A remarkable group of manuscripts regarding the ownership of a property in Exeter over a period of a century and involving William Bligh and numerous close family members. The collection includes a rare example of the signatures of both William Bligh and his wife Elizabeth on the same manuscript document, together with the signatures of Bligh's nephews Thomas and Francis Godolphin Bond (both of whom had long careers in the Royal Navy, and the latter of whom went on Bligh's second breadfruit voyage and kept up an important and revealing correspondence with his uncle).

A remarkable group of manuscripts regarding the ownership of a property in Exeter over a period of a century and involving William Bligh and numerous close family members. The collection includes a rare example of the signatures of both William Bligh and his wife Elizabeth on the same manuscript document, together with the signatures of Bligh's nephews Thomas and Francis Godolphin Bond (both of whom had long careers in the Royal Navy, and the latter of whom went on Bligh's second breadfruit voyage and kept up an important and revealing correspondence with his uncle).

The group of documents relates to a family-owned house at 13 St. Martin's Lane, Exeter, a narrow street between Exeter High Street and the Cathedral Yard, which is, incidentally, also the location of the historic Ship Inn, said to have been frequented by Sir Francis Drake. The earliest material present here dates from 1702, while the other manuscripts trace the later history of the property throughout the eighteenth century.

The signatures are attached to a legal indenture which is the last in a substantial group of documents relating to this property, a group which also includes a detailed abstract of ownership prepared for the Blighs and the Bonds.

The series of manuscripts culminates in an indenture dated 27 July 1802 conveying, for a fee of £50, the rights of the Bligh family to one-sixth of a dwelling in St. Martin's Lane to one William Floyde. The property was evidently owned by Bligh in conjunction with his nephews and nieces in the Bond family: Bligh's half-sister Catherine married John Bond, and Bligh and his wife were very close to the whole family, in particular Francis Godolphin Bond (1765-1839), a distinguished sailor and First Lieutenant under Bligh on the second breadfruit voyage on HMS Providence. Attractively, the present document includes the signatures of the entire Bond family, notably that of Francis Godolphin Bond, but also those of his brothers and sisters: Thomas Bond, Rebecca Bond, Sophia Bond, Samuel Hookey [husband of], Catharine Elizabeth Hookey née Bond, and Jenny C. Bond. A coda to the indenture is a receipt for payment of fifty pounds sterling which is also witnessed by all of the key signatories, meaning that William Bligh's signature is actually present here twice.

Equally interesting is the August 1801 "Abstract of the Title of Messrs. William Bligh, et al" prepared for the transaction, which records their interest in the property. This abstract notes that 'William Bligh is a Captain in the Navy and lives at Durham Place Lambeth but is now on board the Irresistable in the North Sea Fleet.' Of the other signatories, it is also noted that at the time Thomas Bond was serving on the Raisonable, while Francis Godolphin Bond was residing in London.