Lengthy searches may be necessary to discover details even of a person known to have been a member of such a company. Ways of trying to discover a person's company are described in paragraphs 40 - 42. If the person's company remains unknown, a search is unlikely to be feasible. On the other hand, some companies have hardly any surviving records and a few companies which are defunct or which have been merged into other companies have left no records at all. However, details of the apprentices and members of such companies may be discoverable from the sources described in paragraphs 8 and 40.
Company records about individuals usually concern only their relationship with the company.
They are unlikely to give information about their personal or business activities, except incidentally. Ages of apprentices and freemen 26. Apprentices had to be at least 14 and not more than 21 when bound. Freemen were supposed to be at least 24, but in practice appear often to have been admitted from the age of 21. The proportion of apprentices becoming freemen 27.