . 4 , was notknown , either to masters or men , its regulationswere maintained , because they corresponded to ' custom . Thus even in 1806 there were in Harmley ,. a clothworkers' village of from 4 , 000 to 5 , 000 inhabitants , ninety-seven apprentices bound for seven years , and onl y four bound for a shorter period .

The woollen manufactures were carried on in th © last century by small masters in their own homes . They dwelt in villages and scattered houses , and often cultivated besides a little land , from three to twelve or fifteen acres . Often too they had a horse to carry their- cloth to market , or , in later times , to

the public mill . The number of such small masters in the environs of Leeds was estimated in 1806 as . 3 , 500 .

Each master employed on the average ten journeymen and apprentices . As a rule there was one apprentice to two or three journeymen . Besides , the master was regularly assisted by his wife and children . Children working with their fathers did not need to be bound by indenture . As a rule all

these persons worked in the master ' s house , where the wool Avas worked through the various stages till it became undressed cloth , and , if necessary , was d ' yed . Sometimes also the j oumeynieii did the work in their OAVU houses , and were assisted in it by their wives .

The introduction of machinery brought a change . Mills were now erected on rivers and streams , to make use of tho fall of tho water . Various processes , which had been chiefly performed by hand under the masters' own roof , were now executed in

public mills by machinery . In the neighbourhood of every manutactuaiug village were several such mills to bo found . Tho manufacturer brought his . wares to them with little trouble and loss of time ,, and fetched them back after thoy had gone through the necessary process . The cost was but small , so