19th Century process on becoming a tailor.....

[Little Bernie]

As my info(already supplied on this forum)is scant; I've had to re-hash this info to arrive at more info.

My Gggrandfather Donald"The weaver" Campbell was a weaver, but his 3 sons were (trained, apprenticed??) tailors, but working in Cape Breton(Nova Scotia)they were coopers(Barrels for Jersey merchants), so I now assume that their original trade of tailor came from their life in Scotland, prior to making way for sheep.

Is there a standardized age for training(I doubt any formal schooling) Angus was born in 1830(circa) and the first documented proof of his existence(so far) in a marriage in Cape Breton in 1858.I suspect that this part of the family left in 1849(Uists), so he'd have been 19 then.
Cheers

[nelmit]

Hello,

Sorry I can't answer your question but my husband's gg grandfather (strangely enough his name was Thomas Campbell) was a coal drainer when he married in December 1864 and was a tailor by the time his son was born in May 1865 .

He was a tailor on 4 of his children's birth entries except one where he was a tobacconist

His death is one of my biggest brick walls so don't know what he was by then.

I wonder if he perhaps worked in a gents outfitters or similar. His second wife was a milliner when they married.

Regards,
Annette M

[Russell]

Hi Little Bernie

In the 1850's I very much doubt that were was any form of formal training for most of the trades. If a father was skilled ina particular task and this was recognised by the rest of the community he could call himself tailor or fisherman. If one of his sons showed aptitude and skill he would learn by assisting his father and would gradually be asked to complete more and more skilled tasks.
In the cities there were trade guilds and young men were taken on as apprentices. Some tradesmen would take on an apprentice if asked -or even request payment. The boy would start with menial tasks and would receive only his food and bord with perhaps certain clothing thrown in. Most would remain as journeymen working for someone else. The fortunate few would be allowed to buy into the Guild. Some Guilds required that an exemplar was made to show the skills of the journeyman.

In the rural areas especially the Highlands and Islands most of the population had several crafts & skills to call on. It was possible to be a fisherman, a weaver and a crofter. Some weavers also made up clothing from the cloth they wove. Since only one person would operate the loom a son might take up the tailoring side and develop skills but have no formal training other than, as they say, "Sittin by Mary" or in this case Angus or Hector or Callum.
Craft or Trade Schools were still a thing of the future.

Russell