Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of St Edmunds

England Suffolk Probate Records

To read a general explanation of probates in England, click here.

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 "Records" (below) to determine what probate records exist for this court.

3. Contact or visit the Cambridge University Acrhives 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.

Printed and Published Indexes
The Family History Library has a film copy of:


 * An index to wills, administrations and other testamentary records registered in monastic or commissary courts of Bury S. Edmunds or the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury, Suffolk. The years covered are 1354-1652 and 1660-1858.

Films can be viewed in the library or in a family history center.

Archive Location
The original records are held in Cambridge University Archives.

Archive Records
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Family History Library Records

 * Wills and inventories from the registers of the commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the Archdeacon of Sudburyby Samuel Tymms.

Jurisdiction
West Suffolk with the addition of Stow and Hartismere Deaneries in East Suffolk (to 1837 only), also those parishes in Cambridgeshire in the jurisdiction of the Consisotry Court of Norwich and after 1837, only, in the Deanery of Camps....