NDFHS

This collection of DURHAM MARRIAGE BONDS was typed in 1910 for Edwin Dodds. It comprises Bonds copied by

1. Sir Francis Bigland of the Heralds' College.
2. Sir Cuthbert Sharp (1781-1849).
3. The Rev. James Raine (the Elder Raine).
4. Canon James Raine (the Younger Raine).

and it also contains Bonds from the collection of Mr J. Crawford Hodgson, of Alnwick; a few Bonds from the "Northern Genealogist"; and some of the Bonds copied at Durham in 1909 by John Walton Robinson, H.R. Leighton, and Edwin Dodds.

In 1908 I typed (by permission of Mr H.H.E. Craster of the Northumberland County History Committee) the Bonds collected by the Elder Raine, and by the Younger Raine, from their MSS., and Sharp's Bonds from his MSS; in 1910 I typed the Bigland Bonds. All these Bonds were typed on to slips of paper and arranged chronologically for the following pages.

The Bigland Bonds were copied by or for Sir Francis Bigland about ____, ____ he lived ____ - ____. They are now in the Heralds' College, London, in vol. CGY/186. Mr Craster wrote to me about them in 1910, Feb and Mr T. Farnham Burke, Somerset Herald, kindly sent me a typed copy of them on March 23rd 1910. There are 230 Bonds, from 1662 to 1756. They were not in consecutive order and there are many errors in the dates and in the names.

Sir Cuthbert Sharp's collection of Bonds is contained in two of the volumes of "MS Library" now in the Cathedral Library at Durham. The Bonds are in volumes 25 and 41, - volume 25 is known as "The Green Book". The contents of volume 41 are in great part duplicates of the entries in volume 25. The writing is careless and often unreadable; many marriages, also curtly noted and obscurely written, are in the same volumes and it is not possible to decide in all cases which are Marriages and which are Bonds. Sharp has a note stating that the Bonds were collected for the use of Surtees when he was writing his History of Durham.

The Bonds copied from the Elder Raine (the Rev. James Raine ____-1858) are copied from his MS "Testamenta Dunelmiensis" volume II, which is now in Durham Cathedral Library. They are for the county of Northumberland only; there are 612 Bonds; the dates run from 1664 to 1756; the writing is often difficult to read and the Bonds are not consecutively arranged. At page 54, Vol. II there are seventeen entries occurring in a list of Licenses granted by the Archdeacon of Northumberland between 1630 and 1640. On a loose sheet of note paper in the book there is a note of 49 Licenses granted at YORK to members of Northumbrian families between 1594 and 1715, - they are not in chronological order.

The younger Raine was Canon James Raine of York, nephew [sic. son] of the Elder Raine. The Bonds he copied are ____ in number and run regularly from 1664 to 1672. I typed them from some MS quarto sheets which Mr Craster lent me. They are well written and are in regular order, the Bonds for Northumberland separate from the Bonds for Durham families.

Mr J. Crawford Hodgson of Abbey Cottage, Alnwick, librarian to the Duke of Northumberland, kindly lent me his large collection of Durham Marriage Bonds. It seems to include all the Bonds of Sharp and the Raines, with additions and notes. His writing is often undecipherable, but his transcript often enables one to make out the difficult writing of the Elder Raine and of Sharp. The Bonds printed in the "Northern Genealogist" are only of the years 1664-5. I believe they were supplied to the magazine by Mr J.J. Howe of Durham; they are not fully transcribed, and they are not free from errors.

The Bonds copied at the Diocesan Registry in Durham during 1909 by Robinson, Leighton, and the writer, ought not to have been included in this collection as it is intended to print them separately, but a few of them have, almost inadvertantly, been typed in these pages. Four indexes, one of Men, one of Women, one of Bondsmen, and one of Places, will be found at the end of the book.

An Attempt has been made to print the Bonds as they are written by the Raines, Sharp, and Bigland, - giving their errors of date and name, and then giving necessary corrections in manuscript. To some of the Bonds the corresponding entry from the marriage register has been added by me.