prisoners-england-wales-debtors-1800


1	Debtors in prison in England and Wales, 1776-1820
2
3	year	total	source	data reference
4	1776	2437	Howard (1792) p. 36	prisoners-england-wales-1780
5	1779	2084	Howard (1792), State of the Prisons	prisoners-england-wales-1780
6	1782	2197	id	prisoners-england-wales-1780
7	1787-8	2011	id	prisoners-england-wales-1780
8	1792	2032	PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 647; Report on Imprisonment for Debt	debtor returns 1792
9	1810	3138	Neild (1810). State of the Prisons	prisoners-england-wales-1810
10	1820	3356	PP, Gaol Returns	prisoners-england-wales-1820
11
12	Commitments of debtors to prison
13	year	commitments
14	1789	16,409	Grant, Alexander, Progress and Practice of a Modern Attorney, p. 125	"according to the returns 1789, the prisoners for debt amounted to the enormous number of 16,409"
15	1802	20,820	Neild (1812), State of the Prisons, p. xix
16
17
18			Repository:
19			http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
20			Version: 1.0


1	Sex ration among imprisoned debtors in England					Repository:
2						http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3						Version: 1.0
4		male share			est. sex ratio
5	England, early 18th century	93%			13.3	Haagen, Paul (1986), Imprisonement for Debt in England, p. 55/
6	England, late 18th century	95%			19.0	Haagen, Paul H. (1983). "Eighteenth-century English society and the debt law," in Social control and the state. Stanley Cohen and Andrew Scull, ed. New York St. Martin’s Press: 222-47.
7						See p. 224. Id. p. 239, ft. 10 describes this share as "remarkably constant throughout the [English] kingdom and across time [the eighteenth century]."
8
9
10		debtors in prison
11	prisoner population	male	female	total	sex ratio	source by line
12	England and Wales, 1779	1965	119	2084	16.5	Howard, State of the Prisons, see prisoners-england-wales-1780
13	England and Wales, 1782	2058	139	2197	14.8	Howard, State of the Prisons, see prisoners-england-wales-1780
14
15
16
17		debtors received in prison
18		males	females	total	sex ratio
19	Lancaster Castle, 1793	229	5	234	45.8	Finn, Margot (1996). "Women, Consumption and Coverture in England, c. 1760-1860." The Historical Journal vol. 39(3): 703-22; p. 708
20	Lincoln Castle, 1810-11	143	7	150	20.4	Finn, Margot (1996). "Women, Consumption and Coverture in England, c. 1760-1860." The Historical Journal vol. 39(3): 703-22; p. 708
21
22
23
24		male share of debtors			sex ratio
25	Insolvent Debtors Court, Sept. 1820 to Dec. 1821	96.1%			24.6	Finn, Margot (2003), The Character of Credit, p. 180 (male share of insolvent debtors)
26
27
28
29						In 1821, 5259 prisoners used the Insolvent Debtors Court
30						See Duffy (1985) Table 2.4 (time series 1813 to 1830), citing
31						P.P. Accounts and Papers (1826-7) XIX 575; (1831) XV, 89.
32		debtors in prison
33		males	females	total	sex ratio
34	York Castle, 1820	147	6	153	24.5	Gaol Returns for 1820, under greatest number of prisoners confined at one time during 1820
35
36
37	Gaol Returns for 1823	962	69	1031	13.9	79 prisons reporting, prisoners-england-wales-1823
38	Gaol Returns for 1830	1595	94	1689	17.0	112 prisons reporting, prisoners-england-wales-1830
39
40
41	Comparison
42	debtors in prison in Sweden, 1835-1840	531	19	550	27.6	Gratzer (2008) p. 38 states that the share of women among imprisoned debtors was
43						fairly constant and averaged 3.5% from 1835 to 1878, when imprisonment of debtors ended.
44
45
46						Gratzer, Karl (2008) "Default and Imprisonment for Debt in Sweden: From the Lost Chances of a Ruined Life to the Lost Capital of a Bankrupt Company," in
47						Gratzer and Stiefel, eds., History of Insolvency and Bankruptcy from an International Perspective. Södertörns högskola 2008


1	Commitments of debtors to prison, 1800-1818							Repository:
2								http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3								Version: 1.0
4
5	lid	county	place	place type	year-1800	year-1810	year-1818	source and notes
6	1	Bedford			12	26	15	Committed Prisoners for Debt, 1798-1818, P.P., Accounts & Papers 1819 (237) XVII 145-83
7	2	Berks				36	35	This source gives time series data for each prison, 1798 to 1818.
8	3	Berks	Abingdon		0	0	0	A blank space indicates missing data for that year.
9	4	Berks	Reading		0	0	1
10	5	Buckingham					70	Considering time trends for aggregate debtors must account for the missing data
11	6	Buckingham		castle gaol	0	0	1			total debtors
12	7	Cambridge				19	16		prisons	in 1800	in 1810	in 1818
13	8	Cambridge		town	2	0	4	raw sums	141	4,338	6,583	10,050
14	9	Cambridge	Ely	city	1	1	0	sums only of prisons with data for all years	96	4,338	5,831	8,098
15	10	Cambridge	Wisbeach		10	15	26
16	11	Chester			49	44	88
17	12	Chester		city		10	26	Duffy (1985) p. 372 reports slightly different figures, 4268 and 5858 for 1800 and 1810, respectively.
18	13	Chester	Macclesfield				16	These small differences may be a result of transcription or arithmetic errors.
19	14	Cornwall	Bodmin		47	40	76
20	15	Cornwall	Launceston		0	0	0	Finn (2003) p. 114 misreads Duffy and misreports by a large amount
21	16	Cumberland	Carlisle			72	89	the number of persons charged with an indictable offense and committed to gaol or bailed,
22	17	Derby			25	41	48	and the number of debtors committed to prison,
23	18	Derby		borough		4	7	For Duffy figures, see sheet "Duffy commitments 1798-1818"
24	19	Devon	Exeter		104	70	132
25	20	Devon	Barnstaple		0	3	3
26	21	Devon	Bideford		0	0	0	Duffy, Ian P. H. (1985). Bankruptcy and insolvency in London during the Industrial Revolution. New York, Garland.
27	22	Devon	Southgate			13	10
28	23	Devon	Plymouth		14	7	7	Finn, Margot C. (2003). The character of credit : personal debt in English culture, 1740-1914. Cambridge ; New York, Cambridge University Press.
29	24	Devon	Tiverton		0	1	2
30	25	Dorset	Dorchester		24	24	43
31	26	Dorset	Lyme Regis		0	0	0
32	27	Dorset	Poole			4	8
33	28	Dorset	Weymouth		0	0	1
34	29	Durham			45	75	64
35	30	Essex			49	66	89
36	31	Essex	Colchester		1	1	1
37	32	Gloucester			47	85	95
38	33	Gloucester		city			5
39	34	Gloucester	St. Briavel's		1	0	4
40	35	Gloucester	Tewkesbury		0	0	1
41	36	Hants	Winchester		61	96	86
42	37	Hants	Portsmouth			41	26
43	38	Hants	Southhampton		3	14	9
44	39	Hants	Winchester				1
45	40	Hereford			33	20	69
46	41	Hereford		city	1	0	4
47	42	Hereford	Leominster		4	4	1
48	43	Hertford			14	21	30
49	44	Hertford	St. Alban's	liberty	1	0	3
50	45	Hertford	St. Alban's	borough	2	0	6
51	46	Huntingdon				16	11
52	47	Kent			58	75	91
53	48	Kent	Canterbury		10	7	12
54	49	Kent	Dover Castle		14	29	47
55	50	Kent	Faversham		0	1	2
56	51	Kent	Greenwich		72	73	141
57	52	Kent	Rochester				65
58	53	Lancaster			190	306	526
59	54	Lancaster	Liverpool		278	192	504
60	55	Leicester					57
61	56	Leicester		borough	6	6	8
62	57	Lincoln			32	61	79
63	58	Lincoln	Boston			20	26
64	59	Lincoln	Grantham		0	0	0
65	60	Lincoln	Grinsby			9	6
66	61	Lincoln	Lincoln	city		2	10
67	62	Lincoln	Stamford		0	0	2
68	63	Middlesex	London	Whitecross, Newgate, etc.	923	1030	1072
69	64	Middlesex	London	Fleet	335	586	609
70	65	Middlesex	London	Tothill Fields	0	0	0
71	66	Monmouth			9	10	43
72	67	Norfolk			38	46	103
73	68	Norfolk	King's Lynn				9
74	69	Norfolk	Norwich		21	12	27
75	70	Norfolk	Yarmouth		16	18	14
76	71	Northampton			18	42	23
77	72	Northampton		town			1
78	73	Northampton	Peterborough			3	2
79	74	Northumberland			19	27	48
80	75	Northumberland	Berwick-upon-Tweed			15	7
81	76	Northumberland	Newcastle-upon-Tyne			101	73
82	77	Nottingham			18	32	24
83	78	Nottingham	Newark		2	1	1
84	79	Nottingham		town		29	26
85	80	Oxford				32	35
86	81	Oxford		city	1	1	2
87	82	Rutland				0	4
88	83	Salop	Shrewsbury		25	43	60
89	84	Salop	Ludlow		0	0	1
90	85	Salop	Oswestry		0	0	1
91	86	Somerset	Ilchester		61	89	112
92	87	Somerset	Bath				121
93	88	Somerset	Bridgewater		0	0	2
94	89	Somerset	Bristol		54	100	95
95	90	Stafford			45	76	112
96	91	Stafford	Lichfield		2	4	3
97	92	Stafford	Newcastle-under-Lyne				2
98	93	Stafford	Walsall		0	1	4
99	94	Suffolk	Ipswich			31	36
100	95	Suffolk	Bury St. Edmonds		22	24	27
101	96	Suffolk	Ipswich	town	0	5	2
102	97	Surry		Horsemonger Lane	150	168	216
103	98	Surry	Kingston-upon-Thames		0	0	16
104	99	Surry	Southwark			220	730
105	100	Surry	Southwark	King's Bench	535	1079	1651
106	101	Surry	Southwark	Marshalsea	210	286	466
107	102	Sussex	Horshom	borough	19	32	74
108	103	Sussex	Chichester		0	0	0
109	104	Warwick			53	50	91
110	105	Warwick	Coventry				9
111	106	Westmoreland			18	11	7
112	107	Wilts	Fisterton Anger				41
113	108	Worcester			36	43	57
114	109	Worcester	Evesham		0	0	0
115	110	Worcester		city	13	16	14
116	111	York			126	195	315
117	112	York	Doncaster		4	0	1
118	113	York	Ecclesall				108
119	114	York	Kingston-uon-Hull		31	56	42
120	115	York	Knaresborough	castle	1	11	7
121	116	York	Knaresborough	borough	0	0	6
122	117	York	Richmond		13	7	15
123	118	York	Scarborough		5	4	5
124	119	York	Sheffield		251	254	290
125	120	York	York	city	15	25	38
126	121	York	St. Peter's			1	3
127	122	York	Ripon	military court	2	0	8
128	123	York	Beverley				13
129	124	Anglesey	Beaumaris		9	8	8
130	125	Brecon			1	15	15
131	126	Brecon		town	1	2	3
132	127	Cardigan					27
133	128	Carmarthen				19	42
134	129	Carmarthen		borough		13	38
135	130	Carnarvon					29
136	131	Denbigh	Ruthin			9	21
137	132	Flint			1	5	12
138	133	Glamorgan	Cardiff			17	30
139	134	Glamorgan	Swansea			12	11
140	135	Merioneth	Dolgelly		8	1	10
141	136	Montgomery			17	11	24
142	137	Pembroke					29
143	138	Pembroke	Haverfordwest			4	7
144	139	Pembroke	Tenby		0	0	0
145	140	Radnor	Presteign				14
146	141	Radnor		Borough	0	1	1


1	Prison making returns on debtors for the Report on Imprisonment for Debt, 1792				Repository:
2					http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3	lid	prison name		source	Version: 1.0
4	1	King's Bench		PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 645; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
5	2	Fleet
6	3	Newgate		number of prisons containing debtors in Howard 1779 survey: 119
7	4	Ludgate		number of prisons explicitly enumerating debtors in Neild 1810 survey: 102
8	5	Poultry Compter
9	6	New Compter		debtor prisoners in returns
10	7	Borough Compter	1907	returns of gaols
11	8	Whitechapel	125	additional for debts due to the King, forfeitures of recognizances, etc.; given variously as 150 and 100
12	9	Anglesey	2032	total debtor prisoners
13	10	Aylesbury
14	11	Appleby		of that total
15	12	Bedford	1251	defendants on mesne process
16	13	Berkshire	326	mesne process for demands under 20 pounds
17	14	Bristol	392	mesne process for demands 20-50 pounds
18	15	Brecknockshire	215	mesne process for demands 50-100 pounds
19	16	Berwick	318	mesne process for demands greater than 100 pounds
20	17	Buckinghamshire
21	18	Cambridge	706	debtors in execution (court judgement executed against them)
22	19	Chester	110	debtors in execution for debts under 20 pounds
23	20	Coventry	185	debtors in execution for debts 20-50 pounds
24	21	Celmsford	141	debtors in execution for debts 50-100 pounds
25	22	Cardiff	270	debtors in execution for debts 100 pounds and upwards
26	23	Cornwall
27	24	Cumberland
28	25	Carmarthen
29	26	Cardigan
30	27	Denbigh
31	28	Durham
32	29	Devon
33	30	Dorset
34	31	Exeter
35	32	Flint
36	33	Gloucester County
37	34	Gloucester City
38	35	Gower
39	36	Hampshire
40	37	Huntingdon
41	38	Horsham
42	39	Hertfordshire
43	40	Herefordshire
44	41	Kent
45	42	Kingston
46	43	King's Lynn
47	44	Lenton
48	45	Lincoln Castle
49	46	Lincoln City
50	47	Lancaster County
51	48	Leicester
52	49	Leicester City
53	50	Monmouth
54	51	Montgomery
55	52	Newcastle
56	53	Newark
57	54	Nottingham
58	55	Norwich
59	56	Norwich Castle
60	57	Nottinghamshire
61	58	Northumberland
62	59	Northamptonshire
63	60	Oakham
64	61	Oxford
65	62	Portsmouth
66	63	Pembroke
67	64	Stafford
68	65	Surrey
69	66	Southampton
70	67	Salop
71	68	Sussex
72	69	Worcester City
73	70	Worcester County
74	71	Wiltshire
75	72	Warwick
76	73	Westmoreland
77	74	Great Yarmouth
78	75	Yorkshire, comprehending York Castle
79	76	Batley
80	77	Sheffield
81	78	Knaresborough Honour
82	79	Richmond
83	80	Beverly
84	81	Beverly Hall-Garth


1	Family relations of prisoners for debt in late-eighteenth-century England					Repository:
2						http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3						Version: 1.0
4	Debtor-prisoners liberated by the Society for the Relief and Discharge of unfortunate Persons imprisoned for small debts (Thatched House Society), from 1772
5	cumulative	to Oct. 9, 1776	to Mar. 1792	to Mar. 1802	to Mar. 1808	sources
6	discharged debtors	3,980	12,590	19,063	24,094	Howard (1777), State of Prisons, p. 36
7	discharged debtors with wives	2,193	7,842	11,399	14,446	PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 648; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
8	children of discharged debtors	6,288	23,268	32,871	40,795	Neild, 1802, 1808, An account of the rise, progress and present state of the Society for the discharge and relief of persons imprisoned for small debts throughout England and Wales
9
10	male debtors with wives	58%	66%	63%	63%
11	children per married male debtor	2.9	3.0	2.9	2.8
12
13	by period
14	discharged debtors	3,980	8,610	6,473	5,031
15	discharged debtors with wives	2,193	5,649	3,557	3,047
16	children of discharged debtors	6,288	16,980	9,603	7,924
17
18	male debtors with wives	58%	69%	58%	64%
19	children per married male debtor	2.9	3.0	2.7	2.6
20
21		Bristol Society, to 1775
22	discharged debtors	73				Howard (1777), State of Prisons, p. 37
23	discharged debtors with wives	45
24	children of discharged debtors	120
25
26	male debtors with wives	65%
27	children per married male debtor	2.7
28
29
30
31	imprisoned debtors c. 1792	King's Bench	Fleet
32	debtors	570	202			PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 647; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
33	debtors with wives and children	340	136
34	male debtors with wives and children	60%	67%
35
36
37	Return from English gaols
38	debtors	1907				PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 647; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
39	debtors with wives	1300
40	children of debtors	4088
41
42	male debtors with wives	72%
43	children per married male debtor	3.1
44
45
46	parameter in above calculations
47	est. share of male debtors	95%


1	Debtors committed to prison in England and Wales, according to Duffy
2
3	year	debtors committed	source and notes
4	1798	3814	Duffy (1985) p. 372, Table 2.2., citing
5	1799	3944	Committed Prisoners for Debt, 1798-1818, P.P., Accounts & Papers 1819 (237) XVII 145-83
6	1800	4268	This source gives time series data for each prison, 1798 to 1818.
7	1801	4527	How Duffy accounted for missing values in his aggregation isn't clear.
8	1802	4417	For underlying data and aggregation for 1800, 1810, and 1818, see "debtors by prison, 1800-18" worksheet
9	1803	4114	As missing prisons in the source list demonstrated, this source includes only a (small) subset of debtor commitments in England and Wales.
10	1804	4420
11	1805	4803	Finn (2003) pp. 114, 115 misreads (twice) the data table at Duffy (1985) p. 372
12	1806	5174
13	1807	5264
14	1808	5333
15	1809	5432	Duffy, Ian P. H. (1985). Bankruptcy and insolvency in London during the Industrial Revolution
16	1810	5858
17	1811	6134	Finn, Margot (2003), The Character of Credit
18	1812	6115
19	1813	6806	Repository:
20	1814	6374	http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
21	1815	7080	Version: 1.0
22	1816	8379
23	1817	9030
24	1818	8238


1	Bailable Process against Debtors in England, Oct. 1801 through Sept. 1802						Repository:
2							http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3							Version: 1.0
4		debts under £30	debts above £30, and under £50	debts above £50, and under £500	debts above £500	total	source and notes
5	writs for arrest of debtors on mesne process	114,570	57,900	47,010	5,325	224,805	Neild (1812), State of the Prisons, p. xix
6	arrests of debtors on mesne process	60,000	16,500	25,800	3,000	105,300	Id. also reported figures for Middlesex. These are uniformly 6.7% of the figures for England.
7	bail bonds given on arrests	33,000	10,665	16,500	1,950	62,115
8	prisoners remaining for want of bail	12,345	3,315	4,620	540	20,820
9
10
11	two-thirds of debtor-prisoners, 1780-1830, were held on mesne process						Haagen (1986) p. 6
12
13
14	Middlesex County, exclusive of London
15	type \ year	1791
16	bailable writs (imprisoned if doesn't make bail)	9500
17	bailable writs for sums under 50 pounds	7000
18	bailable writs for sums under 20 pounds	about 4750
19	arrested annually on mesne process	6000-7000					PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 645; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
20	annually carried to lock-up or sponging houses	thousands
21	settling debt upon arrest	less than 20%
22	actually go to prison (from lock-up or sponging house)	900
23
24	London
25	type \ year	1791
26	bailable writs (imprisoned if doesn't make bail)	3055
27	other particulars proportional to Middlesex
28
29	Middlesex and London
30		1783-9
31	Actions in which there had been no trial, but only a judgement on writ of inquiry before the sheriffs	7415					PP, 32 Geog. III, 2 Apr. 1792, p. 649; Report on Imprisonment for Debt
32
33
34
35
36
37	Middlesex County, exclusive of London
38	type \ year	1831	1832				PP, Debtors, Returns dated 13 June 1833
39	warrants for debt against the person	14909	13555
40	of which:
41	warrants on mesne process	11859	10534
42	warrants on writ of execution	3050	3021
43
44	bailable processes executed	5373	5327


1	Wives and children voluntarily living with male debtors in prison										Repository:
2											http://acrosswalls.org/datasets/
3											Version: 1.0
4				persons in prison		families in prison		single men & men with wives and children outside prison
5	date	prison	location	men by law	wives & children by choice	men by law	wives & children by choice	men in prison	wives outside prison	children outside prison	source
6	1776, Apr. 6	Fleet	London	243	475						Howard (1777) p. 160
7	1801	Fleet	London	230	200						Neild (1812) p. 220
8	1803, Dec. 10	Fleet	London	229	539	148	539				Neild (1812) p. 220
9	1776, Mar. 12	Poultry Compter	London	70	27	8	27	62	44	144	Howard (1777) p. 172
10	1803	Poultry Compter	London	34	25	10	25				Neild (1812) p. 486
11	1776, May	King's Bench	London	395	669						Howard (1777) p. 198
12	1775, March	Marshalsea	London	175	46						Howard (1777) p. 206
13	1801-1810	Borough Compter (The Clink)	Southwark, Surrey	6.9	4.5						Neild (1812) p. 57
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23				Borough Compter detail
24				debtors in prison by law	wives in prison by choice	infant children in prison
25			1801	9	0	3
26			1802	5	0	1
27			1803	8	0	4
28			1804	8	0	3
29			1805	5	2	3
30			1806	5	3	9
31			1807	6	0	3
32			1808	8	0	4
33			1809	9	0	4
34			1810	6	2	4
35
36				6.9	0.7	3.8
37						4.5