About National Wills Index collections

Search National Wills Index

Subscribers


New user?

Origins Network has a growing and unique set of indexes to wills and other probate documents. Following exclusive agreements with the British Record Society - which has the largest set of indexes to English wills - and other organisations with major collections of source material, our database of probate records is about to grow very rapidly.

With the partication of these bodies, we have now launched the National Wills Index, which will become the primary online resource for pre-1858 English probate material.

A hard copy service is offered initially for all the original documents, but work has started to make these available in digital image form.


More about the National Wills Index


Hard copies available

Bank of England Will Extracts Index  1717-1845 The Bank of England Will Extracts Index (61,000 names) helps locate will extracts made by the Bank when people had money in public funds between 1717-1845. Hard copies available. Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills Index  1750-1800 Wills have been proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury since 1383 and are preserved in The National Archives, London. The index covers wills proved in the period 1750 to 1800. Hard copies available. Archdeaconry Court of London Wills Index  1700-1807   The Archdeaconry Court of London was one of the London church courts that dealt with testamentary matters. The index of over 5,000 records, mainly from the first half of the 18th century, also contains numerous records of mariners. York Medieval Probate Index  1267-1500 Over 10,000 wills proved in the Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York between 1267 and 1500. Originals are held at the Borthwick Institute for Archives and copies can be ordered online. York Peculiars Probate Index  1383-1883 Over 25,000 wills proved in the 54 peculiar courts of the Province of York from 1383 to 1883. Originals are held at the Borthwick Institute for Archives and copies of these wills can be ordered online. Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index 1731-1858 Over 222,000 grants of probate for the period May 1731 to January 1858. Original documents provide a great deal of valuable information to the family historian and copies of these can be ordered online. Surrey & South London Will Abstracts 1470-1856 Fully indexed abstracts of every Surrey will known to still exist, over 28,000 abstracts. The index includes names of over a half a million people mentioned in these wills. Free text search of the abstracts.