Problem deciphering a signature

[Zacktyr]

Hi,

This is the signature of some sort of official on a Bond filed in the diocese of Lichfield in 1711.  I can determine the surname as 'Hand'.  But, I am not certain that the first name is Joseph and I have no idea what designation he has included following his name. Could it be NP for Notary Public? Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[Zacktyr]

Hi,

Feels odd replying to my own post, but in this instance, I've solved the riddle of the signature through the use of two other documents.  One was a thesis which I found online at http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/34749, p. 87 wherein George Hand is named and by inference was a fully qualified Proctor and therefore a Notary Public.  I then compared the signature of this George Hand on his Will of 1745 available on Find my Past at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=s2%2fgbprs%2fstaffordshire%2flichfield%2f008315018%2f00802&parentid=prs%2fstaffs%2fdio%2flichfield%2fprb%2f019885 with that of his signature on the Bond, also on Find my Past at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record/browse?id=GBPRS/STAFF/007622967/00310.  Allowing for the shakiness of hand that develops with age the two signatures are almost identical and no doubt written by the same hand.

Maybe this solution will help someone else stuck on a deciphering a hand-written signature.  It did take some digging to solve this fellows identity.

[maddys52]

I'm glad you worked it out. 

I was looking at this last night but it was too close to my bedtime! I had found a reference to a "George HAND the elder and George HAND the younger, Gentlemen" of Lichfield in 1742, but didn't have time to look further. :
"Anno Regni Georgii II. Regis Magnę Britannię, Francię, & Hibernię, decimo quinto. At the Parliament begun and holden at Westminster, the first day of December, ... 1741. ... being the first session of this present Parliament " (ie "Public General Acts. 1742 ")

There is also a George HAND of Lichfield as a subscriber to "Twenty sermons on various subjects, preached in the cathedral church of Lichfield. By Thomas White, M. A. Prebendary of the said Church " published 1757. since you found the 1745 will, I assume this is George HAND jnr.

[Zacktyr]

Hi, Maddys52,

Thank you for taking the time to look into this.  I greatly appreciate your efforts.  I hadn't found the  references you have cited but will add them to my list of confirmations for the name of the signator. Yes, I agree that the subscriber to the Twenty sermons must have been George Hand, Jr..  There seems to be a long line of George Hands in this particular family and it looks as if a grandson, also George Hand, continued the family profession as a proctor.  This last mentioned George Hand died in 1806, whereas George Hand, Jr. appears to have died circa 1782.

I think this is George Hand, Sr. as the document was dated 1711.  The thesis does state that both George Hand, Sr. and his son (who is unnamed) were Proctors at Lichfield.  From what I have been able to determine George Hand, Sr. was born circa 1666 and would have been about 45 years old in 1711.