Читать книгу Collins Tracing Your Irish Family History - Ryan Tubridy, Anthony Adolph - Страница 52

Back to 12 January 1858, wills have been proved centrally at the Principal Probate Registry (PPR). Searches can be made there: indexes forward to 1943 are also on fiche at many archives and Mormon FHCs.

Before 1858 wills were proved in church courts, as mapped in The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers (Phillimore, rev. edn, 2003) and www.genuki.org.uk, and described in J. Gibson and E. Churchill, Probate Jurisdictions, Where to look for Wills (FFHS, 5th edn, 2002). Those with property in more than one jurisdiction, or with the social pretension to be the sort of people who might, had wills proved in the next most senior court – usually the local bishop’s – rising ultimately to the Prerogative Courts [of the Archbishops] of York and Canterbury. The latter – the PCC – included people, usually the wealthier sort, from all over the realm, including those with property in both Ireland and the mainland, money in the Bank of England, or who died abroad (‘in foreign parts’, often abbreviated to ‘pts’) including soldiers and sailors. Between 1653 and 1660, under Cromwell, all wills in England and Wales were proved at the PCC too. Most Welsh wills are at the National Library of Wales. Those for York are at the Borthwick Institute and are largely covered by published indexes. All wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) are indexed and accessible at www.documentsonline. nationalarchives.gov.uk.