York Castle Prison

Prisoners who had committed capital crimes were held at York Castle Prison. Executions were also carried out at the prison. From 1730 newspapers included reports of executions and from 1800 local newspapers carry reports of arrests, trials and descriptions of executions. The newspapers are the York Courant, Leeds Mercury and Hull Packet, please contact Local Studies Libraries for further details. Newspaper archives are also available online at the British Library online newspaper archives.

Prisoners awaiting transportation were also held at York Castle Prison. For further information see Transportation of Prisoners.

Imprisonment for debt was common. Ancestors can disappear from the records before 1869 and it is worth checking that they are not in a debtors prison. Debtors prisons in Yorkhire existed at York Castle Prison, York City, Beverley, Halifax, Leeds (Rothwell), Richmond and Sheffield.

Until 1869 debtors who were not declared bankrupt could be imprisoned by their creditors. They could only be released once the debt was repaid/the creditors relented or they could prove to a court that they were insolvent. Debtors before 1813 had to publish three notices of their intention to plead insolvency. Notices from Yorkshire appeared in the London Gazette [[1]]. In 1813 the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors was established, the records are held by The National Archives (Series B6 and B8), and the notices still appeared in the London Gazette.

The York Castle Prison website provides free access to a searchable database containing prison records (mainly 18th Century) of criminals in the York area sentenced to transportation to America, c.1705-1775; Criminals executed at York, c.1710-1899; Debtors who pleaded insolvency, c.1709-1813. These are located on the website in a family history section. Also provided is a fact sheet on researching the history of the prison. For further information about prisoners and prison records see[[2]] [[3]] [[4]].