If your ancestor was bankrupt or insolvent, find out how to trace their records with our guide <\/p>
If you\u2019re trying to research your family history, remember your ancestors may have declared bankruptcy if they had debts they couldn\u2019t pay. While unfortunate for our ancestors, finding their bankruptcy records can provide an interesting insight into their lives.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, the only individuals who could declare bankruptcy were traders, defined as anyone who made their living buying and selling, including craftsmen but excluding farmers. Partnerships of individuals could declare themselves bankrupt, but companies were not covered until after 1844. The term insolvent debtor referred to individuals who were unable to pay their debts. Technically, being an insolvent debtor was illegal and could lead to being sent to debtors\u2019 prison, so individuals sometimes misrepresented their profession so they could claim bankruptcy instead. From 1861, insolvent debtors could apply for bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
In February 1824, when writer Charles Dickens was 12, his father John was arrested for debts of \u00a340 and 10 shillings to a local baker. He was imprisoned in Marshalsea debtors\u2019 prison in Southwark, London, along with his wife and younger children, while Charles Dickens boarded with another family. This experience influenced a lot of Dickens\u2019 later fiction \u2013 his novel Little Dorrit<\/em><\/a> is about a young woman born in the Marshalsea to a debtor father, the profligate character Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield<\/em><\/a> was based on his father, and Fleet debtors\u2019 prison appears in The Pickwick Papers<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n There are useful bankruptcy records on different family history websites<\/a>. Ancestry<\/a> has the registers for the Marshalsea (1811-1842) and the Fleet Street and King\u2019s Bench debtors\u2019 prisons (1734-1862). Findmypast<\/a> has transcripts of the Bankrupt Directory<\/em>, which records more than 31,130 bankruptcies declared between 1820 and 1843.<\/p>\n Bankruptcy notices were sometimes posted in local newspapers, so it\u2019s worth searching online old newspaper<\/a> archives. The London Gazette<\/em><\/a> regularly posted bankruptcy notices between 1813 and 1861.<\/p>\n The National Archives<\/a> has a good guide to bankruptcy records. York Castle hosted the first custom-built debtors\u2019 prison in the country and the debtors imprisoned there are included in a database of prisoners<\/a>. Finally, remember that if your ancestor was regularly destitute they might have had to go to the workhouse, so you can search for them in workhouse records<\/a>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n If your ancestor was bankrupt or insolvent, find out how to trace their records with our guide <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25820,"template":"","categories":[1,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-scaled.jpg",2560,1340,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-300x157.jpg",300,157,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-768x402.jpg",768,402,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-1024x536.jpg",800,419,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-1536x804.jpg",1536,804,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/36\/2023\/06\/how-to-find-bankruptcy-records-online-2048x1072.jpg",2048,1072,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"If your ancestor was bankrupt or insolvent, find out how to trace their records with our guide","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/wdytya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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