Advanced Genealogy
Wills
Wills are an excellent and often overlooked way to bring your Family History to life. Not only can they give you an insight into how members of your family were related, they can also provide a glimpse of your ancestor’s personality – which let’s face it, hardly leaps from a marriage certificate of a census return. A minority of the population made wills – around one person in ten in 1901. But don’t be suckered into thinking that only the wealthy did so: people of all classes let some last wish or request; even it was to bequeath a favoured flat cap or a best milking cow. There can be a list of the deceased’s possessions – objects that will reveal how they lived – some of which could still be in your family, locked away in a dusty attic. Even more intriguing, wills can indicate family rows and grievances. Often who is not included is more revealing than who is, or if someone was left a mere sixpence you can conclude that they were disliked, but had to be given something to prevent them objecting.
Finding wills made before 1858 is somewhat of a lottery – they are stored all over the place because there were several church courts that administered probate. Some are in the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury; microfilm copies of wills proved between 1383 and 1858 can be searched at both the PRO and the Family Records Centre (but bear in mind that before 1733 most wills were in Latin). The other main court that proved wills is the Prerogative Court of York. Its record of these is held at the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research in York, though indexes to wills from between 1389 and 1688 are held at the FRC and PRO. If neither of these sources has the will you want, a local country records office may have it.
After 1858 things get somewhat easier. In fact, because there are annual indexes for wills, it can be quicker to find out when your ancestor died from these indexes than from the quarterly indexes for death certificates. All wills proved in England and Wales are public records and can be consulted by everyone. They are held by the Principle Probate Registry on High Holborn, London, and can be searched Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. There are registers, or calendars, as they are known, for each year, and they list all wills proved, the value of the estate and who the executors were. You will need to quote a reference number should you wish to order a copy of a will, which will set you back £5. The FRC and PRO have calendars between 1858 and 1943 on microfiche.
In Scotland most wills have been deposited at the National Archives of Scotland. Indexes to Irish wills, even the many destroyed in the fire of 1922, can be searched at the National Archives of Ireland.