Haberdashers Company Membership Records, 1500-1800

"This index continues the British Record Society's plan to provide printed editions of some of the larger Livery Companies. These three volumes are a comprehensive conflation of the surviving personal records of the Haberdashers' Company 1500-1800. The records are a unique source of information about the family background of each member of the Company. In most cases the fathers' names, parishes and occupations are given. Without indexes, however, speculative searches in the records are lengthy and often fruitless. Most of the apprentices were not of the parish poor, but a means by which younger sons of families of the yeoman class and above could be provided for by their families. London was a magnet, and many, even from humbler backgrounds, went on to attain success and significant wealth. The members were drawn from the entire of the British Isles and even a few from abroad. The Haberdashers' Company was one of the half dozen largest Livery Companies, so these volumes fill a large gap in early modern records available in print"--Part 1, Jacket flap.