Thames Watermen Act 1736
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1736 c. 31 |
| Year | 1736 |
(10 Geo. 2) C A P. XXXI.
'WHEREAS amongst several Lawsheretofore made, for the better regulating and governing all Persons free of the Company of Watermen and Wherrymen, owning, rowing, or working Boats, Barges, and other Craft upon the River ofThames , from Gravesend in the County of Kent , to Windsor in the County of Berks , there was an Act passed in the first Year of the Reign of KingJames the First, whereby such Watermen and Wherrymen were restrained from taking any Apprentices who were not of the full Age of eighteen Years, unless they were the Sons of free Watermen and Wherrymen, whom they might retain as their Apprentices at the Age of sixteen Years: And whereas by an Act passed in the eleventh and twelfth Years of the Reign of his late Majesty KingWilliam the Third, for the Explanation and better Execution of former Acts made touching Watermen and Wherrymen rowing on the River ofThames , and for the better ordering and governing the said Watermen, Wherrymen and Lightermen upon the said River between Gravesend and Windsor , the said Wherrymen, Watermen and Lightermen were made one Company, and were impowered to make reasonable and lawful Rules, Orders and Constitutions for their Government; and in pursuance thereof an Order was made, That no Waterman shall have any more than one Apprentice at one Time, nor shall be capable of taking any Apprentice, until such Master hath been a Freeman seven Years, nor shall take a Second Apprentice, until his first be dead, or the Term expired; and that not any Lighterman shall take any Apprentice, until he is the real Owner of two Lighters, nor shall have any more than one Apprentice at one Time: And whereas by an Act passed in the fourth Year of the Reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne , for the better ordering and governing the Watermen and Lightermen upon the River ofThames , the said Clause in the said Statute of the first of KingJames the First, as also the said Order, and all and every other Order and Rule made for restraining any Waterman, Wherryman or Lighterman taking and breeding Apprentices, were repealed and made void, in order for the better Increase of Seamen for the Service of the Royal Navy: And whereas in consequence of the said last recited Act such Watermen, Wherrymen and Lightermen are at Liberty to take what Number of Apprentices, and at what Age they think fit, though they have not sufficient Business to employ and maintain such Apprentices, nor any Habitation or Place of Abode to retain and keep them at, and though such Apprentices are too weak for the Work or Labour required in such Occupation, whereby such Apprentices become idle and profligate, and many and great Damages have frequently happened, and must daily happen to Goods and Passengers by the Unskilfulness of such Apprentices, and the good Intention of the said Act in breeding able and sufficient Seamenfor the Royal Navy is eluded;' For Remedy whereof be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the twenty-fourth DayofJune in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven, it shall not be lawful for any Person whatsoever (although free of the said Company) that now or hereafter shall keep, use, hire or work any Wherry-boat, Tilt-boat, Barge, or other Vessel for carrying Passengers or Goods for Hire or Gain upon the River of Thames , between Gravesend and Windsor aforesaid, to bind, take, retain, employ, have or keep, to serve him or her to work or row upon the said River, any Person as an Apprentice, until such Time as such Person so to be taken shall arrive to be of the full Age of Fourteen Yearsat the least, and not to exceed the Age of twenty Years, which shall be made appear by Certificate signed by the Minister or Churchwardens for the time being of the Parish or Place where such Person so to be bound was or shall be born, or by the Oath of two or more credible Witnesses, or their Affirmation in case they shall be of the People calledQuakers .
II Apprentices to be taken for 7 Years at the least; and to be bound by Indentures as usual, and enrolled in the Book of the Company; on Penalty of the Master's forfeiting 10 l.
II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That such Apprentice shall be bound to his said Master or Mistress by Indentures of Apprenticeship as usual in the like Cases of Apprenticeship, and be enrolled in the Book or Rolls of the said Company, to serve his said Master or Mistress as an Apprentice upon the said River for and during the Space of seven Years at the least; upon Pain that every Master or Person acting contrary hereto shall for every such Offence, upon Conviction thereof before the Lord Mayor of the City ofLondon for the time being, or before any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace for the time being for the said City, or for the County, City, Town Corporate, Liberty or Place, where the Offender shall be found, or the Offence shall be committed, by the Oath of one or more credible Witness or Witnesses, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of ten Pounds of lawful Money of Great Britain .
III Penalty on Apprentices bound contrary to the true Intent of this Act.
III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Apprentice or Apprentices, which shall hereafter be bound contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, shall not thereby obtain any Freedom by such Apprenticeship, or be intitled to any the Privileges and Advantages by such Apprenticeship, which Watermen, Wherrymen and Lightermen free of the said Company are intitled to; but shall be subject and liable to pay for every Time he shall work, row, or navigate any Boat, Barge, Lighter, or other Vessel, being thereof convicted in Manner aforesaid, the Sum of ten Pounds.
IV No more than 2 Apprentices to be taken at one Time; the first to have served 4 Years when the second is taken;
IV. Provided nevertheless, That no Freeman of the said Company, nor his Widow, shall at one and the same Time be capable to take and retain more Apprentices than two, nor shall take the Second Apprentice till the first hath served as an Apprentice for the Space of four Years at the least of his said Apprenticeship, under the Penalty of ten Pounds of lawful Money ofGreat Britain .
V on Penalty of 10 l. No Member of the Company, though a Freeman, to taken an Apprentice, till he has a settled Habitation to lodge his Apprentice in.
V. And, to avoid the great Inconveniencies which happen by Wherrymen and such other Watermen and Lightermen as aforesaid daily taking Apprentices, before such Wherrymen, Watermen or Lightermen are Housekeepers, or have any settled Habitation for themselves and their Apprentices to lodge in, whereby pilfering and disorderly Actions are frequently committed; Be it also further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall not be lawful for any Wherryman, Waterman or Lighterman, though a Freeman of the said Company, or his Widow, to take, retain or keep any Person as his or her Apprentice, unless such Waterman, Wherryman or Lighterman, or the Widow of such Waterman, Wherryman or Lighterman shall be the Occupier of some House or Tenement wherein to lodge him or herself and his or her Apprenticeor Apprentices; and such Waterman, Wherryman or Lighterman, or his or their Widow or Widows, shall keep such Apprentice or Apprentices to lodge and lie in the same House or Tenement wherein he or she doth lodge or lie, upon Pain that every Master or Mistress...
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