Stupid Will Question - Genealogists' Forum

Kit · #1 10-01-14, 11:11

As we all know ancestry just released will from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury pre 1858.

Is that the only place wills were lodged?

Merry · #2 10-01-14, 11:16

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...aps/index.aspx

kiterunner · #3 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.

Kit · #4 10-01-14, 11:44

Thanks. Mum's side were poorer than OH's so unsure if they didn't lodge wills or lodged elsewhere.

ElizabethHerts · #5 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?

Kit · #6 10-01-14, 22:37

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 · #7 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 · #8 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.

Kit · #9 12-01-14, 23:05

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