David Wait must have looked forlornly up at the grim 50ft brick wall as he was led through the wicket gate towards the gaoler of the King’s Bench prison on April 9th 1773. He had been arrested by the Sheriff of Middlesex’s men and taken three miles south over the river to Southwark. Meanwhile, his wife Eleanor undoubtedly worried about coping with their four young children back in New Inn Street, Shoreditch.
I discovered this story about my 6xGreat Grandfather David Wait (1738-1793) in April 2023 - 250 years later. Several people have asked if I have found out any more since. Well, during a break from working for my clients - I have, and it has given me a glimpse into a traumatic time in my ancestor's life.
My investigation started with a few lines in an issue of the London Gazette newspaper of 1774 and documents in the National Archives have shone more light on this case. David Wait a carpenter of Shoreditch, had promised to pay £40 6s. 5d to John Edington but had failed to do so. This was possibly a bill for goods supplied or a business matter of some kind. Edington entered a plea of ‘trespass of the case’ (failure to fulfil an agreement) and was claiming damages totalling £60. An arrest warrant had been issued for David to appear in court to answer the case. But, was unable to put up bail, so on 16th April 1773 he was committed to the King’s Bench Prison in Southwark as an insolvent debtor.
Debtors prisons were institutions in which inmates were kept until they could pay or were declared insolvent. The best-known were the Fleet, Marshalsea, Ludgate and King’s Bench. For those who were destitute, cramped conditions, filthy floors and starvation awaited and all the while an inmate remained his debt accrued. As the prisons were privately owned, a prisoner also had to pay for bed and board, even if none was provided, this led to corruption. Charles Dickens highlighted their grim conditions in novels like “Little Dorrit” and “David Copperfield”.
Some prisoners, who could afford it, paid for the privilege to lodge outside the King’s Bench. This was known as “Liberty of the Rules” and was normally just for long-term inmates. David does not appear in the “Prisoners’ Address Book”, so it can be assumed that he was housed in the prison for 15 months.
King's Bench Prison had been rebuilt several times and took its name from the court. It had a reputation for being filthy and overcrowded. Outbreaks of typhus fever were common and sanitation consisted of one bucket in each cell. A letter written by Geoffrey Mynshall in 1618 from the prison described it as having, “more diseases predominant in it than the pest-house in the plague time …stinks more than the Lord Mayor’s dog-house”.
David applied in June 1774 to be discharged under the recently passed “Insolvent Debtors’ Relief Act”. He was eventually released from prison on 28th July 1774 upon a hearing at the Borough Court, St. Margaret’s Hill, Southwark and after paying Edington £64 10s. A huge sum in those days. Using the Bank of England “Inflation Calculator” equates to £8,054.49 today! Perhaps his brother James Wait, a brandy merchant of White Cross Street, Islington, helped stump up the cash. Or, did he get financial support from his local Freemason Lodge of which David had been a member since 1771? Or a combination of the two?
After enduring those unimaginable conditions David and his wife Eleanor went on to have three more children. He lived for another 19 years but sold his property in New Inn Street, Shoreditch, two years before he died.
