Leave your wife and go to prison with hard labour (General)

by JaneyH , Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Saturday, June 06, 2015, 14:31 (3459 days ago) @ RogerrGriffiths

My trip to Gloucester Archives last year helped me uncover new information about my great-grandfather, Oliver William Bowdler.

In 1922 he was committed to one month's hard labour in Gloucester Prison for neglecting to maintain his wife. (At the time she was in Westbury Workhouse and her husband was supposed to be paying maintenance towards her upkeep.) On release he agreed to pay 10 shillings a week. So far, he's the only ancestor I've found who has "done time"!