<<From what you give below - and the date - these are almost certain to be Bonds of Indemnity, as Matt suggested. They were most usually requested as part of obtaining a Marriage Licence or becoming Administrator of an Estate where the deceased had died without leaving a valid Will. [And, in passing, would seem to be one of the earliest examples of the labour-saving 'pre-printed form'.] The sums stated were not paid. They only became payable - to the Bishop (presumably to recompense him for his embarrassment) - should it transpire that the statements made when applying for the marriage licence were untrue, or if the Administrator failed in his duties. Think of them as as being - roughly - "Guarantees of Truthfulness or Good Behaviour".>> Gus, the kind of bonds you're describing - administration bonds - were not bonds of indemnity. There were many types of bond, and they did not all enforce an obligation to indemnify against loss - many were intended to enforce some other kind of behaviour. The obligation enforced by administration bonds was to administer the deceased person's estate properly and honestly. If this was not done the diocese would not suffer any loss (that would have been suffered by the intestate heirs) and the payment to the diocese was not an indemnity but a penalty, designed to be a more expensive, less attractive option than misadministration of the estate. Matt

Hi Matt, > Gus, the kind of bonds you're describing - administration bonds - were not > bonds of indemnity. True indeed... I included them as an additional example solely because the wording of the opening Latin paragraphs of the printed forms for them and for Marriage Licences from 1690+/-20ish were word-for-word identical - at least for those in Worcester Diocese which then included about half of Warwickshire - and these are the most-likely types of such documents that the majority of us are likely to encounter. But thanks to your link to the shakespeare site I realised I had a copy of an Indemnity to Stratford Poor Law Guardians. The difference is that this was issued by Bromsgrove Guardians to cover one of their inhabitants wanting to take up residence in Stratford in 1719. It would've been a better example to've used.... Gus ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 9:29 AM Subject: Re: [WAR] BONDS OF IDENTITY > > <<From what you give below - and the date - these are almost certain to be > Bonds of Indemnity, as Matt suggested. > > They were most usually requested as part of obtaining a Marriage Licence > or > becoming Administrator of an Estate where the deceased had died without > leaving a valid Will. [And, in passing, would seem to be one of the > earliest > examples of the labour-saving 'pre-printed form'.] > > The sums stated were not paid. They only became payable - to the Bishop > (presumably to recompense him for his embarrassment) - should it transpire > that the statements made when applying for the marriage licence were > untrue, > or if the Administrator failed in his duties. > > Think of them as as being - roughly - "Guarantees of Truthfulness or Good > Behaviour".>> > > > Gus, the kind of bonds you're describing - administration bonds - were not > bonds of indemnity. There were many types of bond, and they did not all > enforce an obligation to indemnify against loss - many were intended to > enforce some other kind of behaviour. The obligation enforced by > administration bonds was to administer the deceased person's estate > properly and honestly. If this was not done the diocese would not suffer > any loss (that would have been suffered by the intestate heirs) and the > payment to the diocese was not an indemnity but a penalty, designed to be > a more expensive, less attractive option than misadministration of the > estate. > > Matt > > List archives are at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Anne, There's no doubt that between us Matt and I settled your enquiry - he specifically to the direct point, and me much more loosely and generally, by attempting to give examples of Bonds with 'lump sums' involved. But I do rather wish I'd remembered that I'd got the copy of the Poor Law indemnity to Stratford Guardians when I was answering..... Gus > Thank you Matt & Gus for your wonderful explanations. I have just > gone back and had a look to find out that these records are in fact > Bonds of Indemnity.