Jail for non payment of debts.

[Lidfam]

I wonder if someone knows whether, in 1909, a man would have been jailed for non payment of Trade Union subscriptions ? My great grandfather was jailed at least 5 times between 1907 and 1911, each time for a couple of weeks for "non payment of debts". A couple of times he was arrested and jailed in the same day. That's swift justice for you. Anyway, with the release of Trade Union Records on one of the major Genealogy sites, I have discover that he was twice excluded from the Union of carpenters and joiners for "arrears", presumably in membership subscriptions. The second time was in 1909, one of the years in which he served a jail sentence, and I was wondering if it could have been this offence, or was non payment of Union dues, too minor an offence for jail, and exclusion deemed enough. Thankyou for any help.

                                                        Dale

[stanmapstone]

I would think non payment of Union Subscriptions would be a civil offence not a criminal offence.

Stan

[Lidfam]

Thankyou for your thoughts Stan. The final jail term he served was for "non payment of rates", so maybe all the sentences were for similar offences.

                                                        Dale

[Jill on the A272]

Non payment of unions subs would just result in his membership lapsing, as it would today.

[GrahamSimons]

Debtors' prisons were abolished in the 19th century. However under the Debtors Act 1869 if someone had received a court judgement against them for debt, and they didn't pay, and they had the ability to pay, then they could be jailed for up to six weeks. So to be jailed for debt in 1909 you'd have to have (a) a debt (b) the debt taken to civil court (c) the funds to pay and (d) still not pay.

Hope this helps

[Greensleeves]

Of course, his arrears of union subs could have been caused by the fact that he was in jail and hence not working..... 

From the evidence it would seem that the situation was on-going, and possibly the result of what he perceived as an injustice.    He clearly had no intention of repaying the debt(s) and consequently must have realised he would continue to face prison whilst they remained unpaid.  I would cite here as an example the Poll Tax protests in the late 1980s/early 1990s.  Many people who were opposed to the Poll Tax refused to pay and were committed to prison for non-payment.  Such a prison sentence does not wipe out the debt so on release it would continue to be owed.  Maybe your great-grandfather was taking a similar stance against the payment of rates? 

[Lidfam]

Thankyou for your helpful reply. I have seen the Prison Registers for 1911, as he was in prison for 2 weeks at the Census, (luckily, or I would never have known), and the achivist had to cover up all the other entries on the page, due to the Data Protection Act. The fine he was unable, or unwilling to pay was £4-8s-10d and the register makes a note of saying that this was his fifth jail term. Previous fines, after I looked back to 1907 , all totalled about the same.

                                                            Dale