2. Which courts dealt with disputed wills?

Cases disputing a will could be brought in a number of different courts and some suits were brought in more than one court. Different courts administered differing legal regimes and could potentially award different remedies. The courts which heard cases concerning disputed wills changed over time.

Before 1858, suits could have been brought in both the ecclesiastical and the secular courts. The major ecclesiastical courts for these purposes were the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and, more rarely, the Prerogative Court of York. The secular court most often concerned with disputes relating to wills was the Chancery Court.

From 1858 all disputes concerning wills were heard, in the first instance, by the new Court of Probate, though cases could still be brought in the Chancery Court.

After 1875 the enactment of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 created a single unified High Court of Judicature. The Court of Probate and Chancery Court became divisions within this – the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division and Chancery Division respectively.

3. Does The National Archives hold the records?

The National Archives will hold the surviving records for a disputed will case if:

• Before 1858, the case was heard by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
• Between 1858 and 1873, the case was brought in the Probate Court.
• Before 1873, the case was heard by the (secular) Court of Chancery.
• After 1873, the case was brought in the Probate Divorce and Admiralty or Chancery Divisions of the High Court.
• On appeal, the case was heard by the High Court of Delegates, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, or the Court of Appeal. The National Archives also holds calendars of appeals to the Papal Court before 1534.

The following records are NOT held at The National Archives:

• The records of the archdeacons’ courts and diocesan courts which proved many wills before 1857 are typically in local record offices and diocesan record offices.
• The records of the Prerogative Court of York and the Chancery Court of York are at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. The cause papers can be viewed online on the Digital Humanities Institute.
• The records of the Court of Arches – these are held at Lambeth Palace Library. See Cases in the Court of Arches at Lambeth Palace Library 1660-1913, edited by Jane Houston.
• The records of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords – these are held at the Parliamentary Archives.

4. Searching for disputed wills cases in the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury

You should first establish whether a will was indeed disputed in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. There are five main ways to do this, all using our catalogue:

• For wills proved before 1799, search with the word “sentence” in PROB 11. Over 11,000 wills are so described.
• For wills proved between 1661 and 1858, search the initial complaints (allegations) held in PROB 18 by the full name of the deceased or the surname of the litigants. For example, you will find the catalogue description Purden and Bevan v Nevill, concerning the deceased Sarah Williams of Lambs Conduit Street, St George the Martyr, Middlesex with its full PROB 18 reference if you search PROB 18 with either ‘Purden AND Bevan’ or ‘Sarah Williams’
• Between 1796 and 1903, for estates which were subject to death duty, check if details of a dispute were noted in the relevant death duty register. See our guide to death duties, 1796–1903 for advice on how to do this.
• Check the relevant administration and probate act books held in the following series (click on the series links below to search each series – you will need to search these series by year – and for more advice on their composition):

• • PROB 6
  • PROB 7
  • PROB 8
  • PROB 9

• Search the indexes in PROB 12 for marginal notes saying ‘by decree’ or ‘by sentence’ (sometimes abbreviated). A note of this kind indicates a dispute. For advice on searching PROB 12, see our guide to wills and administrations before 1858.

Once you have identified a dispute then you can look for the records which it generated. How you do this will depend on the time period in question and there is often more than one series of records in which you should look:

• 1661-1858: search by name of the parties or the deceased among the allegations (the initial complaint, by the plaintiffs) in PROB 18
• 1664-1854: search in the answers by the defendants in PROB 25. Search by the name of the respondant in the index of each bound volume before 1785. After 1785 the papers are in bundles, each of which covers a number of years. Within each larger bundle, bundles relating to individual cases are labelled with the names of the parties and the name of the testator. These are not indexed.
• 1657-1809 and 1809-1858: search the depositions – statements of evidence by witnesses – in PROB 24 and PROB 26. Both have indexed volumes and paper indexes at our building in Kew.
• 1641-1722 and 1783-1858: search the early cause papers in PROB 28 by surnames of litigants (for example, Reddish con Bayley); and later cause papers in PROB  37 by surnames of litigants, testator/intestate name, profession or address (an example of a full catalogue description is ‘Smith and others v Smith. Testator or intestate: Smith, James formerly of Scotland Yard, Westminster, Middx.; late of Prospect Cottages, Thornhill Rd., Islington, Middx.; veterinary surgeon and farrier’).
• 1722-1858: search in the exhibits – papers and objects submitted in evidence – in PROB 31, which you can access via the indexes in PROB 33.

Note, the stages through which a cause passed are recorded in the acts of court in PROB 29 and PROB 30. These are concerned with procedure.

5. Searching for cases involving wills in the records of the Court of Chancery, Court of Probate and their successors

Typically, the later a case is, the harder it may be to find surviving records for it.

Up to 1903, if the estate was liable to death duty, then you can check the death duty register for notes of a dispute. For advice on how to do this see our guide to death duties, 1796–1903.

To find cases involving wills in the Court of Chancery, 1558–1875, see our research guide Chancery and Equity Suits, 1558-1875. There are specific search techniques to find disputes about a will or an administration:

• Search for the names of the executors (usually as defendants) in all series between C 1 and C 16.
• Search the catalogue using the terms “the estate of John Smith deceased” AND “pleadings”.
• Search the catalogue using the terms “the estate of John Smith deceased” AND “Chancery”. This will find later documents such as exhibits and accounts.

Many cases from c1750 onwards have only been described in our catalogue as ‘Smith v Jones’, and do not give any indication that a will is in dispute.

After 1875, for wills cases in Chancery Division see our research guide on civil court cases: Chancery Division since 1875. The following series may contain relevant records and can be searched by litigant name or the name of the testator:

• For the period 1858–1960, You may find exhibits relating to cases involving wills in J 90, but this consists of only a small sample of exhibits submitted in cases before the court.
• For the period 1960–1980, you may find cases relating to wills in the Chancery Division action papers in J 83 and J 84. Again, these series contain only a small sample of Chancery Division business. The series include some cases dating back to 1875 as well as a few which concluded as late as 1990.

To limit search results to cases involving wills try using search terms such as “deceased”, “executor/executrix”, “estate” or “will”.

For cases in the Court of Probate, 1858–1875, and Probate Divorce and Admiralty Division, 1875-1960, very few records survive. You may find papers and files relating to contested probate in J 121, but note that this consists of only a 7% sample of cases in that court. Search by litigant name or the name of the testator.

6. Finding appeals relating to disputed wills

There is a complex network of possibilities for appeals in disputed will cases. However, finding an appeal can considerably expedite the research process, since many of the document series generated by appeals bring together all or many of the different documents generated by the legal process in a case – including proceedings in the lower courts. This is particularly true if government law officers became involved in the litigation as there is a good chance that they will have brought the various strands of paperwork together into composite files. There are cases up to the middle of the 20th century for which this applies. To check if this did happen, search by the name of the testator or litigants within Treasury Solicitor files by using an advanced search of our catalogue and department code TS as your reference.

The court to which an appeal was sent was determined by the court in which the case was first heard, as follows:

2. What information do naval logs contain?

There are various types of naval logs and they do not all contain the same kind of information but most of them reveal:

• locations of ships
• movements of ships from one place to another
• weather that ships encountered
• signals and orders

Less commonly they can reveal:

• tasks performed and carried out by ships’ companies
• disciplinary action carried out on board
• loss of or damages to stores on board

3. Search tips

You can use Discovery, our catalogue, to search for logs by the name of a ship or submarine and by year. For a more targetted search you can:

• Go to the advanced search in our catalogue and enter the ship’s or submarine’s name in the keyword field
• Restrict your search by reference, using any or all of the series references provided in the sections below (for example, ADM 50)

For more tips on searching in the catalogue, use the Discovery help page.

4. Officers’ logs 1669-1916

4.1 Admirals’ journals 1702-1916

The records in series ADM 50 are the official journals of admirals and officers of acting flag rank, and are of varying forms and completeness.

Consult the ADM 50 series description for information on what the records contain.

Click on the series reference to search for logs in ADM 50:

• by name of admiral up to 1855
• by name of admiral, station or squadron from 1856 onwards

4.2 Masters’ logs 1672-1871

As well as recording a ship’s position, course and the weather, masters’ logs can include details of:

• punishments issued and carried out
• duties and tasks carried out by the ship’s hands

Click on the following series references to search for masters’ logs by ship’s name and date:

• between 1672 and 1840 in ADM 52 (read the ADM 52 series description for more information on what the records contain)
• between 1808 and 1871 in ADM 54 (read the ADM 54 series description for more information on what the records contain)

Consult the small collection of miscellaneous logs from between 1648 and 1706, bound into four volumes, in ADM 7/777-80.

4.3 Captains’ logs 1669-1852

Captains’ logs were compiled from the masters’ logs. The captain added whatever information he thought relevant, or was obliged to give by regulation. The logs can provide a full picture of the daily routine of a naval vessel under sail.

Click on the series reference to search for captains’ logs by ship’s name and date in ADM 51.

4.4 Lieutenants’ logs

Lieutenants’ logs were derived from the masters’ logs in a similar way to the captains’ logs and are now held by the National Maritime Museum.

5. Ships’ logs from 1799 onwards

The various types of officers’ logs discussed above were, by the mid 19th century, superseded by ships’ logs and these records are held in series ADM 53.

Ships’ captains would inspect the logs weekly and they were then sent to the Admiralty.

Consult the ADM 53 series description for information on what the records contain.

Click on the series reference to search for ships’ logs by ship’s name and date in ADM 53.

6. Medical officers’ journals 1785-1963

Medical officers, sometimes referred to as surgeons, on board ship were required to keep a general journal on the health of the ship’s company.

The Navy was always keen to preserve the health of its men and these journals, often written by educated men with acerbic and independent opinions, are usually the most accessible and informative source for the history of a voyage.

Click on the series reference to search for surviving medical officers’ journals in ADM 101, a record series which also contains other kinds of Admiralty medical journals. Search by:

• name of ship
• name of sick or injured person
• name of sickness, disease or injury (for example, scurvy, consumption, cough, broken leg)
• other keywords

For a further set of medical journals covering 1858-1867, search our catalogue by ship’s name within series MT 32.

The logs contain:

• details of individuals injured or sick
• accounts of the medical or surgical treatment of men
• daily sick lists
• statistics on diseases
• comments on the state of health of the crew

7. Logs and journals of ships of exploration 1757-1904

Search and download captains’ and masters’ logs and private journals kept on voyages of exploration in our online records pages.

Search ADM 55 in our catalogue by name of ship and date for log books that are not online.

Search ADM 51 in our catalogue using “explorations” as your keyword for other log books of ships of exploration.

8. Submarines’ logs from 1914 onwards

Submarine logs were kept by crew members otherwise engaged in steering or depth keeping, and contain many abbreviated references.

Click on the series reference to search for submarines’ logs in ADM 173. They record:

• all wheel, telegraph and depth keeping orders
• details of battery charges
• details of torpedo firing
• navigation information

2. The changing face of secondary education

By the end of the 19th century there was a variety of secondary school provision:

• public schools
• endowed grammar schools
• private schools
• proprietary schools
• higher grade schools

The Education Act 1902 (Balfour Act) allowed the newly created Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to fund ‘education other than elementary’ and this resulted in two types of state-aided secondary school:

• the endowed grammar schools (which now also received grant-aid from LEAs)
• the municipal or county secondary schools (maintained by LEAs)

Other major developments in the state provision of secondary education since the beginning of the 20th century have included:

• The Education Act 1907 – this Act introduced the free place scholarship system to give promising children from elementary schools the opportunity to go to secondary school.
• The Education Act 1918 – under this Act the provision of secondary education became compulsory
• The Education Act 1944 (Butler Act) – the Act abolished fees for secondary schools (secondary education had been fee-paying until 1944); the Act also created the tri-partite education system in which children were streamed into Grammar Schools, Technical Schools and Secondary Modern Schools
• The government issued circular 10/65 in 1965, implementing the comprehensive school system

3. How to use this guide and get a search started

These records were created by central government departments, most of them by the Department of Education and its predecessors, and continue to be arranged and catalogued in the same way that they were originally grouped and used. To find information on an individual school or education district, therefore, you may need to look across a number of different record series.

A search for documents at The National Archives usually begins in our online catalogue. The following sections of this guide provide links to key series that you can search within our catalogue, helping you to target your searches more precisely. By clicking on the series links (for example, ED 270) you will arrive on the respective ‘series description’ pages from where you can search the series, using keywords (such as the name of a school or its location, though this will not always work) and/or dates/years. Keep in mind that a school may have changed its name. Series description pages provide information on the arrangement of the records and sometimes some of the historical context in which they were created, as well as suggesting related series you could explore.

Use the advanced catalogue search to restrict your, or widen, search results to all the records of a specific government department, including its predecessors (the Department of Education, for example). Use the department reference, which is always a letter code, to do this (the code for the Department of Education is ED). You can narrow your search using keywords, such as:

• the name of a school
• a type of school – for example, grammar school
• a type of record – for example, inspection report
• a committee name

Catalogue search results provide short descriptions of our records and a document reference for each one – you will need the document reference to see the record itself. The records covered in this guide are not available to view online so to see them you will have to either visit us in Kew or order copies. Bear in mind that a search in our catalogue will also search for records in other archives around the country – keep your eye on the ‘Held by’ field to establish whether the records are here or elsewhere.

4. 19th century commissions on secondary schools

A number of commissions reported on secondary education in the second half of the 19th century. All of their reports can be found online through Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription service available to access at The National Archives. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library, such as a university library.

Between 1861 and 1864 the Clarendon Commission investigated nine public schools and the subsequent Public Schools Act 1868 resulted in more representative governing bodies and eventually a more flexible curriculum.

Consult:

• HO 73 for the surviving papers of the commission

Endowed secondary schools and proprietary schools were examined by the Schools Inquiry Commission (Taunton Commission) 1864-1868. Its investigations revealed:

• the poor provision of secondary education
• the uneven distribution of secondary schools
• the misuse of endowments
• that there were only 13 secondary schools for girls in the country

The Commissioners recommended the establishment of a national system of secondary education based on existing endowed schools. The resulting Endowed Schools Act 1869 created the Endowed Schools Commission to draw up new schemes of government for these schools.

Progress since the Taunton Commission was assessed by the Bryce Commission of 1895. It led to the creation of the Board of Education, replacing the Education Department, Science and Art Department and the educational functions of the Charity Commissioners.

Consult:

• bound copies of the Commission’s minutes which survive in ED 12/11-12

5. Secondary schools before 1902

5.1 Endowed schools

Use the catalogue to search for a school name or name of charitable trust in:

• ED 27 Secondary education endowment files – read the catalogue description for more information
• ED 43 Estate management files – read the catalogue description for more information
• ED 35 Secondary education institution files – read the catalogue description for more information

Some enrolled deeds relating to secondary schools made between 1903 and 1920 or the Technical and Industrial Institutions Act 1892 are in ED 191. Later material is still with the Department for Education.

Trust deeds enrolled with the Charity Commissioners between 1856 and 1925 are in:

• CHAR 12
• CHAR 13

A number of trust deeds for secondary schools were not enrolled.

5.2 Higher grade schools and the Cockerton Judgement

Use our catalogue to search for a school name within ED 21.

The Cockerton Judgment of 1900 made local school board financial support for higher grade schools illegal (papers in ED 14/25, ED 24/83, ED 24/136, MH 27/141-2), a situation regularised by the provisions of the 1902 Education Act.

6. Secondary schools after 1902

You can search for a school by name within:

• ED 35 secondary education institution files for papers dealing with the recognition and inspection of all secondary schools and institutions
• ED 27 for files on endowed schools, (papers between 1903 and 1921 are in ED 35), with estate management papers in ED 43
• ED 162 for individual school files after 1944

Browse:

• ED 53 for LEA files on secondary education
• ED 15 for surviving returns of a census of private schools made under the provisions of the Education Acts 1918 and 1921. Surviving returns relate mainly to art, commerce and professional training schools

For information on searching for inspection reports please see our guide on Education Inspectorate reports.

7. Free places and special places

The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907 introduced the free place scholarship system to give promising children from elementary schools the opportunity to go to secondary school.

All grant-aided secondary schools had to admit free place scholars (not less than 25% of the previous year’s total intake) who had spent at least two years at public elementary school. The school received £5 per head for each scholar.

Consult:

• ED 12/125, ED 12/327, ED 24/368-382 and ED 24/1637-1652

The 1932 economy campaign converted free places into special places based on a means-tested scale of fees.

Consult:

• ED 55 for files on the administration of the special place system

Fees for secondary schools were abolished under the 1944 Education Act.

8. Examinations and curriculum

In 1911 the Consultative Committee made investigations into external examinations for secondary schools.

Its recommendations led to universities becoming responsible for external examination and to the creation of the Secondary Schools Examination Council. Two standard examinations were recognised: the School Certificate at 16 and Higher School Certificate at 18.

Consult the committee’s papers in:

• ED 24/212, ED 24/220, ED 24/1640

In 1941 a committee of the Secondary Schools Examination Council investigated secondary school examinations and curricula.

The committee’s recommendations were accepted in 1947 when the School Certificate was replaced by the General Certificate of Education (GCE) in ordinary, advanced and scholarship levels.

Consult the committee’s minutes and papers in:

• ED 147/133-8, ED 147/212-326

The Beloe Committee 1958-1960 on examinations other than the GCE led to the introduction in 1965 of a less academic examination for secondary school children – the Certificate of Secondary Education (ED147/303-13).

The work of the Secondary Schools Examination Council which was taken over by the Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations in 1964, following the recommendations of the Lockwood Committee (ED 147/812-16).

Information on the work of the Schools Council is in:

• ED 147/833-907, ED 147/1344-1349 and in EJ 1-3, EJ 5, EJ 9, EJ 11-13

In 1982 the functions were separated again with the creation of:

• the Secondary Examination Council – papers in EJ 8 and EJ 10
• the School Curriculum Development Committee – papers in EJ 4, EJ 6-7

In 1988 these two bodies were replaced by:

• the Secondary Examination Council was replaced by the Schools Examination and Assessment Council (papers in KC 1-2)
• the School Curriculum Development Committee was replaced by the National Curriculum Council (records in FW 1-4)

In 1993 examination and curriculum functions were combined under the Schools Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) (minutes and papers in EJ 15).

The SCAA was merged with the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (records in KY 1-2) in 1997 to form the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

9. The Consultative Committee reports (1899 onwards)

The Consultative Committee was created under the Education Act 1899. The committee issued several influential reports in the interwar period under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Hadow and Sir Will Spens.

The report Education and the Adolescent (1926) was concerned with elementary and secondary education.

Browse:

• ED 97 for files on the resulting reorganisation of schools to provide a system of advanced elementary education
• working papers of the Committee in ED 10/147, ED 24/1265

The Spens report of 1938 on Secondary Education recommended parity of all types of school in the secondary system, with a tripartite arrangement of grammar, modern and technical school (papers ED 10/151-153, ED 10/221-222; ED 12/530; ED 136/131).

10. Education Act 1944 (Butler Act)

The 1944 Education Act redefined and reorganised secondary education.

Junior technical schools, junior commercial schools and junior art departments became recognised as secondary technical schools.

Public education was to be organised in three progressive stages: primary, secondary and further education.

LEAs were required to submit development plans for primary and secondary education. Browse the resulting files in ED 152.

For individual school files after 1944 search by school name within ED 162.

General aspects of primary and secondary education are covered in the general files in ED 147.

11. Welsh education

Records for Welsh schools are generally in the same series as their English counterparts, although additional files are in ED 216. Many files on Welsh schools were destroyed during the Second World War and by flooding in 1960.

In 1880 a departmental committee under Lord Aberdare investigated secondary education in Wales. The Committee’s report revealed a state of affairs similar to that found in England by the Taunton Commission (papers in ED 91/8).

The Welsh Department of the Board of Education was set up in 1907. Browse the main papers of the Welsh Department relating to secondary education in ED 93.

The Curriculum Council for Wales was established in August 1988 under the Education Reform Act. It was responsible for all aspects of the National Curriculum in Wales.

In 1994 it became the Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales and three years later its functions were passed to the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales. The records of these bodies are in JL 1-4.

12. Other records

12.1 List of schools

Browse ED 270 which contains various lists of schools giving details about:

• the type of institution
• status between 1834 and 1985

12.2 Schools’ census (form 7) datasets (1974-2006)

The Department of Education and Science collects information annually about individual schools in England and (up to 1977) Wales. These returns are known as ‘Form 7’ and include pupil numbers, teaching staff, classes and examination courses.

Consult:

• ED 147/341-351 (1945-1955)
• CRDA 13/ ED 267 (1975-2001)

There is also an EducBase snapshot for Nov 2006. It might be possible to identify entries for individual schools by using the Register of Educational Establishments in CRDA 47/ NV 2.

12.3 Grant maintained schools: database 1992-1999

Grant maintained (GM) schools were created by the Education Reform Act 1988 and were allowed to opt out of LEA control and to be directly funded by central government.

Parents were balloted and new GM schools were created by the Funding Agency for Schools – corporate plans and annual reports are in KL 1.

GM schools were abolished in 1998 and responsibility for these schools returned to the LEA. Schools were recategorised as foundation, voluntary aided or foundation special schools; some became community schools. The Funding Agency for Schools was abolished in 1999.

Consult ED 278/CRDA/36 for details on each school as at March 2000. It includes information about:

• the type of school
• denomination
• selection policy
• age of pupils
• when it applied for GM status
• the date of the parental ballot
• when it began operating as a GM school
• contact details

13. Further reading

Read Education and the State from 1833 by Ann Morton, Public Record Office Readers’ Guide No 18 (PRO 1997).

2. The nature of the records

Records of soldiers from these periods contain few personal details and many are written in Latin, with others in French or English.

There was no formal system for recording the service of soldiers during the medieval period and even for the Civil War there are no individual military service records.

Many of the earlier records relate to knights, the obligation to become a knight and the fees paid for so doing.

3. Military service in the medieval and early modern periods

Military service for most of the medieval period was based on land ownership. This feudal system determined that all holders of a certain amount of land were obliged to accept knighthood and do military service for their feudal overlord, either in person or by raising forces. An individual could, however, avoid military service through payment of a fine know as scutage which raised revenue that was usually used for hiring mercenaries.

During the early 14th century the contractual system gradually replaced the feudal system as a means of raising armies. This was based on contracts or ‘indentures’ and commissions, such as commissions of array and commissions to muster, whereby appointed lords or officials were authorised to raise forces in the name of the king.

Before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, there was still no regular standing army; forces were raised for specific purposes and then disbanded.

4. Land holders and military service: knights’ fees, scutage and serjeanty

In the absence of any formal or individual service records, some of the best sources for details of where, when and why an individual served in some kind of military capacity can be found in the records of knights’ fees, scutage, serjeanty and the like. Further record series containing similar documents are listed in section 5 and section 6.

5. Military service in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and overseas

The following record series contain documents relating to wars fought beyond English borders but may also contain documents relating to military service within England. There may also be accounts referencing soldiers who served in foreign territories amongst the series listed in section 4, section 6 and section 7.

6. Raising and mustering troops: indentures and commissions

Many of the ‘indentures for war’ between the monarch and the nobility are preserved in Chancery and Exchequer records; those between lesser figures are unlikely to be found at The National Archives, but may be found in other collections. As commissions were issued by the Crown they should have been enrolled in Chancery and can be found in several of the Chancery enrolment series. Further record series containing similar documents are listed in section 4 and section 5.

7. Accounts of the Army

These accounts include wages and payments made to soldiers as well as accounts for military equipment and hardware.

8. The medieval soldiers’ database 1369-1453

You can search for a soldier by name, commander or document reference in the medieval soldiers’ database which covers the period between the resumption of the Hundred Years War in 1369 and its end in 1453. To search by National Archives’ document reference use the following format: TNA_E101_46_36.

This database was compiled by staff from the University of Southampton and the International Capital Market Association Centre in Reading, using documents held at The National Archives.

The following series of records were used to compile the database (which can be used as a name index to these series):

• the muster rolls in E 101
• protections for war service and appointment of attorneys in the Treaty Rolls in C 76
• the Gascon Rolls in C 61 (for intended military service in Gascony)
• the Scotch Rolls in C 71, (for intended military service in Scotland)

9. Civil War and Interregnum soldiers 1642-1660

9.1 General

There are numerous references within documents at The National Archives to soldiers who fought in the Civil Wars and during the Interregnum, most notably in:

• SP (1509- )
• PC (1481- )
• AO 3 (1539- )
• E 101 (c1154- )

However, there is very little material on rank and file Royalists soldiers.

9.2 Royalist officers

The document series listed in the table below contain references to Royalist officers (documents on ordinary soldiers are very scarce and hard to find). There are additional published and printed search resources available at The National Archives’ site in Kew, some of which may also help you to locate soldiers, and these are listed in section 10.2. Commissions granted to junior officers by commanding officers are less easy to trace, although may sometimes be found in the private papers of local gentry families which may have been deposited in a local record office.

9.3 Parliamentary officers and soldiers

There are no comprehensive lists of officers in the parliamentary forces. Some may be found, along with ordinary soldiers, in the many warrants, accounts and muster rolls relating to the payment of soldiers and accounts of garrisons in SP especially SP 28 which is not included in the published Calendars. Most are not listed in detail. There are additional published and printed search resources available at The National Archives site in Kew, and these are listed in section 10.2.

9.4 The Scots Army

Muster rolls for the Scots Army in England in January 1646, arranged by regiment and company, are in SP 41/2. There is no name index.

9.5 Legal actions

Some court and legal records reveal references to individual soldiers, including the following:

10. Additional finding aids: published and printed sources

The following published and printed sources, all available at The National Archives in Kew, provide assistance in searching the records:

10.1 General

• Book of Fees, 1198-1293 (also known as Liber Feodorum and Testa de Nevil); contains information on knights fees, scutages, tenancies-in-chief and so on
• Calendar of Documents in the Public Record Office relating to Scotland, 1108-1509, J Bain ed
• Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, 1171-1307
• Calendar of Miscellaneous Inquisitions, 1219-1422
• Feudal Aids (6 volumes for 1284-1431); arranged topographically and lists baronies, honours, fees and so on
• Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons (11 volumes); includes the Nomina Villarum
• Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, 1386-1542
• Rotuli Parliamentorum, 1278-1503; includes transcripts and an index of the Parliament rolls
• N H Nicholas, De controversia in curia militari inter Ricardum Le Scrope et Robertum Grosvenor milites: rege Ricardo Secundo, MCCCLXXXV-MCCCXC e recordis in Turre Londinensi asservatis (2 volumes) (London, 1832)

10.2 Civil War

• M Bennet, ‘All embarqued in one bottom: an introduction to sources for soldiers, administrators and civilians in civil war Britain and Ireland’, Genealogists’ Magazine, vol 25 no 18, pp 305-315
• WH Black (ed) Docquets of Letters Patent 1642-6 (1837); for commissions granted by the king to raise regiments and appoint senior officers
• Calendar for Committee for Compounding with Delinquents; especially good for Royalist officers
• The Calendars of State Papers Domestic and Foreign for Charles I’s reign and the Interregnum
• The Calendars of State Papers Domestic for Charles II’s reign; contain numerous petitions for rewards or favours from former royalists (mainly officers)
• CH Firth and G Davies, The Regimental History of Cromwell’s Army (1940); contains numerous references to individuals
• I Gentles, The New Model Army (Blackwell, 1992); contains numerous references to individuals
• A Laurence, Parliamentary Army Chaplains 1642-1651 (Royal Historical Society, 1990); includes a biographical list of army chaplains
• PR Newman, Royalist Officers in England and Wales, 1642-1660: A Biographical Dictionary (London, 1981)
• PR Newman, ‘The Royalist Officers Corps 1642-1660’, Historical Journal, 26 (1983); covering rank of major and above
• E Peacock, Army Lists of the Rounheads and Cavaliers (1863)
• RR Temple ‘The Original Officer List of the New Model Army’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 59 (1986); features a list of officers in the New Model Army in March 1645

For Parliamentary soldiers serving in Ireland see Fifteenth Report of the Irish Record Commission (1825) and Calendars of State Papers Ireland.

There are also research resources at the National Civil War Centre.

11. Further reading

Some or all of the recommended publications below may be available to buy from The National Archives’ Bookshop. Alternatively, search The National Archives’ Library to see what is available to consult at Kew.

GE Aylmer and JS Morrill, The English Civil War and Interregnum: Sources for Local Historians (1979)

Andrew Ayton, Knights and Warhorses under Edward III: Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III (Woodbridge, 1999)

A Bell, War and the Soldier in the Fourteenth Century (Woodbridge, 2004)

A Bell, A Curry, A King and D Simpkin The Soldier in Later Medieval England (Oxford, 2013)

M Jones and S Walker (eds), Private Indentures for Life Service in Peace and War 1278-1476 (Royal Historical Society Camden Miscellany vol XXXII pp1-190, 1994)

A Hopper, Black Tom: Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution (Manchester, 2007)

A Hopper, Turncoats and Renegades: Changing Sides during the English Civil Wars (Oxford, 2012)

Roger B Manning, An Apprenticeship in Arms: The Origins of the British Army 1585- 1702 (2006)

PR Newman, ‘The 1663 List of Indigent Royalist Officers’, Historical Journal, 30 (1987); in which the value of ‘A List of Officers Claiming to the Sixty Thousand Pounds’ is discussed (see section 9.2)

M Prestwich, War, Politics and Finance under Edward I (London, 1972), and Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience (Yale, 1999)

David Simpkin, The English Aristocracy at War: From the Welsh Wars of Edward I to the Battle of Bannockburn (Woodbridge, 2008)