John Bond of Lancaster

1778 - 1856

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Lancaster merchant and Mayor (1819, 1829), heir of his uncle Thomas Bond (q.v., died c. 1817) and awardee of the compensation for Broom Hall in British Guiana and for three claims on Grenada in various capacities, and the same man as the co-owner with William Innes (q.v.) of Plantation Albion in British Guiana (the will of William Innes made in 1836 and proved in 1847 shows his co-owner of ‘the one half of the plantations or estates called Albion, Nigg and Lancaster on the east sea coast of the said Colony of Berbice with the one half of the houses, machinery, negroes, crops and stocking of every description', and one of the trustees under his will, as John Bond of Dalton Square Lancaster). Work by Ann Ranshaw has clarified that his route to ownership in British Guiana was by inheritance; his roles in Grenada are still to be analysed properly.

  1. Identified (in a history of Booker Brothers) as of Lancaster and as owner of Broom Hall in British Guiana as of 1818, but the writers acknowledged that they had no information as to whether he had been to British Guiana or whether he had always been an absentee 'investor'.

  2. The available evidence, especially the birth of children at regular intervals between 1809 and 1833 in the north-west of England, indicates that John Bond probably never left England. He was certainly in Lancaster in 1812: 'persons with demands against the estate of John Proctor, late of Queens Square in Lancaster but late of Cranage Hall in County of Chester decd. To send particulars to Mr Nicholas Salisbury of Liverpool, Mr John Bond of Lancaster, or Mr Wilson solicitor in Lancaster.' British Guiana claim no. 608A&B shows links of Proctor and Bond as beneficiaries on Broom Hall. In 1841 the family was at Dalton Square Lancaster.

  3. John Bond and his family appear as customers and family connections in Amanda Girling-Budd's work on Gillows of Lancaster, which draws on diaries of Margaret Oates Clarke, John Bond's daughter, and describes John Bond's wealth as originating in the slave-trade. He does not appear as a vessel owner, however, in the Transatlantic Slave-Trade Database. John Bond's son Edward Bond was a partner in Gillows of Lancaster.

  4. A copy of the will of John Bond has been traced to the Borthwick Institute by Ann Ranshaw, who reported that it left everything to his wife Elizabeth, with personalty of £25,000.

  5. The papers of Richard Warwick Bond (1857-1943), grandson of John Bond of Lancaster and son of Rev. Richard Spooner Bond, are in the archives of the University of Nottingham, where he was Professor of English at University College Nottingham between 1911 and 1925.


Sources

T71/885 British Guiana claim no. 608A & B (Broom Hall); Grenada claim nos. 448 (Morne Jaloux Estate), 561 (Industry Estate) and 856 (Bellevue Estate); British Guiana no. 3 (Albion). In 1819 67 enslaved people on an estate called Lancaster situate on the Corantyne Coast the property of John Bond were registered by William Hewley [1819 Slave Registers Berbice pp. 33-34, printed number p. 31]; David Alston, 'Highland Scots - Moray & Strathspey: William Innes', http://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=302713 [accessed 28/04/2015].

  1. Judy Slinn and Jennifer Tanburn, The Booker Story (Andover, Jarrold Publishing, 2003), p. 8.

  2. London Gazette, Issue 16580, 03/03/1812, p. 435; 1841 census online.

  3. Amanda Girling-Budd, 'Comfort and gentility: furnishings by Gillows, Lancaster, 1840-1855' in Susie McKellar and Penny Sparke (eds.) Design and Identity (Manchester University Press, 2004) pp. 27-47.

  4. John Bond bp1778/9 d 1856 ‘of Lancaster’ Executors Edward Bond (second son) and Elizabeth his wife. At the Borthwick Institute, will of Bond John, Prerogative Court Lancaster 1856 October v242 folio 29 index ref 2147/5 £25,000.

  5. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb159-bd.pdf [accessed 22/06/2016]. The archive includes material dating from 1796, and within it Ann Ranshaw has found an ‘Account book concerning goods to be shipped to Arden John Thompson Master of Berbice Plantation in Lancaster [sic] by Rawlinson and Bond (Thomas) 1801-1821’ (ref BD 102).

We are grateful to Ann Ranshaw for her help with this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Name in compensation records
John Bond
Spouse
Elizabeth Spooner
Children
Margaret Oates; John; Edward; Richard Spooner; Thomas; George; Henry Simon; Grace; Mary Ann; 5 others
Occupation
Merchant

Associated Claims (5)

£10,725 13s 1d
Awardee
£9,875 5s 8d
Awardee
£2,255 1s 4d
Awardee (Mortgagee)
£2,798 12s 4d
Awardee (Executor or executrix)
£2,313 11s 0d
Awardee (Owner-in-fee)

Associated Estates (6)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
Joint owner
1823 [EA] - 1826 [LA] → Owner
1826 [EA] - 1832 [LA] → Joint owner
1823 [EA] - 1834 [LA] → Trustee
1817 [EA] - 1828 [LA] → Owner
28/03/1827 [SD] - 1834 [LA] → Mortgage Holder

Legacies Summary

Political (1)

Local Government
 
office →
Mayor
1829 - 1830

Relationships (1)

Nephew → Uncle
Notes →
John Bond was also the primary legatee of Thomas...

Addresses (1)

Dalton Square, Lancaster, Lancashire, North-west England, England