| Description | According to an Act 4 George I, c.11 (1718) and an Act 6 George I, c.23 (1720) contractors were required to enter into a bond for the transportation of prisoners.
These bonds relate to prisoners sentenced to transportation in both the Crownmote and Quarter Sessions Courts, and under the conditions of these bonds the contractor was responsible for the transportation of the prisoner and for obtaining a certificate of landing from the Governor or Chief Custom House Officer.
Transportation began in the seventeenth century as the arbitrary shipment of undesirables and developed into an alternative punishment to hanging. Both crownmote and quarter sessions in Chester sentenced people to transportation. The clerk of the peace issued transportation orders and arranged contracts for the transportation of prisoners to America. Contractors, usually merchants in Liverpool or Bristol, were required to enter into a bond to transport the prisoners and to obtain a certificate of landing from the governor or chief custom house officer there. The records comprise bonds and a draft condition of obligation clause. |
| Administrative History | According to an Act 4 George I, c.11 (1718) and an Act 6 George I, c.23 (1720) contractors were required to enter into a bond for the transportation of prisoners |