A journeyman is a trader or crafter who has completed an apprenticeship. A journeyman was a craftsman who had fully learned his trade and earned money but was not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for judgment. If the work were deemed worthy, the journeyman would be admitted to the guild as a master. (Wikipedia).
Ezra Riley was listed on the 1851 Census and his 1853 Marriage Record as a Journeyman Blacksmith so he must have served an apprenticeship. I don't know if the Manchester Blacksmith Guild kept records or not on Apprenticeships. I would love to find out if he ever became a Master. A missing piece in this puzzle is the 1861 Census. We haven't been able to find a record of Ezra, Jane and their family yet.
Wikipedia has some interesting info on the history of apprenticeships in England.
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