Bankrupt in 1913

[SmallTownGirl]

Whilst trawling through the on-line newspaper archive for something else, I have stumbled across a short article, dated 1913, about my g.grandfather. It says :

"In the ____________ court of Bankruptcy on Thursday, Mr Registrar ____, made a receiving order in the matter of T____ A____ residing and carrying on business at ___________, builder. The debtor was also adjudicated bankrupt."

Can anyone point me in the direction of any information as to what bankruptcy involved in 1913, please? Not just in legal terms, but what it would have meant for his family (wife and children still living at home).

Thanks
STG

[Olde Crone Holden]

In 1913 bankruptcy was a dire social disgrace and you were "ruined". If you could not come to some agreement with your creditors then the bailiffs could take EVERYTHING you had, except the tools of your trade, your bed, a table and a chair. (Not like today). You would lose your home if you owned it and possibly finish up in some low area - no money for a deposit, no money for rent etc etc.

I remember in the early 1960s, a schoolfriend's father committing suicide because he was facing bankruptcy. His widow and children went from living in a comfortable spacious home, to living in two rooms of a house, which a friend had let them have. The debt did not die with him and his poor widow had to make arrangements to pay some ridiculously minute sum per week to try to satisfy his creditors. There wasn't automatic discharge from bankruptcy back then - there is now.

All in all, a terrible situation to be in.

OC

[SmallTownGirl]

On the 1911 census he's a widower with six of his 14 children - the older ones are either married or living out - plus a 19yo niece living with him. I wonder how they managed? Moved in with older siblings presumably. Or was there some "parish" relief available?

No wonder my mother never mentioned it.

STG

[Olde Crone Holden]

Can you find his discharge notice? This might give you some clue as to what happened to him and the family.

There would be absolutely minimal relief available from the parish. The family would have had to be utterly destitute to get anything and it would have been stale bread, nothing much else. Of course, if he could find a job, that would have helped a bit, although the Court would have taken most of his earnings. Bankrupts cannot, even now, work for themselves, so he wouldn't have been able to turn a penny that way even though he had the skills.

OC

[Olde Crone Holden]

Blimey - just read about someone who went bankrupt in 1913 and the debts were finally cleared in 1993!!!!

OC

[Uncle John]

You can usually follow a bankruptcy through its various stages in the London Gazette, if it hasn't hit the Times.

[Christine in Herts]

You can usually follow a bankruptcy through its various stages in the London Gazette, if it hasn't hit the Times.

Here's the link for teh London Gazette online search: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search

Christine

[SmallTownGirl]

You can usually follow a bankruptcy through its various stages in the London Gazette, if it hasn't hit the Times.

Thanks. Found another few mentions. The one which seemed most interesting was on a schedule entitled "Notices of Dividends" which has an "Amount per Pound" column, in which it says 5s 2d, and in the "First, Final or Otherwise" column it says "First and Final", with a date of 26 November 1913, being payable at the Official Receiver's Offices in Birmingham.

Would that be the discharge of the bankruptcy? He died in 1926. Would that have discharged the bankruptcy, or can the debts live on after the bankrupt has died?

Sorry for being so iggorant about all this.

STG

[Olde Crone Holden]

Normally there would be a formal notice of discharge. If the creditors agreed that 5s2d was all they were ever likely to get and were content with that, he could apply for discharge.

If you are bankrupt, that is a personal debt I believe, but it does not necessarily die with you. And of course, some families would honour the debt anyway, as a matter of moral principle.

OC

[SmallTownGirl]

I've had another look and all I can find is a notice dated 9 Feb 1914 that the Trustees have been released.

Thanks for your help OC

STG

[Olde Crone Holden]

Sounds as if he was discharged then. Do you know what happened to him after 1914? Did he leave a Will?

OC

[SmallTownGirl]

Sounds as if he was discharged then. Do you know what happened to him after 1914? Did he leave a Will?

OC

Don't really know what happened to him, apart from the fact he died locally, and there's no will listed on the Probate Registers.

STG