Bonds

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and was at first a status name for a peasant farmer or husbandman. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "bonda", "bunda", reinforced by the Old Norse "bonde", "bondi", in Middle English "bonde". The ultimate derivation is disputed; it may be connected with the Olde English "buan" to dwell, and hence "buende", a dweller, but is thought more likely to be from "bindan" to bind. It was originally used to signify a farmer holding lands from and bound by loyalty to a lord, and hence a free landowner. Only after the Norman Conquest did the name become associated with the idea of bound servitude. The final "s" indicates the patronymic form. Norman le Bonde is noted in the 1180 Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire, and Robert Bunde is listed in the 1198 Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire. In the modern idiom the surname is found recorded as Bounds and Bonds. On October 15th 1625, Arthur Bounds married Margaret Harison at the church of St. Katherine by the Tower, London, and their son, Henry, was christened in the same place on July 20th 1628. The Coat of Arms most associated with the family is blue with three silver daggers paleways, hilts and pomels gold, the Crest being on the top of a tower a lion rampant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Garret Bounds, which was dated November 24th 1589, witness at a christening at St. Katherine by the Tower, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.