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Song, Folk Music and Folk Customs
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Alma Wright
I learnt this song from the singing of Bill Price. - Alma Wright
References:
History of Rothwell (published 1877)
- by J. BattyRothwell in the 900 years after Domesday
- by A. Brown
Debtors prison life in 18th and 19th century
Rothwell Debtors’ Prison
Alma Wright has delved into the past life of Rothwell, near Leeds.
The prison was for all classes of society, a different entrance according to rank!
Rothwell debtors’ prison
The first ‘Insolvent Act’ was passed in 1649 and Rothwell Debtors’ Gaol was formed soon afterwards to act as the debtors’ prison for a large part of Yorkshire. Rodhill Jail, as it was commonly called, was well known all over the country.
The gaol was created from a group of old and delapidated cottages which stood to the rear of two better class houses which faced onto the Main Street in Rothwell, and now called Commercial Street.
The only way into the prison was either through the front door or through the big gates leading into the gaol yard behind the gaol.
Admission and incarceration
The backyard of the gaol-keeper’s yard after naming of the properties in the village. In 1880 this became officially ‘Jail Yard’. In 1875 John Dickinson rebuilt the old gaol frontage, but the rear of the property was left unchanged.
Apparently gentlemen prisoners were admitted through the front door to the 'High Gaol'. The inferior prisoners entered into the 'Low Gaol' through the big gates leading into the gaol yard at the rear of the prison.
There was no particular time limit to the debtor’s sentence - people were incarcerated until their debt was paid.
Some people were only in the gaol for a matter of weeks.
However one man was an inmate at the Rothwell Gaol for 20 years. He was bound for a loan which he was unable to pay back unless he made use of his wife’s property. This he refused to do. He was one of the many people who over the years died in the gaol.
The Debtors’ Gaol was moved from Rothwell to Halifax in 1846.
Rothwell Debtor’s Song
The ‘garnish’ mentioned in this song was a half-crown charged as entrance money, and spent among the inmates.
As the song implies, if you did not pay the half-crown your coat would be taken and sold to pay for the ‘garnish.’
All was not misery within the gaol. Beer-drinking was freely indulged in and games such as skittles and quoits were played.
We bid you welcome brother debtor
To this poor but merry place
Where no bailiff, ‘bum’ or ‘setter’
Dare to show his frightful face.
But, kind Sir, as you're a stranger
Down your garnish you must lay,
Or your coat will be in danger
You must either strip or pay.
Ne'er repine at your confinement,
From your childer and your wife
For wisdom lies in true resignment
Through the varied scenes of life.
What was it made great Alexander
Weep at his unhappy fate?
Was it because he could not wander
Through this wide strong prison gate.
For every island is a prison
Strongly guarded by the sea.
Kings and princes for that reason
Prisoners are as well as we.
Morrisons carry on the legacy!
Jail Yard is still a street name in Rothwell.
Morrisons supermarket, at present under construction in Rothwell, has a new row of shops called Jail Yard Parade!
Story of a well-educated Jew
A well educated Jew, the description in the history of the prison, who was incarcerated for a debt of £7,000 and it was paid only in a matter of weeks - so this £7,000 was either forthcoming from friends, or from his own separate accounts ...
I suppose if he was trying to get away with it, he might even have the money ..
Yes, he might even have the money ... But families often collected together for the money ...
And they would even have subscriptions ...
But wasn't there one man who stayed in for twenty years?
Alma Wright