Searching for wills in England and Wales before 1858 presents special problems since probate was a matter for the ecclesiastical courts, of which there were more than 300. Anyone searching for wills must read up on procedures, consult books and maps on the jurisdictions of the various courts, and trust a little to luck (the bibliography lists useful books). Most important, the researcher needs indexes and finding aids that cover large geographic areas and many years and are fully alphabetized. The Society of Genealogists has provided two useful tools that meet these criteria: An Index to the Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1750-1800 and An Index to the Bank of England Will Extracts 1807-1845.

All Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) wills and the majority of wills extracted by the Bank of England were proved at Doctors' Commons, located in Knightrider Street near St. Paul's (demolished in 1867). Five courts carried out their business there: the Court of the Arches, the Court of Faculties and dispensations, the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London, the High Court of Admiralty, and the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. (Kent, William. An Encyclopedia of London. London, J.M. Dent & Sons, (rev. ed.) 1951, p. 276) The PCC was the highest ecclesiastical court; it was used primarily by those individuals who were better off and by residents of the south of England. The PCC also proved the will of anyone who died overseas.

Indexes to PCC wills exist at the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, and at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (some may also be available in LDS branch genealogy libraries called family history centers). These indexes, however, are annual and by first letter of the last name only. To search a ten-year period for the name "Bramley," for example, requires reading the entire "B" list in 10 different volumes. The Society of Genealogists has helped significantly by publishing a fully alphabetized slip index to PCC wills for the last half of the eighteenth century. These volumes are available for purchase from the society in microfiche or book format. The wills themselves can be viewed on film at Chancery Lane or through the facilities of LDS family history centers.

When the Bank of England presented its volumes of registers to the Society in 1985, a team of volunteers immediately indexed the period from 1807 to 1845. This index has also been made available for purchase in microfiche or book format. The PCC index covers all testators; the index to will extracts is more limited in scope, dealing only with those who left annuities, bonds, or stocks in their wills. Nonetheless, this index generated about 31,000 entries for the 38-year period, and the index entries are more informative than those for the PCC wills. Additional detail is warranted on will extracts and their indexes because they are not as well known as the PCC records.

From time to time, you may have seen a "fundholder" entry in the occupation column of a census. Such an individual possessed an investment in government or public funds-that is to say, h e held a part of the public debt, rather like investing in government savings bonds today. The Bank of England had assumed management of the government's funded debt in 1717. Not surprisingly, it was necessary for the officials of the day to keep track of fundholders and their investments. The bank maintained a record of personal details about the stockholder, and a description of the holdings and dividends. Bank officials also required information about change of ownership of investments. This might occur through sale or transfer, or by direction of the bank when bankruptcy, death, or a declaration of "lunacy" occurred.

The start date of the index, 1807, coincides with the year in which the Bank of England opened a register office where clerks copied passages of wills, marked by the bank's lawyers, into the registers. In 1812, the bank required that all wills involving fundholders be proved at the PCC. The recording of stock bequest ceased in 1845. Each index entry indicates the surname, Christian name, status or occupation, and address of the deceased (the majority of listings are bequests), together with register details: the year of probate, the volume, section of the alphabet (e.g, A-K), and register extract number. The extract number is found at the bottom left corner of each extract in the register. The layout of an index entry is shown below.

BAYLEY, Richard Earning, Gent.

1817 8 A-1 1716

of Upper Chapman St., St. George's Middx

Reading through the entries on two or three pages of the index quickly demonstrated the broad range of social status of those holding funds. There were titled people, naval and military officers and noncommissioned officers, widows, spinsters, farmers, clergymen, a cordwainer, a cheesemonger, a linen draper, a victualler, a shipwright, a button maker, and the butler to Lady Abdy of Saville Row. They came from all English countries, from Wales, the Channel Islands, Scotland, Ireland, and Jamaica, but the majority were from the south of England and from the London area in particular. The index also includes special details such as "joint annuitant," "lunatic," "bankrupt," or "minor."

The original registers have been filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, so if you find an entry in the index, you have the option of obtaining the will extract through an LDS family history center, or with the assistance of a researcher in London or Salt Lake City. The copies in the LDS collection are complete for the years 1807-1845, the years of the index (look in the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog™ under England-Probate.)

It is in fact possible to go directly from the Society of Genealogists' index to the PCC will itself, bypassing a look at the extract. Will you miss much by doing this? That question can be answered by considering what additional information, if any, is in the register but not in the actual will.

A register entry begins with a docket number in the upper left margin. Beneath that is an indication of whether or not it is a joint annuity. Also across the top is the name, address, and occupation or rank of the individual, and immediately below that are the details of the stock held. Following is the extract of the will, the signed opinion of the solicitor as to the transfer that will take place, and margin notes of relevant information (e.g., death of an executor, power of attorney). Chances are good that the writing of the Bank of England extract will be easier to read than that of the actual will. If there is any confusion over place of residence at death, the Bank of England register may clear this up. For example, the entry for Nancy Caley, who died 6 February 1839, states: "Nancy Caley of Edwardes Square, Kensington, spinster, … And by her will dated 31 January, 1832, attested by the witnesses appointed George Richardson Sole Executor to whom probate was granted at Doctors Commons 22 February, 1839, (wherein described formerly of Tavistock Street Covent Garden, afterwards of Edwardes Square Kensington in the County of Middlesex, but late of the parish of St. James Bury St. Edmunds in the County of Suffolk)." This sort of information, or the notes in the margin may prove to be useful, but otherwise the extract will repeat the relevant terms of the will.

So the answer to the question, "Should you go directly to the will?" is not a categorical yes or no. The first choice is to obtain both. An agent in London or Salt Lake City can obtain both records, or you can perform the search, more slowly, yourself, at the nearest LDS branch genealogy library.

The Bank of England's donation to the Society of Genealogists included the register volumes from 1717 to 1845. For the period 1717 to 1807, the registers contain about 27,500 entries in 37 volumes. A single consolidated index for the period is in preparation. In the meantime, a researcher in London can use the contemporary indexes in each volume, which are organized by first letter and first vowel (i.e., for example used earlier, Caley would be under Ca, but Braddock would also be under Ca). Some of these volumes (1726-1778) are now available on microfilm in the LDS collection, along with some miscellaneous listings by annuity type (check the locality section of the catalog). The PCC Will Index, 1750-1800 and The Index to Bank of England Will Extracts, 1807-45 are useful because each is a single, consolidated resource; they are easy to consult; together they cover nearly all of the 100 years before central government indexes for probate begin; they will lead you to a full probate record; and they cover a period that predates civil registration and census returns. Any resource that does all of these things, especially when it encompasses a cross-section of the population, should be included in a research plan. These two finding aids are excellent resources.

The Bank of England also has an archives in London that is open to the public. Access is possible to most records more than 30 years old. If you are planning a trip to London and wish to make an appointment, write to: The Archivist, Archive Section HO-M, The Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH.

"I'm Sure None of My Ancestors Ever Made a Will"
It is true that only a small percentage of the population made wills. Someone counted the wills proved in the county of Essex from 1520 to 1820 and compared the number of wills to the number of houses. The result was a mere two wills per house per century. This is not very scientific, but it does convey the point that wills were few. Probate involved expense, so many family assets were divided without a will. In some instances where a will existed, probate was never sought because the provisions of the will generated no dispute.

The point however, is that all levels of the social scale are found among records of probate. A will may bring you suddenly closer to the personality of an ancestor, or it may reveal new facts not found together in any other source. The potential value of a probate record should weigh more heavily in your consideration than the mathematical chance of finding one.

Tontines were named after Lawrence Tonti, of Naples, who brought the idea to Paris in the 17th century—they had been in use in Italy for along time. The British government made 11 tontines available between1690 and 1790. The records for these list about 15,000 individuals, and are in the PRO, Kew. Tontines were also used as fund-raising schemes for such things as public buildings, houses, and hotels. In 1955 Thomas B. Costain published a novel called The Tontine which follows the lives of those associated with the Waterloo Tontine through the 19th century.

Bibliography
Camp, Anthony j. (ed.) An Index to the Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1750-1800. (six volumes) London: Society of Genealogists, 1976-1992.

D. Hey. Family History and Local History of England (1987).

Fitzhugh, T.V.H. The Dictionary of Genealogy. Sherbgorne, England: Alphabooks, 1985.

Gibson, J.S. A Simplified Guide to Probate Jurisdictions. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, (4th ed.) 1993.

Irvine, S. Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993.

Kent, William. An Encyclopedia of London. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1951.

Leeson, F.L. A guide to the British State Tontines and Life Annuities of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Shalfleet Manor, 1968.

McLaughlin, Eve. Wills Before 1858. 4th Ed.) Aylesbury, England: 1992.

Oxford English Dictionary; T.V.H. Fitzhugh, The Dictionary of Genealogy. (1985; A. Duncan & A. Bevan).

Society of Genealogists. An Index to the Bank of England Will Extracts. London, 1991.

Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office (4th ed. 1990).

Sherry Irvine was educated in Canada, England, and the United States. She is the author Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans (Ancestry, 1993). She has served on the Greater Victoria Library Board and the town council of Oak Bay, Victoria, Canada. She has also held offices in the Victoria Genealogical Society..