Probate Records

England

Contents

• Post-1858 wills for England and Wales can be consulted at the Probate Dept of The Principal Registry Family Division: Probate Search Room, First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6NP 
  The Courts Service web site lists their telephone number as 020 7947 7000 but this gets a 'number not recognised' response. It may be worth trying 020 7947 6939 instead although I have only managed ringing or engaged tones from it!
   
  
• Postal applications for post-1858 wills for England and Wales should be sent to the Probate Office, Castle Chambers, Clifford Street, York. YO1 9RG
   
  
• Indexes (or Calendars) to post-1858 wills for England and Wales can be found at a limited number of places around the country:
  • The Principal Registry Family Division - in High Holborn, see above.
  • At 11 other Probate Registries around England and Wales.
    We have been told that some of these offices may not have complete indexes back to 1858 - check before you visit!
  • At some Record Offices and Local Studies Centres:
    • This list is based on information supplied by readers. If you know of another set of indexes, or can complete any of the dates below, please use the link at the bottom of the page to contribute to this information.
    • BRK: Berkshire Record Office - 1858-1943, fiche
    • CAE: Caernarfon Area RO - 1858-1935, printed volumes
    • CAM: Cambidgeshire Record Office, Cambridge - 1858-1943 on fiche; 1944-1966, printed volumes
    • CGN: National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth - 1858-1972, medium uncertain (from printed leaflet)
    • DOR: Dorset History Centre (previously known as the Dorset RO) - 1858-1935, fiche
    • CUL: Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle - 1858-1966, printed volumes
    • GLA: Glamorgan (Cardiff) Record Office - 1858-1943, fiche; 1944-1950 printed volumes
    • GLS: Gloucester Record Office, Gloucester - 1858-????, fiche
    • HAM: Hampshire Record Office, Winchester - 1858-1943, fiche; 1944-1952, printed volumes
    • HEF: Herefordshire Record Office, Hereford - 1858-1935, fiche
    • LAN: Blackpool Central Library - 1858-1943, fiche
    • LAN: Central Library Local Studies Unit, Manchester - 1858-1943, fiche
    • LAN: Greater Manchester Record Office - 1858-1951, printed volumes
    • LAN: Lancashire Record Office, Preston - 1858-1943 fiche; 1944-1966?, printed volumes
    • LIN: Lincoln Archives (previously Record Office) - 1858-1943 fiche
    • LND: Family Records Centre - 1858-1943, fiche
    • LND: The National Archives, Kew - 1858-1943, fiche
    • LND: Society of Genealogists - 1858-195x?, film?
    • NOR: Norfolk Heritage Centre 1858-1966, film
    • NOT: Nottinghamshire Archives, Wilford rd, Nottingham - 1858-?, fiche; 1945-1968, printed volumes
    • OXF: Centre for Oxfordshire Studies, Oxford - 1858-1957, film
    • OXF: Oxfordshire Record Office, Oxford - 1858-1943, printed volumes (new, may not yet be on shelves)
    • SRY: The National Archives, Kew - 1858-1943, fiche
    • SSX: East Sussex Record Office, Lewes - 1858-1943, fiche
    • WMD: Central Library, Birmingham -1858-1972, printed volumes
    • WMD: Probate Office (Central Court, Bul st) Birmingham - 1973-1995(week50), fiche
    • WRY: Sheffield Archives 1858-1934, printed volumes
    • WRY: Wakefield, West Yorkshire Archive Service - 1858-1943, fiche
  • It is belived the indexes (dates uncertain) can be obtained on film at at LDS Family History Centres
     
    
• Finding and obtaining copies of earlier wills are much more complicated tasks. A currently-available guide is Jeremy Gibson, Probate Jurisdictions - Where to look for wills, Birmingham, Federation of Family History Societies, (4th edn 1994).(FFHS Publications). More detailed guides (currently out of print) are: A.J. Camp. Wills and Their Whereabouts, 1974, and J.S.W. Gibson. Wills and Where to Find Them, Chichester, Phillimore, 1974, 210 p.
   
  
• Andrew Millard has a listing of indexes to English, Welsh and Scottish probate indexes which have been produced since the publication of the fifth edition of Probate Jurisdictions: where to look for wills by Jeremy Gibson and Else Churchill.
   
  
• Pre-1858 probate records for much of the North of England are held by the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research
   
  
• Nick Hidden has provided a collection of about 1000 abstracts of probate documents relating to people residing in the neighbourhood of the towns of Hungerford and Wantage in Berkshire. Since Hungerford is on the County boundary there is some spread into Wiltshire and to a lesser extent into Hampshire and Oxfordshire. The historical period which is covered is from about 1500 up to the establishment of the Probate Registry for England & Wales in 1858.
   
  
• Probate Records (TNA Legal Records Information 23).
   
  
• Images of 1700-1858 wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury can be purchased from DocumentsOnline, The National Archives' online system for downloading digital images of public records.
   
  
• The England Wills Database Exchange provided by Caryl Williams.
   
  
• Leslie Mahler has provided will abstracts from:
  • Consistory Court of London 1621-1630
  • Commissary Court of London 1629-1634
  • Commissary Court of London 1644/5-1646
  A place-name index is provided for each listing - there are references to places in all parts England as well as in other countries.
   
  
• Peter Ward runs a website that accepts transcripts of wills and make them available at no charge - Will Transcriptions Online  (note there are some similar county-specific web sites too).
   
  

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