Cambridgeshire Bastardy Bonds

Like most bastardy bonds, the Cambridgeshire Bastardy Bonds are not online in an easily findable place.  However, the Cambridgeshire Family History Society have produced a CD/download that contains these, along with a lot of other records that will be important in trying to find people.

Bastardy bonds are produced when the father of an illegitimate child doesn't want to marry the girl - and he has to stump up the cash to pay for the baby.  Often they will contain the boy's father's name, or employer, as these people tended to become involved in the process of producing/extracting the cash!

You might not see illegitimate children in your tree as these are most visible when the child is baptised and the mother's name is given.  Some illegitimate children might give their father's name when they get married, but that's hit and miss too.  This means you might ONLY discover that one of your male ancestors has been merrily trotting round the parishes impregnating the local ladies if you check through the bastardy bonds.

Settlement Papers and Removal Orders will help you to track your ancestors moving around as they were supposed to get a Certificate from their old parish as they left - and hand it in at their new parish when they arrived.  These were kept by the Church in the parish chest in case they fell on hard times and the parishioners had to work out who was going to pay their "benefits". If you didn't have a legal right to settlement in a village you were sent packing, back to somewhere who had an obligation to provide for you.

It's not clear what the CD contains- if it's just an index of names/places, or a transcription of each record.  I suspect it's just an index.

Another place to check for this type of record is in the Petty Sessions records.  So that's two sets of records you have to buy!

CFHS Cambridgeshire Bastardy Bonds CD/download:

The CD contains a fully searchable index of:

• Cambridgeshire Masters and their Apprentices 1763-1811, extracted from National Archive records. Cambridgeshire Poor Law Papers 
• Index of Settlement Papers, Certificates, Examinations, Removal Orders, Vagrancy Passes, Apprenticeships and Bastardy Orders from 1697

The originals of the Poor Law Papers are held at the County Record Office, Shire Hall, Cambridge.

The CFHS CD/download that contains the Cambridgeshire Bastardy Bonds has a reference number of CD/005 and can be bought from the CFHS online shop for £15.00 +p&p

Image: CFHS