jail

[dounde]

hi can you go to jail for abandoning you wife and children in late1940s to middle 1950s who has the records if any. dounce
 

[CaroleW]

Unless you deserted leaving a child or children at physical risk, the act of deserting your wife and children was not in itself a criminal offence - failure to support them financially was.  Although rare - absent fathers were prosecuted by the state for leaving their wife and children dependant on state aid

Very few were imprisoned

[stanmapstone]

Section 42 of the National Assistance Act 1948 states that
Liability to maintain wife or husband, and children
(1)For the purposes of this Act—
(a)a man shall be liable to maintain his wife and his children, and
(b)a woman shall be liable to maintain her husband and her children.
Section 52
(1)If any person— (a)for the purpose of obtaining, either for himself or for another person, any benefit under Part II or Part III of this Act; or (b)for the purpose of avoiding or reducing any liability under this Act, makes any statement or representation which he knows to be false, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such imprisonment and such fine.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/29/section/42/enacted

The Maintenance Orders Act 1958 allowed attachment of earnings, in an attempt to find an alternative to prison.

Stan