Berkshire Probate Records

For an explanation of probate records in England, click here.

Return to the main Berkshire page.

Berkshire Probate Courts

 * Court of the Archdeacon of Berkshire
 * Court of the Archdeacon of Wiltshire
 * Court of the Bishop of Bristol
 * Court of the Bishop of Gloucester
 * Court of the Bishop of Salisbury (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeacon of Oxford
 * Court of the Peculiar of Banbury
 * Court of the Peculiar of Faringdon
 * Court of the Peculiar of Langford
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Dean of Salisbury (Sarum)
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Dean of Windsor
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Canons of Windsor in Wantage
 * Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Court Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every parish was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary and several secondary courts. To see an alphabetical list of Berkshire parishes and the courts that had jurisdiction over them, click on the link for the letter that a parish name begins with:

Probate Indexes Online
Before looking for a will, you should search an index.

http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritage/index.php

This catalogue gives access to wills and other probate records of the diocese of Salisbury which used to cover not only Wiltshire but also Berkshire (under certain circumstances) and parts of Dorset and Devon. You can search for people by name, place, occupation and date. The collection covers 1540-1858. Searching the catalogue is FREE. In addition there are digital images for some of the documents (just over 25%) which can be viewed following on-line payment or free of charge by people visiting the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Wills and inventories give useful information about people’s financial status and property, and also their family relationships and friendships, which make them a wonderful resource for family and local history.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/BRKwills/

This is a collection of about 1000 abstracts of probate documents relating to people residing in the neighbourhood of the towns of Hungerford and Wantage in Berkshire. Since Hungerford is on the County boundary there is some spread into Wiltshire and to a lesser extent into Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

Post-1858 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.