Probate Records in England and Wales
Please note that we do not have copies of wills, we only have the indexes to probate granted in England and Wales 1858-1956.
PROBATE RECORDS
The Records described collectively as probate records includes wills, inventories and the letters of administration granted to an executor where the deceased has not left a will. In England and Wales probate (or proof of the right to administer the property of a deceased person) was granted by the ecclesiastical courts until 1858
A grant or probate is essential to enable the executors
to administer the estate
(ie collect a death grant), draw money from a bank
account or sell a house) and so may apply to very small estates.
For Family (and other) historians, wills provide
information about individuals, their property and their relations. Where a date
of death is not known, it is often easier to consult the probate indexes than
the Registrar General's indexes of births, marriages and deaths. The probate indexes give
more detailed information, including the actual date of death, and wills are
often the only way to identify children of a deceased' married sister, whose
surname is not known.
Probate Records before 1858
Greater Manchester County was created in 1974, largely from Lancashire, with small areas of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Civil (district and county) and ecclesiastical (church) boundaries do not coincide. Until the creation of the Diocese and the appointment of a Bishop of Manchester in 1848, most of this area was in the Diocese of Chester.
Wills were proved in the archdeacon's court, the consistory (bishop's) court, or in the Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York (PCY) and Canterbury (PCC).
Anyone had the right to apply to the higher courts, but normally only people of substance, or with property in more than one archdeaconry or diocese, would do so. It was felt that records there were less liable to loss or damage than those of the lower courts.
Probate records for the parts of the Diocese of Chester, south of the Mersey, are available in the Cheshire Record Office. For the area of Lancashire between the Rivers Mersey and Ribble, the records have been transferred to the Lancashire Record Office. The records of the prerogative courts are available at the Public Record Office (for Canterbury) and the Borthwick Institute (for York).
To locate a specific will, it is advisable to consult either the published indexes, or indexes available in the repository which holds the original records.
The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire has published indexes of the wills which were at Chester 1545-1837.
PROBATE RECORDS AFTER 1858
The present civil system was instituted in 1858, with a Principal Probate Registry in London and District Registries throughout England and Wales. A registered copy of each will is retained in the District, and a copy sent to the Principal Registry. Greater Manchester is served by the Manchester Registry, although some wills may be proved at Lancaster or Liverpool. The Manchester Registry only holds copies of wills up to 50 years old. Applications for copy wills over 50 years old must be sent to the York Probate Registry.
COPIES OF WILLS ARE OBTAINED FROM THE REGISTRY WHICH GRANTED PROBATE AND NOT GMCRO.
At the end of each year the Principal Probate Registry compiles an index, arranged alphabetically, for all the wills and letters of administration received by them in that year. Copies of the index are distributed to the District Registries, where they are available for inspection.
Many District Registries have transferred the earlier indexes to a record office. Jeremy Gibson, A Simplified Guide to Probate Jurisdiction: where to look for wills, gives a useful list of their whereabouts. The Manchester Probate Registry transfers its 50-year old copies of the index to GMCRO (i.e. the 1943 volume at the beginning of 1994).
The Indexes which indicate the value of the estate and the Registry at which the probate was granted, also include the names, addresses and occupations of the deceased and executor and their relationship.
Copies of wills can be obtained from York Probate
Registry (address below) . Each will costs £5 per copy, irrespective of the
number of pages. Please make out any cheque to H.M. Paymaster General.
USEFUL ADDRESSES
| Principal Probate
Registry First Avenue House 42-49 High Holborn London WC1V 6NP Email maria.boulby@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk |
Manchester Probate
Registry Manchester Civil Justice Centre Ground Floor 1 Bridge Street West PO BOX 4240 Manchester Greater Manchester England M60 1WJ Tel 0161-240 5700 Email : manchester.dpr@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk |
| Borthwick Institute of
Historical Research University of York Heslington York YO10 5DD Tel (01904) 321166 Email bihr500@york.ac.uk |
Cheshire Record Office Duke Street Chester CH1 2HU Tel 01244 602574 |
| York Probate Registry Castle Chambers York YO1 9RG 01904 666 777 Email york.psr@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk |
Lancashire Record Office Bow Lane Preston PR1 8ND 01772 533039 |
© The Greater Manchester County Record Office 2002
