View Full Version : Stupid Will Question
As we all know ancestry just released will from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury pre 1858.
Is that the only place wills were lodged?
Before 1858 there were over 300 courts through which wills could be proved in Eng/Wales (the PCC being the highest)
Have a read here:
http://www.origins.net/NationalWills/search/maps/index.aspx
kiterunner
10-01-14, 11:17
If only it were, Toni! No, there were loads of different courts that granted probate and so the wills are held at many different record offices etc.
Thanks. Mum's side were poorer than OH's so unsure if they didn't lodge wills or lodged elsewhere.
ElizabethHerts
10-01-14, 11:46
In my family it tended to be the more affluent ones who had PCC wills.
The others used the local courts, so a lot of the County ROs can be useful.
Toni, which counties were your families in?
Yorkshire, Somerset and Staffordshire are the main areas I'm thinking of, Elizabeth. OH's family were more affluent and a few of Dad's affluent ones from Scotland are on the PCC wills. But I have one family from Leeds, in particular, that I thought may have left a will.
ElizabethHerts
11-01-14, 07:16
Toni, re. Somerset, sadly I believe a lot of the wills were lost when Exeter was bombed.
http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Wills.htm
However, you can search here for wills 1812 - 1857:
http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASP/ddedsearch.htm
kiterunner
11-01-14, 09:13
British Origins has indexes to Staffordshire and Yorkshire wills in their so-called "National Wills Index", Kit:
http://www.origins.net/nwiwelcome.aspx
Staffordshire wills come under Lichfield.
The search is free but you have to have a sub to view the results. The cheapest sub is a 72 hour one which doesn't automatically renew. You can order copies of wills through the site. If it still works the same way it did when I ordered one many years ago, you have to order them while you still have an active sub.
Thanks Elizabeth and Kate. I'll look at those links.
I had a look for Devon wills too and they have mainly been destroyed too. However some indexes have survived. There is a Devon Will Project on genuki that is listing all wills they can find, even if only mentioned in an index, that way you know there was a will even if you can't see it now.
DevonWillsProject (http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonWillsProject/index.html)
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