Your ancestor would have worked for, and would have been trained by, a master shoemaker. I doubt that in the early 19th century there would have been quite such a formal assessment scheme as we might have today (with defined targets required to meet specific qualification levels), however, the master shoemaker may have belonged to a local society or guild and got other shoemakers to help assess your ancestor's work. My gg-grandfather, who lived in Wales, was listed as a journeyman (qualified) shoemaker or as a journeyman cordwainer on various documents. Family legend says that he made boots for a particular local duke. My father wrote to the Guild of Cordwainers to see if there was any record of him, but they did not have anything about him. http://www.cordwainers.org/history.aspx http://www.thehcc.org/backgrnd.htm There is reference to a guild of shoemakers having a building in Edinburgh in 1667, so shoemakers were quite well organised in the larger cities. http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52516/details/edinburgh+195+197+canongate+shoemakers+land/ Here is a list of books/documents covering shoemaking held in Northampton's central library. http://www.walsall.gov.uk/bilbliography_13.doc Tina ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lorraine Standfield" <nerralea@dcsi.net.au> To: <PERTHSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:46 AM Subject: Re: [PERTHSHIRE] New member - query Shoemaker Apprenticeships > Hello Lister, > > I am trying to find information regarding my great-grandfather James > GARDINER b c1826 to James Gardiner (Quarrier) and Anne SCOTT, probably in > Creiff. On the 1841 census it says he is an Apprentice Shoemaker - can > anyone tell me where I may find information about apprenticeships please? > Before becoming a farmer in Victoria in the late 1850s he was a shoemaker > in > Victoria too. > > Any information regarding his parents would also be gratefully accepted. > > TIA, > > Lorraine (Dodemaide) Standfield, > Victoria, Australia. >