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Search by Last Name, First Name, Year Range (of probate) and Place.
Place is selected from a drop-down list, which includes the counties in England and Wales, plus Ireland, Scotland and Foreign Parts.

Name conventions

First names are generally unabbreviated, ie. if there is a Charles Smith you should find him if you enter SMITH and CHARLES.

Last names with prefixes, eg. De La Rue, enter the root part of the name, ie. RUE. If the prefix has become attached, enter the full name, eg. DELARUE. If you are not sure whether a prefix has been attached, try both ways.

Hyphenated last names, eg. Baker-Woods, enter either part of the name, ie. BAKER or WOODS.

Spelling variations and errors

In creating the typewritten index great care was taken to discover and correct many of these errors as possible. However, it is important that users of this index should realise its limitations.

It is almost impossible to detect errors in the calendars carried from one to another or created in their re-copying over the years.
Some errors may be guessed at as, eg. when an l has been crossed in error to produce a t, thus accounting for the name Donatty, or left uncrossed to produce such names as Palrick. Or when a misplaced dot converts Donoghue to Donogline.
There are undoubtedly errors resulting from the handwriting of the manuscript calendars.
Uprights and adjoining lines can appear identical in the letters i, m, n and u, so that Cumming has eleven identical strokes, relieved only by the dot over the i.
The commonest errors result from the confusion of n and u, of m, in, ui and ni, and particularly of the pairs im, mi, nn, nu and un, due in part to over-looking the dot on the i. Thus such names as Dunsey, De Luna, Druig and Dunns, appear instead of Dimsey, De Lima, Dring and Dinnis.
Capitals I and J being formed in the same way produced names like Juge and Juman instead of Inge and Inman.
The letters c, r and t, which are very similarly written are another cause of confusion (producing names like Jonachan) and z was often copied as r.
The long s used in the calendar as the first of a pair of ss, was often copied as f or l, as in Belse for Besse. The double FF in capitals has been eliminated as far as possible.
The second loop of the letter w, mistaken for o, caused such errors as Dekroer and De Leemo for Dekewer and De Leeuw, and Andrevo for Andrew.
Confusion of g and y led to such oddities as Curlucy for Curling.
In addition, q was sometimes copied as g; h copied as li; and e was copied as o, as in Ponelope.
Where the incorrect name produced by an indexer is also a known surname (eg. Baron for Bacon).
Where a letter has been omitted, eg. converting Davies into Davis or Woods into Wood.
Errors or omissions may also be due to the fading of the parchment or to carelessness, and also generated in the re-keying to create the present index. We hope that these have been reduced to a minimum by the checking that has taken place.

NameX

NameX is a proprietary name-matching tool which allows you to find family records for names which have common variations in spelling or which may have been spelled incorrectly on some records.
Click here for more help.

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