Denis Bond (died 1658) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in two periods between 1640 and 1656. He supported the Parliamentarian cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and served as president of the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

during the

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. Bond was the son of John Bond of Lutton (near

Steeple, Dorset Steeple is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the English county of Dorset. It is situated west of the coastal resort town of Swanage at the foot of Ridgeway Hill. In 2013 the estimated popul ...

) and his wife Margaret Pitt. He was a prosperous woollen draper in Dorchester, bailiff in 1630 and Mayor of the town in 1635, and was one of the founders of the

Dorchester Company The Dorchester Company of Adventurers was a Joint Stock Company established in 1623 in England to enable the English colonisation of North America It was based in Dorchester, Dorset, near the English Channel, and was founded at the instigation of t ...

, an early attempt to promote colonisation in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. In April 1640, Bond was elected Member of Parliament for Dorchester in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He was re-elected MP for Dorchester for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

in November 1640. When the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

broke out a couple of years later, he supported the Parliamentary cause and was a sufficiently hardline anti-Royalist to retain his seat in the

Rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Rum ...

after

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

in 1648. He was an extremely active member, sitting on an extraordinary total of 263 committees. Bond was initially named as one of the Commissioners to try the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, but avoided serving. Having become a friend of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, he was a member of the

from 1649 to 1653, and was its president in 1652 and 1653. He also served as comptroller of the receipts of the Exchequer. Bond was elected MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in 1654 for the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the H ...

and in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

. Bond died in 1658 and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, but his body was exhumed after the Restoration. Bond married Joan Gould (sister of one of his fellow investors in the Dorchester Company) in 1610. Their eldest son,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1612–1676), was a Puritan preacher, who became Master of

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

and Professor of Law at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...

as well as MP for Weymouth. After his first wife's death Bond was married again, in 1622, to Lucy Lawrence; two of their sons,

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

and

Nathaniel Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Hebrew name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. ...

(1634–1707), were also MPs.

References

*D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *Concise Dictionary of National Biography (1930) *"Burke’s Landed Gentry" (4th edition, London: Harrison, Pall Mall, 1862-3) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Denis 1658 deaths Year of birth missing Members of the Parliament of England for Dorchester Mayors of Dorchester, Dorset English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658