Findmypast now has London and Kent probate indexes
New databases recently added to findmypast include the London probate index for the years 1750 – 1858, for surnames starting with A – F only, the West Kent probate index for 1750 to 1858, and the East Kent probate index for the years 1831 to 1841. No doubt findmypast are planning to expand all of these databases in the future. Information about them is available at this link:
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/wills-divorces/index.jsp#probateIndexes
At the moment, you have to search these databases as part of the “Parish burials 1538-2005 & wills”, so you will need to enter the name you are looking for, plus the county, and date range if you like, and then look through all the results you get, picking out those that say London Probate Index (or Kent Probate Index) next to them. These will often, but not always, be shown at the end of the results list. Hopefully findmypast are working on a separate search facility for the probate indexes to avoid this problem. When you view an entry it will tell you the date and type of grant (probate or administration) and which court made the grant, but it doesn’t seem to give you the deceased’s occupation, nor the name of the executor, which you might need to know to determine whether it is your relative or not.
If you have a full subscription to findmypast then you will be able to view the probate index entries as part of your subscription, otherwise it costs 10 credits per entry to view. This is quite expensive so if you are using pay-as-you-go it would be worth doing a free search, then seeing if you can find the information elsewhere before clicking to view an entry. For instance, you could look at the Index to Death Duty Registers (also on findmypast) which only costs 1 credit per page, or try the Kent Archaelogy site which has free probate indexes for East Kent:
http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/ekwills_a/index.html
And don’t forget Google!
Please join in the discussion on our forum: