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Search debtors’ prison records
If your ancestor was imprisoned for failing to pay their debts, follow Richard Holt’s advice to…
Debt was common for many of our ancestors, and those unable to pay their creditors could be sent to prison. Debtors were often held indefinitely until the money was repaid. Some were kept alongside criminals, while others went to prisons set aside for debtors.
Browse Ancestry’s London prison records
The National Archives holds records for debtors at the King’s Bench, Fleet and Marshalsea prisons – all in London. The Archives’ research guide (www.snipca. com/56163) on bankrupts and insolvent debtors explains more. Ancestry has digitised these in two collections.