RootsChat.Com

England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Topic started by: jlnorthrup on Sunday 21 June 15 16:41 BST (UK)

Title: Notice of wife's debts in newspaper - courts involved?
Post by: jlnorthrup on Sunday 21 June 15 16:41 BST (UK)

In October of 1886, my 2x Great-grandfather (Thomas Chaplin) placed a notice in the paper stating he would not be responsible for his wife's debts (Sarah Ann) as of October 13th. This ran for 5 days in the Gloucestershire Echo. Can anyone tell me if there might be a court involved in this (and thus some paperwork)? Or was this a way to avoid that? They did not go their separate ways for at least 6 years. Can't seem to find an answer or a paper trail. Any help would be much appreciated!

Title: Re: Notice of wife's debts in newspaper - courts involved?
Post by: stanmapstone on Sunday 21 June 15 17:16 BST (UK)

"when couples split up, wives often continued to use their husbands’ credit, even where they had no legal right to do so. To stop them doing this, husbands took out notices in newspapers to warn shopkeepers not to credit their wives." http://womenshistorynetwork.org/blog/?tag=married-womens-property-act

Stan

Title: Re: Notice of wife's debts in newspaper - courts involved?
Post by: jlnorthrup on Sunday 21 June 15 18:22 BST (UK)

Thank you for this!  It would seem to confirm some suspicions, sadly, although they had three more children together after this.