Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy (22 page)

The smallest court that a will would be proved in would be the archdeacon's court. These courts had jurisdictions over a small number of parishes, though the size of the area covered would vary considerably and Gibson's guide provides detailed information on the different boundaries. If an individual's property lay solely within the boundaries of one archdeaconry, probate would be granted in this court. However, if the deceased had property in more then one archdeacon's jurisdiction, probate would be granted in a higher court, described below. Most archdeaconry wills and registers are now held
at a county archive or diocesan record office, and should have indexes for their collections.

Any individual leaving property in more than one archdeaconry but still within a single diocese, under the authority of one bishop, would have probate granted in the bishop's Consistory Court. And in certain cases, the appropriate archdeaconry court would not actually take on the task of granting probate (usually because the amount of property involved was higher than normal) and individuals would have to approach the higher bishop's court. These courts were termed ‘commissary courts'. Again, wills and will registers proved in these courts should be found in county archives and diocesan record offices, though more comprehensive indexes tend to survive given the increased volume of business handled at this higher level.

Sometimes a parish would be known as ‘peculiar' as, although it physically lay in the jurisdiction of one archdeaconry, it was under the jurisdiction of another. Often such parishes would have small, independent courts responsible for probate. However, an individual would only have probate granted in these courts if he or she only had property within that peculiar parish. If they had property in a peculiar and a non-peculiar parish then probate would still be the responsibility of the relevant archdeaconry or bishop's court. These have been comprehensively listed in the Gibson guide, which states which court was responsible for each peculiar parish.

The Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York had the highest jurisdiction for any ecclesiastical court, with the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) being the more senior of the two. Probate would be granted in either of these courts if property was valued at more than £5 (or £10 in London), known as
bona notabilia
, or property lay in the jurisdiction of more than one diocese or bishop's court. If there was property within the jurisdiction of both the archbishops' courts then probate would be granted by the PCC. The jurisdiction of the PCC was the southern part of England; the Prerogative Court of York (PCY),
along with the Consistory Court of York and the Exchequer Court, had jurisdiction over the northern parts of the country.

Most original wills, and will registers, for all courts below Prerogative level are likely to be at the diocesan record office, county archive or local record office, where you will also find surviving probate inventories and letters of administration
.

The PCC was widely seen as the more prestigious court (and some individuals would seek to have probate granted in the PCC even though they were not strictly in its jurisdiction) and was the busier of the two. The PCC sat in Doctors' Commons (or College of Civilians), a society of lawyers with premises in London and regional offices throughout the provinces, with overriding jurisdiction for England and Wales. Over time, more people applied for probate in the PCC as the property valuation qualification became less of a barrier through inflation and increased personal wealth throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Britons who held estates overseas, particularly in the former American colonies and the Caribbean had their wills proved in the PCC.

•
 
Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury:
All probate records for the PCC are held at The National Archives in Kew. The records cover the years 1383 to 1858. There are over one million wills within the series. Additionally, every will proved during the Interregnum period (1653–60) will also be found amongst this series, as all
religious courts were banned and the PCC became a civil court doing the same tasks.
    Surviving original wills are located in the reference series PROB 10, whilst will registers can be found in PROB 11. The National Archives has placed all its wills found in series PROB 11 online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline. It is possible to search the index free of charge, although payment is required to view and download individual wills. The information is indexed by name, place and date. Like any other online source provided by The National Archives, you can view the information free of charge by visiting the archives. The National Archives also stores the surviving inventories for these wills in another series. However, it is not possible to access these inventories through the Internet, only by visiting in person – though you can search the online catalogue to see if a match appears.

•
 
Records of the Prerogative Court of York:
Records of probate granted at the Exchequer and Prerogative Court of York can now be found at the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, part of the University of York. The collection has wills from 1389 to 1858, although few survive before 1630. The Archbishop of York had jurisdiction over all
of the northern dioceses, and there are far fewer wills and registers proved than by the PCC.

A very common explanation if you're having difficulty finding the correct record is that the name you are looking for has been spelled differently in an index or database. Surnames often had a number of variant spellings and a will could be indexed using any of the possibilities. Additionally, many indexes have been compiled in the modern age and problems have occurred due to difficulties in reading old handwriting. Hence, mis-transcriptions have become unavoidable when producing the indexes. Remember to search all possible variations of the name.

It is important to remember that the date of a will refers to the date probate was granted,
not
the date of death of the deceased. The majority of wills would have been proved within a matter of weeks or months after the death, but this would not always be the case, especially where the will was disputed. Ensure an adequate time frame is used when searching through the indexes; you may need to search several years after the death in particularly difficult cases. There are records available at The National Archives and other archives relating to disputed wills, if you suspect this has happened.

Given the complications in probate law prior to 1858 it can be difficult to identify the correct court where probate was granted. This matter is not helped by the fact that people could, and sometimes did, ignore the correct protocols. Executors might decide to seek probate in another court if they themselves lived in a different parish or diocese from the deceased. Alternatively, probate may have been granted in a higher court due to social status or snobbery (as happened with the Prerogative Court of Canterbury) or if the appropriate court was not administering probate. Always remember the existence of ‘peculiar' parishes and where probate would have been granted in that case.

Probate was a legal requirement for bequeathing of ‘estate' only and not land, up until the 1857 Act. In cases where there was no dispute over the inheritance of the land then no official public record would have been required to enact the will. Although such wills were not commonplace, any surviving documents would only be amongst family papers.

Do not assume that everyone automatically left a will, even if they were of a higher social status. Although wills were more common than expected, it still remains true across the population as a whole that more people did not leave a will than did; indeed, the further back you go, the less likely it is that a will would have been made unless your ancestors were more privileged members of society.

Whilst many overseas wills were proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, you may need to look elsewhere if your ancestor served in the British civil service in one of the colonies. For example, relatives of deceased servants of the East India Company often used local courts in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay to prove wills, and these records are now in the Pacific, Asia and Africa collections at the British Library and will be examined in more detail in
Chapter 23
.

Currently, it is only possible to do a limited search of the PCY collection online, on the Origins website (see below). The website has placed indexes for both the Prerogative and the Exchequer Court of York online for the years 1853 to 1858 and also for 1267 to 1500 in two separate indexes. The first database has over 16,000 names and the next one over 10,000 names. Although you can only view the indexes online, the originals are still held at the Borthwick Institute, and it is possible to order copies of the originals through the website.

One of the most difficult parts of locating a will for an ancestor prior to 1858 is trying to identify where probate may have been granted. Unless you are aware of the approximate year of death of your ancestor, his or her residence and a rough idea of their wealth this can be rather difficult, and you may be faced with the necessity of working through all levels of ecclesiastical jurisdiction until you find the will – assuming, that is, your ancestor left a will in the first place. Here are some alternative avenues for you to explore if you have run into difficulties.

‘One of the most difficult parts of locating a will prior to 1858 is identifying where probate was granted
.'

This website has already been mentioned as an online index for the Prerogative Court of York. It also has a number of other indexes for wills collections in England. These include:

•
 
The Archdeaconry of London Wills Index:
The index covers the years 1700–1807 and contains over 5,000 names. It is an index only and the original records can be found at the London Guildhall Library.

•
 
Bank of England Wills Extract Index:
This index is for the years for 1717 to 1845 and has over 60,000 names. You can only view the index online, as the original wills are held at the Society of Genealogists, although copies can be ordered online.

•
 
York Peculiars Probate Index:
This index spans the years 1383 to 1883, containing over 25,000 names for 54 peculiar courts in the
province of York. The originals are held at the Borthwick Institute, although you can order copies online.

•
 
Prerogative Court of Canterbury Index, 1750
–
1800:
An alternative index to the PCC wills held at The National Archives, although only for a fifty-year period.

The Society has a vast range of genealogical sources including collections of local will indexes for many parishes and counties of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Society is based in central London and anyone is entitled to visit for a small fee or join on an annual basis. For further details, you can visit their website www.sog.org.uk.

Many county record offices and archives are placing their catalogues online, and it is always worth checking the Internet to see if relevant probate material has been made available or indexed. Below is a list of a few of the local record offices that are currently offering this at the time of going to print; more and more local record offices are planning to do this in the near future:

•
 
Gloucester County Council Genealogical Database:
The database can be found on the council's website, www.gloucestershire.gov.uk. It contains all wills proved at Gloucester from 1541 to 1858. It is possible to order copies of the original wills through the website.

•
 
Derbyshire Wills Database:
A database of Derbyshire wills can be found at www.wirksworth.org.uk/WILLS.htm. It has been compiled by an employee of the Derbyshire Record Office, Michael Spencer, and covers the years 1525 to 1928. There is an alphabetical list of all wills proved for this period along with other probate documents (including administrations and inventories). However, no images of the wills are available.

•
 
Cheshire Wills:
The county council of Cheshire has also placed a database of wills proved in Chester (mainly for residents of the Cheshire area) from 1492 to 1940 at http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/ Recordoffice/Wills/Home.htm. It contains over 130,000 names in total and you can order a copy of the original will online.

•
 
London Metropolitan Archives – London signatures:
This database is for wills proved at the Archdeaconry Court of Middlesex from 1609 to 1810. It can be viewed and searched online for free at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/wills. At the moment it contains 10,000 wills. The database also has entries for marriage bonds, and conducting a search on the database will result in hits from both datasets. You need to click on the actual entry to ascertain which dataset the entry applies to. You can also purchase a copy of the image if a relevant entry has been located.

•
 
Wiltshire Wills Project:
An online database set up by the Wiltshire and Swindon Records Office at http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/ heritage/. It provides an index to all wills proved at the diocese of Salisbury from 1540 to 1858 and contains 105,000 wills and inventories. The index is searchable online and some images of documents can also be viewed. If your entry does not have an online image you can order a copy of the image directly from the record office.