the King’s Bench Prison. He was described as a “Baker, General and Chapman.”

The dictionary describes a chapman as a peddler, so I guess you could describe Isaac as a failed general merchant. He was summoned by the Commissioners of Bankruptcy to appear before them on Sep- tember 16 and 17 to disclose all his assets. His creditors were also required to appear to provide proof of his debts. Obviously things did not go well and the case dragged on with many postponements until there was an announcement in February 12, 1812, that the matter should be cleared up and settled on March 7th.

King’s Bench Prison, London, by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson, 1809. Debtors’ prisons were privately run institutions. Men and women were imprisoned for debt at the pleasure of their creditors, some- times for decades. They would often take their families with them so that entire communities sprang up inside the debtors’ prisons, with some children born and raised there. The law offered no protection for people with assets tied up by inheritance laws, or for those who had paid their creditors as much as they could. The prison owners charged for rent and food and clothing; attorneys charged legal fees

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