When reformer John Howard surveyed prisons in the 18th century he found that around half of inmates were debtors. Until 1869, being unable to repay debts was equated with criminality and considered a jailable offence. Before and after this date information about debtors was kept and published, and online bankruptcy records can be invaluable in investigating cases of forebears who fell foul of their creditors. There are two collections of these available at TheGenealogist.co.uk: the 1786–1806 List of Bankrupts with Their Dividends and 1891 Perry’s Bankrupt and Insolvent Gazette. Both are fully searchable by first name and surname, keyword and date.

Debtors – and sometimes their dependent family members alongside them – were often imprisoned for as long as their creditors held them there, which could be indefinitely. Debtors’ prisons in London included the notorious Fleet and the Clink, Faringdon, King’s Bench, Whitecross Street, and Marshalsea, where Charles Dickens’ father John spent time for debt.

Inside debtors’ prison, insolvents would be expected to work at repaying what they owed, making mass-produced items, for example. Although some prisons were more lenient than others (some inmates of Fleet, for example, were allowed to leave the grounds), life for the majority would have been tough. Debtors were treated no differently from convicted criminals in many jails. Borough Compter, in Southwark, held debtors and felons arrested in the area, and records show that in 1776 it held 15 debtors but just one felon, and in 1787 50 debtors and 12 felons. Men and women were imprisoned together and staff extorted money from inmates. Testimonies from new arrivals at a debtors’ prison in Rothwell, near Leeds, also attest to staff and inmates demanding ‘garnish’ (a fine) of half a crown, or that the new prisoner forfeit his or her coat. For obvious reasons, the latter was the more popular choice.

Giltspur Street Compter prison in London, built in 1791, was to hold 136 prisoners comprising debtors, felons, petty offenders and those charged with assault. Despite there being separate areas for those charged with different crimes, and for men and women, in reality prisoners were moved wherever would allow the most space for new arrivals.

The main sources for researching an ancestor who may have faced bankruptcy are specialist publications that detailed cases. These include TheGenealogist’s Perry’s Bankruptcy and Insolvent Gazette and 1786–1806 List of Bankrupts with Their Dividends as well as The Gentleman’s Magazine, The Times and local newspapers. The London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are also useful: once an English or Welsh debtor had been declared bankrupt a notice would be published in the London Gazette .

If you are not tracing specific debtors, a browse through Perry’s Gazette at TheGenealogist reveals a great deal about social history. While many of those listed had no employment, the majority of debtors were working-class men with jobs such as trader, travelling salesman, builder, brickmaker and cook. However, the records also list a surprising number of ‘gentlemen’: doctors, teachers and solicitors. There is even a barrister. Some job titles – comedian (one Sam Torr of Canal Street in Leicester), mineral water manufacturer and coffee house proprietor – are a little more unexpected. Perry’s also lists the amount owed, and for the majority of people this is in the region of £10 to £20. Occasionally, married couples or business partners feature together. In 1890, a Thomas Dickens and his wife Martha of Stamford Hill, commercial traveller and boot dealer respectively, owed just over £10.

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