Probate index

An index of wills and related documents covering Lancashire north of the Ribble, and parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire, 1748-1858.  

An index of all surviving probate documents for the Western Deaneries of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, 1748-1858 has been prepared. The deaneries included are Amounderness, Copeland, Furness, Kendal and Lonsdale.

The full index (36,676 wills) is available on the members' area of the website.

An alphabetical list of the townships and other placenames in the index is available, free of charge

An alphabetical list of the surnames in the index is available, free of charge

A sample of the probate index showing the index for surnames beginning with the letter V is available, free of charge.

The main file contains the following information:

Personal Information
Surname, forename, and occupation or status of the deceased.

Place Name Information

This is divided up into five elements: a minor name (often a farm or hamlet), township, and parish. This relates to the place of residence of the deceased at death, and numerous strays are present in the series. In particular, people who died overseas or at sea may not have an accurate address recorded, but probably has property or relatives in the Deanery indicated. Occasionally, townships are recorded in parish other that the one in which they were actually located. The Deanery column relates not to the Deanery in which a parish or township was located, but indicates the series of probate documents in which a particular document is kept at the Lancashire Record Office. In most cases, however, parishes and townships are recorded in the Deanery in which they were located. The ‘strays’ often appear to be in the wrong Deanery, but this simply reflects the organization of the archive. The County column reflects the location of the parish.

Date
This is the date of probate, not the date of death. Occasionally there was a considerable gap between death and probate being granted.

Contents
Indicates the contents of the probate covers for each entry in the index. The most common entries are W. (will), A. (administration bond) and I. (inventory). A full list of abbreviations can be found with the index.

Notes and acknowledgementss
This project has been carried out by the Department of Humanities over a period of five years, starting in 1996. The project was initially led by Professor Richard Hoyle, now of the University of Reading, although the project has been under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Gritt, Director of the Institute of Local and Family History at the University of Central Lancashire, since 1999.

The project was generously funded by the Kirby Archives Trust, the Curwen Archives Trust and the Friends of Lancashire Archives, to whom due acknowledgement and thanks are hereby extended. Thanks are also due to Bruce Jackson and Jim Grisenthwaite, county archivists for Lancashire and Cumbria respectively, for their support. Thanks are also due to Anna Watson, archivist at the Lancashire Record Office, for her expert advice and guidance, and for keeping me supplied with boxes of probate documents.

Thanks are also due to Mrs. Jacqueline Hunter, who indexed most of Furness Deanery, and to Miss Kathryn Dow, who checked a 10 per cent sample of the final index prior to publication, and found it to be more than 98 per cent accurate.

However, this project would not have been possible if it had not been for the excellent work done by the ‘Will Flatteners’. The Will Flatteners are a group of volunteers who have ensured the preservation of these documents, and recorded the salient details of each set of probate records on the document covers. This index is based on the information recorded by the Will Flatteners.

The index extends to 36,676 entries, with each entry being based on documents that actually survive, rather than the entries in the Probate Act books. Photocopies of most of these documents (physical condition and size permitting) can be obtained from the Lancashire Record Office.

Lancashire Record Office
Bow Lane
PRESTON, PR1 2RE
Lancashire
telephone: +44 (0)1772 533039
fax: +44 (0)1772 533050
email: record.office@ed.lancscc.gov.uk

For further details of the activities of the Institute of Local and Family History, please contact

Dr. Andrew Gritt
University of Central Lancashire
Institute of Local and Family History
Department of Humanities
Preston PR1 2HE

telephone: +44 (0)1772-893053
email: locfamhistory@uclan.ac.uk