Hi Dorri, We have a virtual one name study for our worwoods who were lightermen, watermen and marine engineers, mariners etc. >From the information we gathered on many parts of this extended Worwood family, we have linked most of the London, Kent, Surrey etc Worwoods. The point I am getting to is that from our research we found that 1. The Lightermen Watermen seemed to be a close knit community and they apprenticed themselves within the family, or sometimes extended family such as wifes father in a few cases....... 2. So that being the case it is likely that the move to Surrey IF in conjunction with him becoming a waterman or in marine area might show a familial link of some sort. Sometimes coming in the back door and researching other family members, wifes family etc can show unexpected dividends. It seems you have gone a fair way in this already. My gut instinct given the above is their is a good possibility of Surrey links. 3. However, Mine seemed to move for numerous reasons......one lot ( HILLIERS married Worwoods) from Dorset (flax industry - ropes for vessels etc) & various other trades moved to London during the times when ship building etc was a source of good employment opportunities. They married into the Worwoods - so these reasons are likely. 4. It seems strange that you cannot find his apprenticeship, because to my knowledge these records are meticulously kept. The Docklands Website would tell you of the possibility of any missing records for the time frame you require. Perhaps an email. Cheers pam from Adelaide Australia Now knowing his age at death I should be able to eliminate a few more possibles. It has taken quite a few years to get to this point along with a lot of research into The Royal Navy and the Watermen and Lightermen Company Family legend has that one of our female ancestors was a powder monkey serving with her husband...pretty sure that this is Mary as I now have the names and occupations of all my mothers ancestors upto @1800 and women were on board some of the ships of that time. My James Matthews's son eventually became a master Lighterman and his daughter married a lighterman. I just wonder if they already had links in Surrey when they moved there.