Surrey Probate Records

England Surrey

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

Getting Started
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 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.

Surrey Probate Courts
These courts had some probate jurisdiction over Surrey before 1858. Click on a court name to learn more about records and indexes.


 * Court of the Archdeaconry of Surrey
 * Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of Winchester in the Archdeaconry of Surrey
 * Court of the Bishop of Winchester (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Bishop of Canterbury (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Deanery of the Arches of London, Croydon, Shoreham (Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury)

In addition, the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole of England. Wealthier individuals, people who owned property in more than one county or lower court's jurisdiction, people who died outside of the country but had property in England, and Naval personnel often had their estates proven through the Archbishop's court.

Appeals Courts
Any probate that was disputed and could not be settled by the county courts could be sent to these higher appeals courts:


 * Court of Arches
 * High Court of Delegates

The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury also served as an appeals court.

Court Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Surrey was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary eccelsiastical court and one or more secondary courts. In order to find the will of a deceased person, you need to know what courts had jurisdiction over the place where he/she lived.

To see a list of Surrey places and the courts that had jurisdiction over them, click on a letter link:

Search the courts in the order given. Search indexes first. For indexes covering more than one court, see below. For court-specific indexes, click on the name of a court above.

If you do not know where your ancestor lived or owned property, search the indexes to each court if necessary. Lastly, search the index to the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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

Surrey &amp; South London Will Abstracts 1470-1856: http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/popup-aboutbo-surrwills.htm


 * This collection, on the British Origins website, contains fully indexed abstracts of every Surrey will known to still exist, over 28,000 of them, dating from the 15th to 19th centuries. This is a subscription website.

The Surrey Plus Wills Index: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~engsurry/


 * This website provides an index to names of all people appearing in the wills of testators residing in the county of Surrey (and nine other neighboring counties). Links are provided to transcripts of wills, where available.

For other indexes, click on a court name in the list above.

Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills (1384 - 1858)

Probate Indexes
Archdeaconry of Surrey. Court Wills and act books, Indexes 1480-1630, 1595-1750 Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, index to the original wills (collated with the act books and will registers), 1752-1858 : indexed from the originals at the Greater London Record Office  Surrey administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1760-1781  Archdeaconry Court of Surrey : index to the original wills, 1660-1751  Commissary Court of Surrey, 1660-1751 : index to the original wills at London Metropolitan Archives  Commissary Court of the Bishop of Winchester in the archdeaconry of Surrey : index to the original wills (collated with the act books and will registers) and original administration bonds, etc., also Peculiar Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Deanery of Croydon, index to the wills, 1752-1858  Peculiar Court (Arches, Croydon and Shoreham) Probate records, 1602-1841  Surrey administrations in the prerogative court of Canterbury 1782-1790  Index to Surrey wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1650-1700  Surrey wills : Archdeaconry court, Herringman register  Surrey wills : Archdeaconry court, Spage register  Surrey wills (P. C. C.) 1600-1608 Diocese of Winchester. Commissary Court. Wills, administrations, and act books, 1662-1858 (include indexes)  Diocese of London. Consistory Court Wills and administrations, 1362-1857 Index to registers, 1514-1641 FHL Film 94171

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 1796-1858 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. 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.

An annual, 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.