And that was when I met my x3 great grandparents

The DNA matches confirmed that we were directly descended from the Reverend Alfred Bond and his wife, Georgianna Eliza Tharp. There's more sciency detail available if you want it, and you can click on their names to look at photos in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

The photos show an affluent, confident couple who'd been married for eleven years and, by that date, had six children. They'd go on to have another three, so there were plenty of candidates for the transmission of their genetic material to Christine Cambridge. I haven't been able to confirm which one was her parent for certain, but my money is currently on their fourth son, Gerald Gordon Bond. Future DNA matches could disprove my hunch.

Alfred was the youngest of eight children of John Bond (1789-1831) and Emily Dixon (1789-1867). His older brother, John Theodore Bond (1812-1841) died young, leaving the only remaining son to inherit the lion's share of their father's estate.

And what an estate it was! John Bond was the third of his name and a vicar like his father before him, but they weren't just Rectors of Freston (in Suffolk, on the east coast of England), they also owned most of the land the village was built on, as well as land in surrounding villages. As the landowners, they had the right to appoint the rector, and they'd fallen into the habit of appointing themselves: Alfred, his older brother, their father and their grandfather had all held the position. Fortunately, in a small village, this didn't involve much work. 

Alfred's role and the land he owned made him a solidly respectable member of the local gentry. The rents from his lands and the tithes from his parishioners generated enough money to keep himself and his family in comfort, to support his mother in her old age, and to provide decent marriage portions for all of his sisters.

He could expect to consolidate his good fortune by making a good marriage, and Alfred did well for himself there too. Georgianna Eliza Tharp was the daughter of Joseph Sidney Tharp of Chippenham Park in Cambridgeshire. Georgianna's uncle Augustus had married Alfred's sister Juliet in 1840, so there were already links between the two families.

Alfred featured in local newspapers on and off throughout his adult life. He played cricket, bred and rode horses, and enjoyed shooting. He took a cart-driver to court for scuffing his carriage and was taken to court himself for failing to buy a dog licence. In all, he comes across as a cross between a traditional country vicar and a traditional country squire -- enjoying gentlemanly activities and fulfilling his duties without too much of the conspicuous godliness that was becoming fashionable among Victorian vicars.

In 1876, The Ipswich Journal reported on the refurbishment of Freston church:

Nearly the whole of the money expended on the improvement has we believe been forthcoming. The Rev. A. Bond, who is the patron of the living and the rector, has been at the entire expense of the chancel. He also presented the pulpit, a new reading desk, the altar chairs, etc. Gentlemen in the parish and others formerly connected with it have subscribed towards the good work, and the reverend gentleman, the parishioners, and all the subscribers are to be congratulated on the thorough and complete manner in which the work has been carried out.

The re-opening of the church was to be the high point of Alfred's respectability. He'd been keeping a secret for decades, and it was about to catch up with him.

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