I have tried by every possible means to trace our family to its origins, but having reached a point earlier than any extant will, and before the law compelled registers to be kept in churches, without definitely connecting with any known individual in one of the Bond family, I can only give my own conclusions and the facts on which I base them.

I believe from all the information I was given by my father, who was a most careful man in his statements, by my second cousins to whom the original family pedigree belonged, (before it was stolen as I will explain in the epilogue), and by the investigations I have made, that we belong to the Cornish Family of Bonds who lived at Penryn, one of whom married the heiress of an estate called "Earth", near Saltash, where they lived for many years. And I think it is probable that a certain Richard Bond of Uffington in Berkshire, 18 miles from Newbury, whose will was proved in 1501, and is the first Bond will I have found, and who may very well have been the father of our Thomas Bond of Newbury, (will proved 1517), may have been the son of Richard Bond of Earth and his wife Agnes, nee Maynard. Richard and Agnes were married in 1434, her father's name also being Richard.1

In the pedigree of the Bonds of Earth, Richard and Agnes are shown as having only one child, Thomas, who carried on the line at Earth. This is an unusually small number for those days, when big families were usual. Also, generally in this family, one son was called after the father, and one would think that with both the father and the maternal grandfather named Richard, there would have been a Richard among the sons. Also, Richard of Uffington called his eldest son Thomas, and Thomas of Newbury called his eldest son Richard. And this Richard's son called his son Richard.

Now, I suggest that perhaps Richard of Earth and Agnes his wife had more than one son, calling one of them Richard and that this son, whose elder brother Thomas would have inherited Earth, (which seems to have been held by right of feudal tenure at that time), moved away and started a farm of his own, as many others of the younger sons of the Bonds did, (i.e., the Purbeck, Holwood, and Somerset Bonds).

Richard Bond of Uffington could be this son. The dates fit. If he were the son of Richard and Agnes, he would have been in his early sixties when he died.

Now why am I sure we are of the Cornish Bonds?

In the first place, the pedigree stolen from our cousins stated, that the family came from Cornwall a long time ago, giving the names of all of them, and it also gave the coat of arms with the three bezants of the Cornish family. My second cousin Bertha St. Quintin Bond cannot remember any white ermine tails on the black of the chevron, (such as were on the Bond Hopkins shield, this being called "pean"), but as it was her sister, now deceased, who told me about the bezants, I think we need more evidence as to the colour of the chevron than this. The Cornish families shield was silver with three bezants on a black chevron.(Argent, on a chevron sable three bezants). The only example of the shield as used by a certain member of our family is the one used by Bond Hopkins. Bond Hopkins was the eldest son of the eldest son of Benjamin Bond, who died in 1763 and was my great great great great grandfather. They were all named Benjamin! Bond Hopkins, formally Bond, changed his name to Bond Hopkins when he inherited the third part of the Hopkins fortune through his mother, who was a Hopkins. Bond Hopkins' shield had pean instead of black. Ours must be one of the two.

The crest used by our family was the demi-Pegasus, and earlier it seems to have been a seated lion, from which we changed at about the same time that the Purbeck Bonds changed from their lion to the Pegasus, or perhaps earlier. The Bonds of Earth used the horse. But here again, the Purbeck lion was black, and the Bond Hopkins one was ermine. Was the colour of the lion and chevron changed when Bond became Bond Hopkins? I think that this is very likely, considering the design and colours of the Hopkins shield. The Hopkins chevron was ermine, which seems to have been carried into the Bond chevron in reverse, and into the Bond lion. A small detail was altered in the Hopkins crest, a bar with two pellets being added, which seems to me to echo the Bond bezants in reverse. The College of Arms is trying to find out about this. 2

Anyway it is certain we have always used the Pegasus, from great grandfather's time at least, as our second cousins also used it, and we descend from the same great grandfather, of course. The point of all this is, that if we have a right to the black chevron, we must certainly descend from the Cornish Bonds, but if to the pean one it would not be so sure.

Now, for all the things my father told me about the family. He was scrupulously truthful, not a man to muddle his information. Most of the things were about fairly close relatives, Bond Hopkins, George the well known barrister, Benjamin, the Bankers, and so on, but he also told us about the Bond who had been Mayor of Looe, and Samuel Bond who had been a member of Parliament, though he did not know for what constituency, as members of the family. Samuel Bond turns out to have been a member of the Purbeck family, and the Mayor of Looe was a descendant of the Bonds of Earth through the Holwood branch, and so nearer to us than Samuel Bond. Now the Mayor of Looe's life overlapped my grandfathers by 27 years, and it must have been my grandfather who told my father about him. The Mayor of Looe, Thomas Bond, was a rather well known man, (and his three immediate ancestors were all Mayors of Looe, but only once or twice), but the last was Mayor seven times. Surely grandfather would not have claimed as a relative a man he may very well have actually known, or certainly known of, as a contemporary of his fathers and himself?

Then, when I was a child, and my father was first explaining about our crest, he said that another branch of the family had an eagle's wing for a crest, but that he did not know whether he had any right to use that. This would be the Purbeck Bonds.

My father also told me, that there was an old pedigree in the family that took us back to "Kings of England and Kings of France", but he said he did not believe it, and thought someone might have made it up. But I did find there is such a pedigree in the family, in the Purbeck branch. It does not affect us, but it exists. How did father know about this at all if it was not in some way connected with our family? If he had seen the printed pedigree of the Purbeck Bonds, he would have seen it in the notes. But then he would have got it right, and known that it was true but not of our branch. So there again he must have been told, probably by grandfather, and only took in a vague idea of it.

Then, these Bonds from whom we certainly descend at Newbury, started by owning land and farming it. Richard of Uffington had recently bought his land from the Abbey of Rewley near Oxford, when he died, so it had not descended from his father to him. Thomas of Newbury also had cattle, so he must also have farmed, and it seems that several generations of the Bonds of Newbury lived as the Bonds of Earth did. Then they started to manufacture rope, and bought land and dressed flax, so still were connected with the land. They were an armorial family, whichever shield it was, and one was described in his will and in the town records in a list of freeholders as a "gentleman", so they evidently came of an old family, and had not recently risen into prosperity.

As we see from all this, that they came from Cornwall, had either the Cornish Bonds coat of arms or a very slight variation of it, certainly had and used the Cornish Bond's Pegasus crest, were of gentle birth, had names in common with the Cornish Bonds, were apparently related to members of the two other branches of the Cornish family, and for many years carried on a similar life to that in the old home in Cornwall, and had not inherited land in Berkshire, though they quickly acquired land from various people mentioned in their wills, it seems we have fairly strong reasons for thinking that we come from the Bonds of Earth. Or, at the least, from the same family, even if we branched off before the Bond of Penryn married the Earth Heiress.

So, my guess is, that Richard Bond of Uffington was the son of Richard Bond of Earth, and Agnes his wife, and that Thomas Bond of Newbury, will proved in 1517, was his son, and our first Newbury ancestor.

Richard Bond of Uffington and his wife Joan3, had three sons and one daughter, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, and Frideswide. Richard was evidently a farmer, having lately bought his house and enclosure from the Abbey of Rewley near Oxford. This he left to Thomas, who with his wife was executor. A John Brigge who was to be advisor to them was left two bullocks and twenty shillings, so Richard must have farmed. Elizabeth and the two other boys were left a silver belt each, and a share in Richard's other possessions, the wife getting half of these. Richard left a good deal to various village churches, mostly for lights, both in money and kind, this including two sheep and a measure of corn, four black cloaks for four paupers, vestments to the church, and twelve pence to Salisbury Cathedral! And if all the children died before him, their legacies were to be used for the good of his soul. His will was proved in 1503.

In 1517, the will was proved of Thomas Bond of Norbroke Street in Newbury. Newbury is eighteen miles south of Uffington, which lies over beyond White Horse Hill. He also had cattle, and Norbroke Street at that time was the only street north of the River Kennet, so must have been backed by fields. (There is not much in the way of buildings behind it now on the east side.)

Was this Thomas the son of Thomas mentioned in Richard's will?

Thomas Bond, d. 1517, of Norbroke Street, Newbury, in Berkshire, had Richard, John, Alice, Isabelle, Johanne, and Margery. His wife was Alice. I suspect, in fact am as sure as I can be without proof, as the church records of Newbury do not start until 1538, that this John was the JOHN BOND of Newbury who died in 1583, our direct ancestor. His wife also was Alice, which seems to have been a very favourite name just then. John Bond and Alice had, among thirteen children, William, who went to London, where he died rather young, leaving a will dated 1593 in which he left £20 to his mother Alice to repay some money she had lent him. He had a servant and an apprentice, so was doing well. Another of John and Alice's sons was Thomas Bond of Newbury, my grandfather with eight "greats", who was a rope maker and lived in Bartholomew Street. This street is really a continuation of Norbroke Street, one being north of the River Kennet, and the other south of it.

In 1577, there was a John Bond, Draper, of the city of London, who was then about 80 years old, (therefore born about 1497,) who was called upon to give evidence about a hospital for old men in Newbury, about the ownership of which there was some dispute, this John Bond having known Newbury very well for many years, since the eighth year of Henry VIII., i.e. 1517, and what had happened there 10, 12, and 30 years before, and all through the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and "the now queen". Could this have been the John Bond mentioned above, or was it a different line? Certainly the death of John Bond is in the Newbury Church Register, but he could possibly have moved to London in middle life and returned as an old man.

Thomas Bond II. of Newbury, had six children. The eldest, Philip, was only left "twelve pence and no more" in Thomas's will, which was proved in 1608. Philip married Amy Forden and they had eight children, the eldest being Jonas, and they and their descendants populated Newbury for years, but we come from Thomas's third son James, whom I will call James Bond I. Thomas Bond married three times, (1). Jane Croft, apparently his sister-in-law. (2). Ann Sanderson, in 1596, and (3) Emblin4 There were seven children. One of Thomas's sons, William, was with several other people, excommunicated in 1631, which shows that he preferred the disadvantages of excommunication to pretending to believe something he considered untrue. He must have been a sincere and strong minded man. He moved to London. Thomas Bond had a good many houses in Bartholomew Street, leaving one on the east side to his son James Bond I. Thomas also left messuages and meadows in Newtonn in Hampshire, and had many cattle. It seems up to here that the Bonds were small landowners and farmers, as the Earth Bonds were. In 1636, Thomas's second son, also Thomas was fined for not appearing in court when required, possibly for jury service.5

In 1555, the population of Newbury was 1600, the clothing industry being then at its height.

In 1596, Queen Elizabeth granted the first charter to Newbury, but there was no Bond in the first lot of "capital burgesses", twenty four of them, or in the six aldermen.

James Bond of Newbury I., son of Thomas, and husband of Margaret Cook, was born in 1586, and died in 1664. He had four children, the eldest being that Elizabeth who married Me. Rolles and who was commemorated on a marble slab (in the churchyard, I think), at the east end of Newbury Church, by a curious rhyme, which I give in the list of tombs. It is not there now.

In 1643, after one of the battles fought at Newbury in the Civil War, a Court Leet was called, everyone not turning up being fined. I am sorry that James Bond was fined two pence!

James Bond II., born in 1612 and dying in 1681, was the only son of James Bond I. He also was a ropemaker, and lived in Bartholomew Street, the business evidently flourishing, as by the wills it is easy to see that the family became progressively better off. He married twice, I think, as his wife at the time of his will is mentioned as "My "now" wife". Her name was Emlin Gearle. In 1649, James Bond was elected Constable being sworn in in 1650, a position of considerable importance in the town, entailing responsibility for law and order. It was in 1623 that the most important bridge over the river fell down, (see page 43). James Bond II. is mentioned as James Bond, Junior, Gentleman, in a list of freeholders in 1655, his father not dying till 1664. In 1651, James Bond junior was a church warden.

2. They can find no change.Return

3.A "John Bond" died at Newbury in 1546. Was this Richard's son John and/or Thomas' brother? Return

4. Surname unknown. Return

5.Thomas had another son named William born 1595 and was not yet grown up when his father died. Return

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