Hi Richard Thanks for the reply, I agree that in the case of a grant of Freedom to trade on the basis of apprenticeship it is quite clear what the trade of the new Freeman is, however, I do not believe this is the case with a grant based on inheritance. It seems to be a quirk of these records that in the case of inherited Freedom to Trade they only record the trade of the father (the sponsor ) which is not necessarily the same as that of their son. Does anyone out there have knowledge or access to the primary sources which might throw some light on it? I believe that the lists of freemen are extracts of the Oxford City Council Acts, but as it is over 10yrs since I was able to visit the Oxford Studies Centre I might be mistaken. In the case I quoted, that of Frank John G. He had little if anything to do with his fathers trade of book-binding, as from at least the age of 17yrs (and probably much earlier) he was working in a tailors establishment. As Stephanie Jenkins highlights on her Mayors of Oxford site ( Headington.org) the advantage of an "inheritance" route over that of apprenticeship is one of cost, younger sons pay less than 10% of the standard fees and the eldest pay no fees at all. I hope someone can come up with a definitive answer. My thanks to all those members of this forum and the OFHS who donate their time to help others. Ray G