Offloading
Parish Poor as Apprentices
Source: An
Act to amend and consolidate the Laws relating to Merchant Seamen; and for
keeping a Register of Seamen; General Public Statutes; 7th &
8th Victoria; 1844; Cap. CXII
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[5th
September 1844.] |
XXXII. And be it
enacted, That is shall be lawful for the Overseers of the Poor, or other
Persons having the Authority of Overseers of the Poor, in and for any District,
Union, Parish, Township, or Place in the United Kingdom, and they are hereby
empowered, to bind by Indenture, according to the Form set forth in Schedule
(H.) to this Act annexed, and put out as an Apprentice in the Sea Service to
any of Her Majesty’s Subjects, being the Owner of any Ship registered or
licensed in any Port of the United Kingdom, any Boy having attained the Age of
Twelve Years, and of sufficient Health and Strength, who or whose Parent or
Parents is or are chargeable to or maintained by any such District, Union,
Parish, Township, or Place, or who shall beg for Alms therein, with his
Consent, but not otherwise; and until such Boy shall attain the Age of
Twenty-one Years, or shall have served as Apprentice Seven Years, or whichever
shall first happen, such Binding shall be effectual to all Intents and
Purposes: Provided always, that where any such Parish, Township, or Place
separately maintaining its own Poor shall be included in any Union, or shall be
under the Management of a Board of Guardians, no such Binding shall be valid
unless the Guardians of such Union, Parish, or other Place respectively shall
previously have given their consent thereto, by causing their official Seal to
be affixed to the Indenture, and the same to be signed by the presiding
Chairman of the Board at any Meeting, and the Clerk or Person acting as such Meeting;
and provided also, that every such Binding shall be made in the Presence of any
such Boy, and of Two Justices of the Peace, who shall execute the Indenture in
testimony of their being satisfied that such Boy hath consented so to be bound,
and attained the Age, and is of sufficient Health and Strength as required by
this Act; and the Age of every such Boy shall be truly inserted in his
Indenture, and the Age of every such Boy so inserted therein shall (in relation
to the Continuance of his Service) be taken to be his true Age, without any
further Proof thereof; and any Certificate of Baptism of such Boy which may be
required shall be given and attested by the officiating Minister without Fee or
Reward; Provided always, that no Apprenticeship to the Sea Service, whether
Parish or otherwise, shall be binding after the Apprentice shall have attained
the Age of Twenty-one Years; and that every Indenture, together with his
Register Ticket annexed thereto, shall be given up to such Apprentice on his
attaining such Age, or at the Expiration of his Apprenticeship, whichever shall
first happen, by the Person to whom he shall be bound at the Time, under a
Penalty of Twenty Pounds, to be paid by such Person on default; but should any
Apprenticeship, Parish or otherwise, expire during a Voyage, and before the
Ship’s Arrival at her final Port of Destination in the United Kingdom, such
Apprenticeship shall, notwithstanding, continue until the Return of the Ship to
her final Port of Destination in the United Kingdom; but after One Calendar
Month from the Expiration of such Apprenticeship the Apprentice shall be paid
the same Wages as an able-bodied Seaman or ordinary Seaman of the said Ship,
according to his Qualification.
XXXIII. And be it
enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Master or Person to whom any Parish
Apprentice shall have been or shall be hereafter bound to a Service on shore,
according to the Statutes for the Time being relating to such Apprentices, or
for the Executors or Administrators, or, there being none such, for the Widow
of any deceased Master, with the Concurrence of Two or more Justices of the
Peace in and for the County, District, or Place where such Boy shall have been
bound Apprentice, to assign such Boy, with his Consent, to be given in the
Presence of such Justices, but not otherwise, as Apprentice to any such Owner
as aforesaid, to be employed in the Sea Service during the Period then
remaining unexpired of his Apprenticeship; and every such Assignment shall be
attested as next herein-after mentioned.