Keeping it in the family?

[chopendoz]

I was looking for some people in the Apprentice records and it occurred to me that there were no references (that I could see) to a son being apprenticed to his father. Did the father avoid paying the tax? Would their sons (tailors in this case) be recognised by the trade, as qualified?
Have I wasted time, money and patience looking for records were there may be none?

[Colin Moretti]

Possibly.

See the TNA Guide on Apprenticeship records. Section 4 Apprenticeships not recorded in the Apprenticeship Books has this to say:

By the eighteenth century apprenticeships were often undertaken without any formal indenture, especially in common trades such as weaving. In many trades it was expected that men would bring up their sons or nephews to their trade.

Additionally, Herber, in Ancestral Trails, notes that

Some apprenticeships were exempt from duty (and so not listed), such as ... those for which the premium was less than one shilling (usually where a boy was apprenticed to his father or another relative).

Colin