Rushden Research Group: Bye J

Rushden Echo, 12^th August 1898

John Richard Bye

Failure of a Rushden Grocer - Deficiency £1,017.

Mr. John Richard Bye, of Rushden, carrying on business as a grocer and provision dealer at Rushden and Irthlingborough, having filed his petition and been declared a bankrupt, the public examination of the debtor will take place at Northampton on October 11^th. The summary of debtor’s statement of affairs shows –

Gross liabilities	£1468 11 4
Expected to rank	£1211 17 4
Assets	£ 194 16 7
Deficiency	£1017 0 9

The Liabilities as stated and estimated by the debtor are --

	Gross			Expected to rank
76 Unsecured creditors	£982	14s	10d	£982	14s	10d
2 Creditors party secured	£459	2s	6d	£452	2s	6d
Less Estimated Value of securities	£230	0s	0d	£229	2s	6d


2 Creditors for rent, &c., recoverable by distress	£16	1s	0d	£10	13s	0d
3 Creditors for rates, wages, &c., payable in full	£10	13s	0d
Deducted Contra	£26	14s	0d	£26	14s	0d
	£1,468	11s	4d	£1,211	17s	4d

The Assets as stated and estimated by the debtor are :--

Trade fixtures, fittings &c.					£ 30	1s	4d
Stock-in-trade					£ 145	7s	10d
					£ 175	9s	2d
73 Book debts	(good)				£ 42	10s	11d
	(doubtful)	£ 9	8s	4d
	(bad)	£ 1	7s	8d
		£10	16s	0d
Estimated to produce					£ 3	10s	6d
					£ 221	10s	7d


Deduct creditors for distrainable rent,
and preferential rates, wages, &c.(per contra)					£ 26	14s	0d
					£ 194	16s	7d
Deficiency					£1017	0s	0d
					£1211	17s	4d

The Official Receiver's Observations are as follows :--

1. The receiving order in this matter was made on the 29^th day of July, 1898, on the petition of the debtor himself, and he was on the same day adjudged bankrupt.

2. The bankrupt is a grocer, provision merchant, and baker, carrying on business under the name of “A Bye & Co.,” at Wellingborough-road, Rushden; High-street, Rushden; and School-lane, Irthlingborough. He commenced business on he own account at high-street, Wellingborough about 1880, with a borrowed capital of £100 and also obtained credit for goods from various firms.

The Borrowed Capital he states has since been repaid. He continued business at Wellingborough until 1892, when he removed to Rushden. He states that he began trading in his own name, then his brother joined him as an assistant, and he traded as Bye Brothers, and after compounding with his creditors (see next paragraph), he traded as “A Bye and Co.” He states that he has never been in partnership with anyone.

3. In 1892 when he was in business at Wellingborough, he executed an assignment to Messrs. Pendered & Son of that town. He then owed about £3000, and paid a composition of 7s. 6d. in the £. the amount being produced by a sale of the assets.

4. A Meeting of Creditors was held on the 26^th of July last, at Wellingborough, when a statement of affairs was prepared by Messrs. Pendered and Sons, and presented to the meeting. No proposal was made and it was decided that the bankrupt should file his petition.

5. The creditors mentioned in the above summary as partly secured hold as security – 1 life policy with the British Mutual Insurance Co., for £400, and 2 life policies with the Starr Insurance Co., for £200 and £250 respectively.

6. The books of accounts produced by the bankrupt are debit and credit ledgers and day book. No cash book has been kept. He further says that he has taken stock from time to time but he is unable to find the stock sheets.

7. The bankrupt was appointed trustee under the will of Mrs. Mary Ann Penstone, and he states that a sum of £280 is owing to the beneficiaries under the will, and this amount is included under the item of unsecured creditors mentioned in the above summary.

8. The Causes of Insolvency as stated by the bankrupt are as follows: “I have lost money by opening various shops, instead of concentrating my business, competition with large wholesale companies who have opened retail shops. Loss in connection with two patents,” and he further says that he became first aware that he had not sufficient property to pay all his debts in full, three or four years ago and that he has contracted nearly all the debts now owing (with the exception of the liability on the before-mentioned trust money) since that time, hoping that he would be able to re-establish a good business and so clear off his liabilities.

9. The following Deficiency Account has been filed by the bankrupt : Total deficiency to be accounted for, £1017. 0s. 9d.

Excess of liabilities over assets on the 29^th day of July, 1897		712 0 9
Net loss arising from carrying on business from the 29^th day of July 1897, to date of receiving order, after deducting from profits the usual trade expenses		75 0 0
Expenses incurred since the 29^th day of July, 1897, other than usual trade expenses, viz., household expenses of wife and five children		100 0 0
Other losses and expenses – Law expenses in reference to a summons served on me, but ultimately dismissed		25 0 0
Loss on endeavouring to introduce two patents		60 0 0
Illness of daughter		15 0 0
Loss on shop at Raunds		30 0 0
Total amount accounted for		£1017 0 9

Rushden Echo, 14^th October 1898.

A Rushden Grocer's Failure

At the Northampton Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday the public examination took place of John Richard Bye, of Rushden, grocer and provision dealer, carrying on business at Rushden and Irthlingborough as A. Bye and Co.

The statement of affairs showed

Gross liabilities	£	s	d
Expected to rank	1468	11	4
Assets	1211	17	4
Deficiency	194	16	7
	1017	0	9

In reply to the Official Receiver, debtor said he first began business on his own account at Wellingborough, in 1880. He had no capital, but borrowed £100, which he repaid. He carried on business there 11 or12 years, and prior to leaving he called his creditors together under an assignment. He owed about £3000, and Paid 7s. 6d. in the £.

After winding up his affairs at Wellingborough he moved to Rushden, and opened a shop there under the name of A. Bye and Co., his wife’s name being Alice. He did not trade in his own name because he had failed once. During the time he was at Rushden he had opened three shops, and he had three businesses on hand when he filed his petition. With the exception of £280, which was in trust money, the whole of his present indebtedness had occurred since he went to Rushden. Some of his creditors did not come in the assignment made at Wellingborough, these being for amounts of between £40 or £50, and they had since been paid in full.

The Official Receiver: Was there any time, since you have been at Rushden, when you could have paid 20s. in the £? – Debtor: I don’t think there was.

And you knew it all the way along? – Yes.

So that you have incurred this liability of nearly £1,000 after You knew you were insolvent?

What hope had you of being able to pay any part of the money? – The same as others. I presume: I was hoping for better times.

But you have been speculating with the money of your creditors, and not your own. – It must have been so.

Don’t you think that was very rash? – Yes it may have been; but since I started in Rushden there has been some severe competition, what with big companies opening, and a regular cutting up in prices.

But you were never solvent? – I should have been had it not been for the big firms.

Have you never made out a balance sheet, nor done anythink to see whether you were getting better or worse? – I have generally gauged that by my bank book.

The examination was formally adjourned for the signing of the notes of the examination.

Times must have been better earlier in the year as this advert appeared in The Argus on 1st April 1898

Read This - The winners in Bye’s Monthly Tea and Butter Competition for February were:
1st prize, Mrs. Jolley, Crabb-street;
2nd, Mrs. Waller, 29, Pemberton-street;
3rd. Mrs. Busby, Cromwell-road;
4th. Mrs. Plested, Denton's-row;
Mrs. Sugars and Mrs. Fuller tied for the fifth prize.
Competition now on for this month. See windows.

click here to read about a fire at the premises

click here to return to the Bankruptcies Index

Index of all Traders

Transcribed by Gill Hollis