Court of the Bishop of London

England London Probate Records, Middlesex Probate Records, Essex Probate Records

Getting Started: Step by Step
1. First search each index (see below) to help you more quickly find the will, writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry. 2. Proceed to the "Probate Records Held in This Archive" (below) to determine what original probate records exist for this court. Also see "Probate Records of This Court in The Family History Library". 3. Contact or visit London Metropolitan Archives at 40 Northampton Street or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers. 4. Visit The Family History Library, or, one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers worldwide and search indexes to probate records; then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons also on microfilm via any centers near you.

Indexes
The original and microfilmed records include indexes or calendars, which in some cases pre-date the surviving records.

In addition, the London Record Society published in 1967, abstracts of the original wills for 1508-1547, and the registered wills for 1492-1520.

Records
The original records are deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives. They include:


 * Original wills, 1508-1646, 1661-1858
 * Register copy wills, 1492, 1514-1520, 1540-1641, 1570-1858
 * Administration acts, 1540-1591, 1670-1858
 * Vicar General's books containing probate material, 1520-1644 (with gaps), 1660-1685

Many records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and through family history centers. They include:


 * Wills and administrations, 1362-1857

Jurisdiction
Also known as the Episcopal Consistory Court of London, this court had jurisdiction over the whole of the diocese of the Bishop of London expect in the peculiars. The diocese covered the whole of London city and the county of Middlesex and most of the county of Essex (until 1846). It also had concurrent jurisdiction with the archdeaconries of St. Albans (Buckinghamshire), Colchester, Essex, London and Middlesex, as well as both divisions of the Commissary Court (London and Essex &amp; Herts.), exercised through the Bishop's Vicar General.

This court also had post-1846 jurisdiction over the following parishes in Kent county: