Where did this sort of financial responsibility go?
Today, I was reading about the life of Sir Walter Scott. Why? It's a long story. But, I learned something about him that made me really like the guy. I didn't have lots of feelings about him. The only thing I've read that he wrote was Ivanhoe, which I like well enough. But I didn't have feelings one way or the other. I, however, learned that I like the guy.
Sir Walter Scott, as well as being an author and finding the Crown Jewels that had been hidden by Oliver Cromwell (I learned a lot of kick-butt things about this man), he owned all financial responsibility in a printing company called Ballantyne Printing. In the 1825 Banking Crisis, the printing company collapsed, and he was in serious debt and lost all he had. Many people told him he should declare bankruptcy. His fans offered to just pay the debt off for him. Even the king offered to settle the debt for him. However, Sir Walter Scott, in true Scottish fashion, said that he would fix it. He would write his way out of it. Sir Walter Scott then put everything he owned and everything to his name into a trust in the name of his creditors. They owned him, until he could pay the debt. Then it would come back to him. Every piece of royalty he got went to his creditors until it was paid off. He died without the debt paid off, but within a few months of his death, royalties has covered the entire debt, the trust was dissolved, and his four children began to get the royalty money.
I like this guy.
Why did this sort of financial responsibility go? No one would think less of him for declaring bankruptcy. No one would think less of him for accepting the king's offer. But he was going to get out of debt, and he did.
Sir Walter Scott, as well as being an author and finding the Crown Jewels that had been hidden by Oliver Cromwell (I learned a lot of kick-butt things about this man), he owned all financial responsibility in a printing company called Ballantyne Printing. In the 1825 Banking Crisis, the printing company collapsed, and he was in serious debt and lost all he had. Many people told him he should declare bankruptcy. His fans offered to just pay the debt off for him. Even the king offered to settle the debt for him. However, Sir Walter Scott, in true Scottish fashion, said that he would fix it. He would write his way out of it. Sir Walter Scott then put everything he owned and everything to his name into a trust in the name of his creditors. They owned him, until he could pay the debt. Then it would come back to him. Every piece of royalty he got went to his creditors until it was paid off. He died without the debt paid off, but within a few months of his death, royalties has covered the entire debt, the trust was dissolved, and his four children began to get the royalty money.
I like this guy.
Why did this sort of financial responsibility go? No one would think less of him for declaring bankruptcy. No one would think less of him for accepting the king's offer. But he was going to get out of debt, and he did.
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