This is a brief guide to researching records of a will or administration before 1858 which was provedprove - to obtain legal authentication in England and Wales. At that time, over 250 church courts dealt with wills and administrations. The records of most of these courts are kept in local archives.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the name of the person
- the geographical location
- an approximate date of death
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What records can I see online?
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Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (1384-1858)
Search Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills (1384-1858) (PROB 11) on our website (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) for over one million wills proved before 1858 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
The records mainly relate to testatorspeople who make a will resident in the south of England, although all parts of England and Wales are represented in the records.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Original Prerogative Court of Canterbury indexes (1383-1858)
Consult the original indexes to wills and administrations of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in PROB 12.
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Administration Act Books (1559-1858)
Look in Administration Act Books of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in PROB 6. Some indexes are available in the reading rooms.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, pay for research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Wills and administrations from other courts
Visit local archives for wills and administrations from courts other than the Prerogative Court of Canterbury - search ARCHON to find the relevant office.
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Online indexes of wills held by other archives
Consult the National Wills Index, at Origins.net (£there will be a charge) which has several collections of pre-1858 indexes and abstracts.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Books
Read Wills and Probate Records: A Guide for Family Historians, 2nd edition, by Karen Grannum and Nigel Taylor (The National Archives, 2009).
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British Record Society indexes
Consult indexes to Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills (1383-1700) and administrations (1559-1660) published by the British Record Society.
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Websites
Identify the relevant probate court using the English jurisdictions 1851 map.
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Wills or administrations after 1858
Births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales