Charles I Chancery Index  1625-49
About the Dataset
This dataset is an index to all 82,000 cases tried in the Court of Chancery during the reign of Charles I, ie between 1625 and 1649. Chancery records are of particular value to family historians, because they often reveal personal, business and family relationships in more detail than almost any other source.

The index itself identifies only the surnames of the plaintiff and the defendant, and gives the reference for the source documents held at The National Archives. We provide an abstract service, which will allow you to determine how valuable the case records are likely to be to you.


Searching the Charles I Chancery Index
You can search by surname of the plaintiff or of the dependant, or either.
The results will give the brief case reference and allow you to order an extract, if you wish.

Examples of records:
Beauchamp v. Williams B41/26,61/49
Someone called Beauchamp brought a case against a person called Williams.
There are 2 documents concerning this case, with TNA references Class C2, B41/26 and B61/49

Haynsworth by guard v. Haynsworth H77/40,115/32,115/64
This case was brought by a guardian acting for (presumably) a minor called Haynsworth against (probably) another member of the Haynsworth family.
There are 3 relevant documents at TNA.
Here are some examples of Chancery suits showing what the C2/Chas1 series has to offer:
Extensive data on William Pennoyer of London who by his will proved in 1670 left a bequest to Cambridge College in New England (Harvard). Details of his ancestry & business dealings. Andrewes v Pennoyer A13/69, Glover v Pennoyer G18/11, Pennoyer v. Gough P24/24.

Account of descent of Thomas Mathewes of Virginia, planter, son of Edward Mathewes of Bethnal Green, Stepney, Middlesex, grazier. M24/26 etc.

Apprenticeship of Richard Morris as a sailor who went with other servants on the Marmaduke to be sold in Virginia for tobacco: he was kept by George Pewsey in America for eight years. S16/5: Sollus v. Pewsey, 1642.

Descent from John Vassall who was born in Normandy, France, rose to fame as an Elizabethan navigator and sired a family of great influence in New England, Virginia and the West Indies. Many suits in which Samuel Vassall of the Virginia Company was plaintiff or defendant.

More information on the Charles I Chancery Index
This unique resource, created by Peter Coldham, makes available for the first time an index to all 82,000 Chancery Cases launched during the reign of Charles I (1625-49). Peter has commented that there is “more personal history accumulated in Chancery documents than in any other single English archive relating to Britain’s family and business links with [Britain’s] colonial empire”. These documents “can often reveal the personal, business, and family relationships more clearly, and with greater detail, impartiality, and accuracy, than a fistful of wills and yards of parish register entries.” Chancery records are a particularly important source of information for descendants of early migrants to North America.

Proceedings in Chancery were instituted mainly, though not exclusively, by those with money and property. The aggrieved party (the Plaintiff) would have his lawyer draw up a Bill of Complaint setting out in stiff, formal language, and always at great length, the substance of his complaint. This document always begins with the plaintiff’s name, title or occupation, and place of residence, names the offending parties (the Defendants), and seeks the Court’s authority to require the Defendants to provide written Answers to a series of specific questions. So the next document which would appear would be the Answer(s), and the wheels of law would begin to grind. The Plaintiff might submit objections to the Answers, called a Replication, which would be followed by further Answers. The Defendants might enter a Demurrer to the Bill of Complaint, saying that the case was defective in law and required no Answer.

Bills of Complaint and Answers are often not filed together under the same reference, which explains, at least partly, why many of the cases have multiple references.


TNA Reference
If you wish to search the source documents yourself at TNA, Kew, they are held in Class C2, subclass Chas1. The references here give only the piece and folio numbers (eg H77/40), since the Class & subclass is always the same. The full references would be, for example, C2/Chas1/H77/40.


Abstract Service
You can order abstracts of the relevant source documents for the case by clicking the box next to the record. Clicking on the “Add to cart” button will cause a list of TNA Refs to be displayed, with a tick box against each. The first TNA Ref will already be ticked but if you wish to order all the documents relating to this TNA Ref, you can click on Select All. There may be more than one document reference for each case; some cases can have a dozen or more references: for 80% of cases there is only one reference, but less than 1% have more than 4 references. The TNA references for the selected case will all be listed and you can choose to order abstracts of one or more the referenced documents. You can order an abstract from the first reference, for whichever references you select, or for all references.

Usually just one or two documents survive for each reference. Though their condition varies greatly the majority are relatively easy to read, for someone used to the style of handwriting; all documents of this period are written in English. If there is only one reference it is not necessarily to the Bill of Complaint but may simply be to a reply from one of the defendants or related parties. Very rarely does a bundle contain all documents for a case, and some directly relevant papers may well be found in other classes (eg Depositions, Affidavits, Master's Reports, Decrees and Orders).

Some of the smaller documents have very little genealogical value; perhaps a couple of names but no places or dates mentioned. Some of the larger documents are goldmines of genealogical information. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing beforehand which references will be to documents of real value.

Our abstract service helps determine whether a particular set of case documents may be worth examining in detail. This report will: Click here to view Example Abstracts

The cost of an abstract (relating to a specific reference) is £16 (approx. US$30). You will receive an email to alert you when your abstract report is ready to be downloaded online. Turnaround time may be up to 3 weeks, but will usually be quicker.


See also:  Help on Searching - Charles I Chancery Index
  Example Abstracts
  About Peter Coldham
  Source Record Archives - England
  Logged in users search the collection