Parish of St James - Poole Dorset

Transcribed by Michael Russell April 2005
Dorset Record Office See A2A Website ref.  PE/PL/OV 4/1/39 

Robert WHITE & Others to Churchwardens & Overseers of St James Parish Poole – Bond to indemnify the Parish re the child or children of Jenny CHRISTOPHERS who is pregnant – Dated 25th Nov 1779

Know all men by this Presents that we Robert WHITE late of the Town and County of Poole but now of the Town and County of Southampton Shipwright, John WHITE of Poole aforesaid Mariner and William WHITE of late in the parish of Great Canford in the county of Dorset Dairyman / Father of the said Robert WHITE and John WHITE are held and firmly bound unto William WALKER and John ROGERS Churchwardens, and Thomas DEAN and John BIRD the younger Overseers of the Poor of the parish of Saint James in the said town and county of Poole/In trust for the parishioners of the said parish in the sum of Forty Pounds of lawful money of Great Britain, to be paid to the said William WALKER and John ROGERS Churchwardens and Thomas DEAN and John BIRD Overseers or their certain attorney executors administrators successors or assigns; To which payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves jointly and severally our joint and several heirs executors and administrators firmly by those present sealed with our seals Dated in the 25th Day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Nine.

The Condition of this obligation is such that whereas Jenny CHRISTOPHERS of the said Town and County of Poole Single woman hath in and by her voluntary examination taken in writing and upon full oath before Benjamin LESTER Esquire Mayor and one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace in and for the said Town and County of Poole declared that she is with child and that the child or children she now goeth with is or likely to be born a bastard or bastards laid to be chargeable to the said Parish of St James and that the above bound Robert WHITE is the father of the said child or children If therefore the said Robert WHITE, John WHITE and William WHITE or any or either of them their or either of their heirs Executors Administrators do and shall from time to time and at all times hereafter fully and clearly indemnify and save from loss as well the above named churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said parish of Saint James and their successors for the time being as also all and singular the other Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said parish of Saint James who now and or hereafter shall be for the time being of and formally and all manner of damages costs taxes rates assessments expenses and charges whatsoever for or by reason means of the said Jenny CHRISTOPHERS being now with child as aforesaid or for or by reason of the birth education and maintenance of the said child or children and of and from all actions suits troubles and other charges and demands whatsoever touching or concerning the same That then his present obligations be void, otherwise of force/

Sealed and delivered/ being first duly            stamped in the presence of Henry AUSTIN           
Robert WHITE

John WHITE

Will WHITE

Know all men by this Presents that we Christopher CHRISTIAN late of the Town and County of Poole but now of the City of London Sailmaker---------, John CHRISTIAN and John WARNE both of Poole aforesaid Painters are held and firmly bound unto Robert MILLER and William HOSIER Churchwardens, and Joseph NEAVE the younger and Samuel ROLLES Overseers of the Poor of the parish of Saint James in the said town and county of Poole/In trust for the parishioners of the said parish in the sum of Forty Pounds of lawful money of Great Britain; To be paid to the said Churchwardens and Overseers or their certain attorney executors administrators successors or assigns; To which payment well and truly to be made We bind ourselves jointly and severally our joint and several heirs executors and administrators firmly by those present sealed with our seals Dated in the 25th Day of May in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Two.

Whereas Jenny CHRISTOPHER of the parish of Saint James in the town and county of Poole Single woman was on or about the third ----Day of March last past --------------delivered of a male bastard child (since named Christopher) in the Tything of Longfleet in the parish of Great Canford in the County of Dorset and hath in her examination in writing upon oath before one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said County of Dorset charged the above bound Christopher CHRISTIAN with having gotten her with child of the said bastard child and whereas the said bastard child is at this time resident with the said Jenny Christopher his mother for nurture in the Parish of Saint James aforesaid Now the condition of the above written obligation is such that if the above bound Christopher CHRISTIAN, John CHRISTIAN and John WARNE or any or either of them their or either of their heirs Executors Administrators do and shall from time to time and at all times hereafter fully and clearly indemnify and save from loss as well the above named churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said parish of Saint James and their successors for the time being as also all and singular the other Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said parish of Saint James which now and or hereafter shall be for the time being of and formally and all manner of damages costs taxes rates assessments expenses and charges whatsoever for or by reason  of and during such the residence of the said bastard child with his mother for nurture in the parish of Saint James aforesaid and of and from all actions suits troubles and other charges and demands whatsoever touching or concerning the same That then this present obligations be void, otherwise of force /
Sealed and delivered/ being first duly            stamped in the presence of Henry AUSTEN          

Christopher CHRISTIAN
John CHRISTIAN
John WARNE

Genealogical Note:- When a single woman became pregnant, no marriage took place and the mother seemed likely to have to fall on the parish for support, she would have been questioned on oath by the Overseer of the Poor and the Churchwarden as to the fathers identity. The answer would normally be recorded among the records of either the vestry or the Overseer. The putative father would then be required to enter into a bond to pay for the woman’s lying in and to support the child. Such a bond is known as a Bastardy Bond and that is what we have here. There is no other Jenny Christopher that I can trace in or near Poole so I assume both bonds relate to the same woman.

Jenny is thought to be the daughter of Thomas Christopher and Ruth Arne and baptized as Jane Christopher in Chaldon Herring Dorset on 30th March 1754. Her father died in 1755 and she moved with her widowed mother to live with her father-in-law to Stoborough. Her mother remarried in 1760 in Wareham to a cordwainer who had been a tenant in her father-in-laws house called William Cribb . Jenny died at the age of 64 and was buried as Jane Christopher in Poole Dorset on 14 Jul 1814 in St James churchyard