The construction of a sash window, like this one in Linlithgow, was a common "essay" undertaken by journeymen.
- YTS Woodworkers, Livingston, 1989. These YTS apprentices probably had very different apprenticeships to the wrights! Photograph by Murrie Thomson.
All over Scotland, anxious teenagers will be receiving their exam results this week. The right grades could mean the first step to that dream job; a place on a training scheme or admission to university or college.Things were very different before the 20th century when career prospects were often more dependent on family links and wealth than on skills or academic success.
The experiences of young men entering a trade are illustrated by the records of the Linlithgow Incorporation of Wrights, 1597-1868 (held at West Lothian Archives and Records Centre). The Wrights were a society of specialist joiners. They controlled entry to the trade and had a monopoly over all joinery work undertaken in the burgh of Linlithgow.
Young men entering the Wrights were expected to be skilled but the minutes suggest that most apprentices were also expected to have a family tie to the Incorporation. On one occasion in 1760, the death of a member led to the admittance of his son who was not even expected to undertake an apprenticeship. One has to wonder about the quality of this wright’s work!
Apprenticeships in the Incorporation were long and hard. Aspiring wrights were required to serve a five-year apprenticeshipbefore becoming a journeyman. After three years service at this level, men were able to request an “essay” in order to demonstrate that they had achieved perfection in their skills. This would fully test the skills of a journeyman and it was only on successful completion of this, followed by the payment of “freedom money,” that he could finally become a freeman of the incorporation.
So how have things changed? Today’s apprentice joiners are not expected to have family links in the trade and apprenticeships are certainly shorter. Young people do not even have to pay “freedom money” before they are considered to be a full member of the trade.