Subtypes Guilds - Journeymen's Organizations - England

Journeymen’s associations in England did not derive their raison d’être out of mutual aid alone, as they did in the Dutch Republic, but also performed religious, social and legal functions. In terms of mutual aid, the journeymen’s boxes provided informal aid in kind at weddings and funerals, and in cases of illness, poverty and unemployment. They also played a large role in the maintenance of the tramping system (travelling journeymen), providing travel money and a network in other cities. Unlike the German Wanderschaft this system was born out of necessity in the eighteenth century for journeymen unable to find local employment (see also Hobsbawm, 1951, 301).

(Bos, 1998, 295-326)

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