Walter Scott owed £130,000 when his printer failed, refused bankruptcy, and wrote until he died to pay it

Scott was the only partner with money in the Ballantyne printing business. When the Panic of 1825 brought it down, he owed £130,000 and the ruin was public. He refused to declare bankruptcy and declined offers of help, including one from the King. He put his house and income into a trust for his creditors and set out to write his way clear. His wife, Charlotte, died in 1826. From 1826 to 1832 he produced six novels, two short stories, two plays, eleven non-fiction works or volumes, and a journal, including The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte and the Tales of a Grandfather series. His health failed. In 1831 he sailed to Malta and Naples, had a final stroke on the way home, and died at Abbotsford in September 1832, aged 61. He died still in debt. His books kept selling, and the debts on his estate were discharged shortly after his death. The sale of his remaining copyrights to his publisher Robert Cadell cleared the balance^†. Abbotsford is open to the public in 2026^†.