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A list ==FIBIS resources==The FIBIS database contains [http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_classes&source_class=40 two lists] of individuals undertaking early Bonds, Covenants, etc, covering thousands of names:*[http://www.search. may be found in the ‘Search’ section of this webfibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_classes&source_class=40 Early Bonds 1607-1770] -site. It is an An index of names. The Bonds themselves have long since been lost. The site also contains an index of ‘Miscellaneous Bonds’, *[http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=150&s_id=40 Miscellaneous Bonds 1814-1865] issued by the Company after an Act of Parliament in 1813, lifting restrictions on travel to India of Missionaries, Tradesmen – and Women!
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In order to ensure that the terms of the Covenant were respected, it was practice to obtain ‘Guarantees’ from (usually) two citizens (or, ‘Sureties’) of repute. They would be required to issue bonds whereby they undertook to pay a certain sum of money in the event that the employee broke the terms of his Covenant.
This was the practice adopted by the [[Honourable East India Company ]] for all its employees, from its inception in 1600 until its loss of monopoly in India in 1834 and sometimes beyond. Every British citizen wishing to travel to India required the authority of the Company and, in general, was only given that authority if he was an employee of the Company. Exceptions to this were soldiers of the [[East India Company Army|Companies armies ]] and officers and soldiers of the [[British Army ]] travelling to India, but they were subject to other military forms of obligation to the Company.
The major series of Bonds and Covenants, to be found in the ‘O’ series in the [[India Office Records ]] at the [[British Library]], are those issued in respect of Writers[[Writer]]s, Factors of the Company’s Trading service.
==Examples==
The style of the documents involved was fairly standard and examples are given below:
== A. =Example of a ‘Bond’ ===
== B. = Example of an Indenture (Covenant) ===
