He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and in 1832 obtained a post in the Public Record Office.

In 1838, he became an assistant in the manuscript department of the British Museum, where he attracted the notice of his chief, Sir Frederic Madden, a leading paleographer of his day, and in 1852 he was made Egerton librarian.

Under his supervision, the new buildings of the White Wing were erected, to accommodate prints, drawings, manuscripts and newspapers.

He founded, in conjunction with Sir Edward Maunde Thompson, the Palaeographical Society, and made scientific improvements to classical palaeography.

[3] Bond published little, but he was the editor of four volumes of facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon charters from 679 to the Conquest, The Speeches in the Trial of Warren Hastings (1859–1861),[3] and a number of other historic documents.