Sunday, April 25, 2010

Debt Collectors of Yore

The year was 1619 and the debt collectors in Sulgrave, Northhamptonshire, England were pressuring George Washington's Grandfather's Uncle to surrender the family land holdings. Click on picture below.

Phone contact was at a minimun however, in that the telephone wouldn't be patented for another 257 years necessitating the debt collectors to institute the now outmoded "personal visit."

Delivered was possibly a parchment document demanding either payment or debtor's prison. Debtor's prison was not abolished until the Debtor's Act of 1869 so it would have been in full force at this time. Author Charles Dickens dad went to debtor's prison. America stopped the practice in 1833.

In ancient Egypt, some people became slaves as punishment for a crime or for going into debt.





Click to Enlarge Picture

c. Evermore Gallery of American Art

No comments: