Rutland Probate Records

England Rutland

The following article is about probate records in the county of Durham. For general information about probate records in England, 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 until to 1858. 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.

To look for a probate record before 1858:


 * 1) Discover when and where your ancestor died. If you don’t know, use the approximate date and place where they lived.
 * 2) Go to Court Jurisdictions section below.
 * 3) Click a letter or span of letters for your place name. This opens a jurisdictions table.
 * 4) Follow the instructions on the jurisdictions table page.

Rutland Probate Courts
The courts that had pre-1858 jurisdiction over probate matters were:


 * Court of the Bishop of Peterborough (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Caldecote
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Empingham
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Ketton with Tixover
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Prebend of Liddington

For a list of Rutland parishes and the pre-1858 courts that had jurisdictions over them, click on a link for the span of letters for the parish.

A-M   N-Z

Court Jurisdictions by Parish
Before 1858, every town and parish in Rutland fell under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court or a secondary court. For an authoritative treatise on each Rutland probate court and the parishes comprising them in pre-1858, see Anthony J. Camp's Wills and Their Whereabouts, available in select locations and in 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 above.

The courts listed for each place are those that had jurisdiction over probating wills prior to 1858. To use this table, follow these steps.

1. In the first column, find the place where your ancestor lived. 2. In the second column, click on the court name to learn where to find the records and indexes. 3. If the record isn't found in the primary court, search the records for the secondary courts in the order listed. 4. If the record still isn't found, search the records for the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

If no will is found, your ancestor may not have left one.

Probate Indexes Online
Before looking for a will, you should search an index. The Northamptonshire and Rutland Probate Index was created by Kay Collins, a volunteer at the Northampton Record Office. She was partially assisted by others and from several earlier indices of probate records held in the Northampton Record Office. The indexing project started in 1997 and the records in the database include all work done up to 2005. The project is mostly complete (errors and omissions excepted). The database may be updated at a future date with corrections and/or omissions.

Estate Duty Records
Starting in 1796, a tax or death duty was payable on estates over a certain value. Estate duty abstracts may add considerable information not found elsewhere. Between 1813-1858 estate duty indexes may help locate a will. For more information, go to Estate Duty Records.

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. For more information, go to Principal Probate Registry.