Yorkshire Probate Records

England Yorkshire

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

Yorkshire Probate Courts
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Yorkshire is geographically the largest county in England and has more than 1,000 parishes. More than 60 courts have jurisdiction over probate matters. The highest court was the Exchequer and Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York.

To find the names of the courts over a specific place, click on a letter or span of letters below to go to the jurisdiction tables. B C D E-F G H I-K L M-N O-P Q-R S T-U W Y.

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Court Jurisdictions by Parish
Before 1858, every town and parish in Yorkshire fell under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. For an authoritative treatise on each Yorkshire probate court and the parishes comprising them in pre-1858, see Anthony J. Camp's publication, Wills and Their Whereabouts, also available at the Family History Library, FHL book #942 S2wa.

When looking for the will of an ancestor, you should search the courts in the order given. Search indexes first. For indexes, click on the court name links [soon to be constructed].

Here is a list of Yorkshire parishes beginning with the letter A and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them. For other parishes, click on a letter to link to the another table.

Probate Indexes Online
Before looking for a will, you should search an index. http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ahss/education_social_sciences/history/probate_index.php

An index of wills and related documents covering Lancashire north of the Ribble, and parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire, 1748-1858.

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. http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/popup-aboutbo-yprex.htm

Prerogative &amp; Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index 1853-1858

http://www.dserve.wyjs.org.uk/DServe.exe?dsqApp=Archive&amp;dsqDb=Catalog&amp;dsqCmd=Search.tcl

Welcome to the new West Yorkshire Archive Service on-line catalogue.

This catalogue contains brief summaries of all the collections held by the five offices within the West Yorkshire Archive Service. Some collections are also listed fully to item level. Please see the 'what's new in the catalogue' section for a summary of current listing projects and priorities. Many probate records listed.

http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/popup-aboutbo-ypec.htm

York Peculiars Probate Index 1383-1883

http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/popup-aboutbo-ymed.htm

This index covers over 10,000 wills proved in the Prerogative &amp; Exchequer Courts of York in the period 1267 to 1500. Wills are one of the most important sources for the family historian, and the originals of all the wills indexed here are held at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. Copies of these wills can be ordered online, via the index.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/#ProbateRecords

Colin Blanshard Withers has produced a list of all known Indexes and Calendars relating to Yorkshire Probate. This is available in both MS Word format (.doc) and plain text format (.txt) from his site.

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 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.