Women, Guilds and the Tailoring Trades: The Occupational Training of Merchant Taylors’ Company Apprentices in Early Modern London
Abstract
This article surveys women’s complex interactions with the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors in London, revealing that women were admitted to the company as apprentices and freemen far earlier than is often recognized and before the introduction of the mantua gown to England in the 1670s. The occupational identities recorded in the company’s apprentice binding books between 1658 and 1688 offer new insights into early modern women’s work, particularly the skills and training that female apprentices were most likely to attain through the Merchant Taylors’ Company. Moreover, case studies show that women built and maintained socio-economic networks in their trades as seamstresses and milliners, which were vital to their success and longevity in trade.