Cumberland Probate Records

England Cumberland

The following text has information about probate records in the county of Cumberland. To read general information English probate records click here.

Getting Started in Probate Records
Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process prior to 1858. To look for a probate record for your ancestor, start by discovering where he or she died. If you don’t know, look in the place where they lived or had property. Once you have a place, scroll down to the Court Jurisdictions section and click a letter or span of letters covering the place name. A table appears showing places in the left column and the courts having jurisdiction to the right. Click on the name of the court to learn more.

Beginning in 1858, authority over probate matters was taken from ecclesiastical courts and put under the civil authority of the Principal Probate Registry. The Post-1857 Probate Records section below contains links to additional information about the records of this court.

Cumberland County Probate Courts

 * Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Archdeaconry of Richmond Western Deaneries - Copeland
 * Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)

In addition, the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole of England. Wealthier individuals, people who owned property in more than one county or lower court's jurisdiction, and Naval personnel often had their estates probated through the Archbishop's court.

Appeals Courts
Any probate that was disputed and could not be settled by the county courts could be sent to these higher appeals courts:


 * Court of Arches
 * High Court of Delegates

The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury also served as an appeals court.

Court Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Cumberland was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. When searching for the will of an ancestor, find the name of the town or parish where he/she lived in the jurisdictions lists below. Go to the list of places by clicking on a letter or series of letters below.

If you don't know where your ancestor lived, search every court. If no will is found, your ancestor may not have left one.

Probate Indexes Online
The following Web sites include indexes to several parishes in Cumberland. Indexes for only one court are mentioned in the article about the court.

The University of Central Lancashire has "An index of all surviving probate documents for the Western Deaneries of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, 1748-1858 has been prepared. The deaneries included are Amounderness, Copeland, Furness, Kendal and Lonsdale". The indexes are based on 36,676 wills. Indexes for surnames and for places are free of charge.

Wills of Cumberland: Abstracts of Cumberland Probate Records pre-1858 is being compiled.

Post-1857 Probate Records
Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London. The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service. To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills. The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for the Principal Registry and the District Registries for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.