PCC Will of William Wylsher 1588

[ElizabethHerts]

I have identified this will of OH's 13x-great-grandfather:

Reference: PROB 11/42A/447
Description: Will of William Wylsher of Welwyn, Hertfordshire
Date: 03 March 1559
Held by: The National Archives, Kew

I haven't been able to track it down on Ancestry, except for this:


Name: Wilshire, Wylsher, William
Dates: 1558
Place: General, England
Book: 1558 to 1583.
Collection: England: Canterbury - Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1558-1583 (A-Z)
Text: 1558 Wilshire, Wylsher, William, Wellwyn, Herts. 47 Welles

Can anyone else spot the will? If not, I'll download it from the NA website.

[Phoenix]

Very odd. There are entries for that date, but it looks as if the register is missing. I've tried another name from the same register, tHOMAS bRADNELL, and that isn't there either.

[Rick]

Not that I can find it either, but due to double-dating it is possible the year could be indexed either as 1558 or 1559.

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks for your replies.

Phoenix, that's interesting. Rather frustrating as I have discovered quite a pedigree for this side of the family. We visited the church of St John the Evangelist at Digswell on Sunday after morning service, and the churchwarden very kindly pulled back the carpet to reveal the Battell memorial brass on the floor of the chancel. Now I discover that the wall plaque to the Wilshere family in St Mary, Welwyn is also connected to this line (we had seen it before, but didn't have the connection then).

Rick, I did the search with a wide date range too.

[Phoenix]

I'm intrigued that the reference is 42a. That suggests that it is something that missed the first indexing in Prob 11, so possibly Ancestry's filming too?

[kiterunner]

The PCC will of one of my ancestors is missing from ancestry and I had to buy it from TNA.

[Rick]

I'm intrigued that the reference is 42a. That suggests that it is something that missed the first indexing in Prob 11, so possibly Ancestry's filming too?

The piece numbers jump from 41 to 42b, so unless the film has been incorrectly placed in the wrong date range, it really is missing altogether.

[Phoenix]

The PCC will of one of my ancestors is missing from ancestry and I had to buy it from TNA.

In one instance, one of Merry's wills was missing from TNA and I actually got to see the original will register.

[ElizabethHerts]

Kate, I remember you saying that there are some missing from Ancestry. I'll download this one later today.

[Merry]

In one instance, one of Merry's wills was missing from TNA and I actually got to see the original will register.

I'd forgotten about that!

Up to now I'd not found anything to be missing from ancestry (sometimes very badly indexed by them) if it appeared on TNA, but not this time. Sorry1

[ElizabethHerts]

This will must be one of the earliest I have. It has some lovely phrases in it:

Item I wyll there be towe penye dole at my buryall and at my moneth tyde I wyll there be peny dolle to all that wyll rec?? the same

Itm I geve to every priste that shallbe at my buryall and monethe tyde viijd and theyr dyners


Itm I wyll that there shallbe v poore men to cary v staffe torches aboute me at my buryall and v poore maydens to carrye v tapers aboute me at my buryall and when my buryall ys fynyshed I wyll the v maydens shall offer up their v tapers to the roode and I give them for their paynes xijd a pece Itm I do geve to the v poor men above sayde for their paines viijd a pece

[Oakum Picker]

Gosh Liza, I am envious: you must have had a field day at HALS with the wealth of documentation available on this family. I've been trying to connect with this family for years especially through their link to Hitchin but apart from BMDs mine only appear in the Criminal & Poor Law Records.

[Phoenix]

I bet he doesn't go so far as asking for dirige and placebo. When was the will actually written? I assume during Mary's reign?

[ElizabethHerts]

Gosh Liza, I am envious: you must have had a field day at HALS with the wealth of documentation available on this family. I've been trying to connect with this family for years especially through their link to Hitchin but apart from BMDs mine only appear in the Criminal & Poor Law Records.

Glenn, I came at this family via the Battell family of Digswell. We visited the church there on Sunday and the Churchwarden very kindly pulled back the carpet in the chancel to reveal the memorial brass(es) underneath.

The one in which we were interested was Robert Battell and his wife Margaret and their son William, who I discovered was buried at Welwyn, but commemorated there. William had 4 sons and 6 daughters, represented on the brass.

One daughter, Joan Battell, married Thomas Wilshere. They lived at Welwyn.
His father was William and his mother Alice, and this William's father was the man whose will we are discussing.

More about them can be found here:
http://www.jefferyknaggs.webspace.virginmedia.com/Frythe.html#App3

The daughter of Thomas and Joan Wishere, another Joan, married another Battell - William Battell, the son of Robert Battell and Agnes Hale. So they were cousins.

This has all been very exciting!

[ElizabethHerts]

I bet he doesn't go so far as asking for dirige and placebo. When was the will actually written? I assume during Mary's reign?

Phoenix, the will was written on 15th November 1558, so just days before the start of Elizabeth's reign.