What age does apprenticeship start?

[stonechat]

My 4 greats grandfather was apprenticed in 1747
This is the earliest record of him.

Question is what was the. Normal age for this to begin,

He was apprenticed to be a clockmaker for 7 years

[coombs]

Usually around 14 years old. Is the 1747 record from the Register of Duties paid for Apprenticeship Indentures 1710-1811? I did read that the date of payment listed in those registers was not always when the apprenticeship started though, so I would say your ancestor was born around 1732/1733 but the 1747 date may be when the duty was paid, and not always when the apprenticeship started.

[BumbleB]

You might find this of help to answer your question:

https://www.londonlives.org/static/IA.jsp

I had always thought that apprenticeships were for a period of 7 years, and that 21 was a usual age for qualifying.

[stonechat]

This is pretty much what I assumed (Didn’t want to bias any answers)
Ydna testing has not helped, so far
So revisiting possible births in England and Scotland
I assume 1731-1735