Digitization of Wills UK

The UK Ministry of Justice has just released their plan to digitize historic wills.

Their statement reads :

"Genealogists, historians and amateur family archivists will be better able to access historic wills under proposals published today (15 December 2023).

The ambitious digitization programme could see millions of wills dating back more than 150 years moved online and more easily accessible to the public in a bid to improve the current storage system.  

Currently about 110 million physical documents are stored costing taxpayers £4.5 million per year. The consultation is seeking views on keeping hard copies for about 25 years, in recognition of their sentimental value to families, while saving them digitally longer term."

This plan has immediately stirred up a storm of controversy amongst Genealogists.  While it is agreed that digitizing the wills and making them more accessible is a boon to the Genealogical and Historical communities, the idea of destroying the hard copies of wills after 25 years is considerably less popular.

There have been a number of questions regarding the proposal.  How much will it cost to maintain the digital records? Things like the servers, the regular migration to modern formats to ensure they remain accessible etc? Digital is not 'free'.

The consultation will end on 23 February 2024.  So follow the link and have your say about the future of these important historical records.

UK Find a Will gets Bogged

Back in late July I posted about the new cut price of ordering post-1857 wills through the UK Government's Find a Will service.  I excitedly announced that the price of a will had been cut to just £1.50, instead of the old £10 charge.  Maybe I should have kept quiet for a bit.

I ordered several wills on 11 August, and was given an estimated online delivery date of 26 August.  We are now well into October and I am still waiting.  They are now almost 2 months overdue.

I am trying to be patient.  Really I am.  I know why the service is taking so long.  It is because of all those people (like me) who saw the price cut, cried "Oh Goody!" and inundated the site with orders.  Eager genealogists worldwide have swamped the poor people at Find A Will and buried them with their enthusiasm.

A slightly plaintive inqiry in late September - "Where are my wills??  They are a month overdue!" - elicited the response that the site had been overwhelmed by the volume of orders and mine would be dealt with as soon as possible.  Since then I have haunted my inbox, hoping for notification that my wills had been processed would soon arrive.  I have also logged onto the website (no more than once a day) to check for progress.  And I am still waiting.

It takes me back to the old days of sending off my request for records or information by 'snail mail' and waiting 6 to 8 weeks for a response through the post.  How spoilt are we today with email and downloading and instant access to online records from the comfort of our own living rooms.  Now, suddenly, I have to learn to be patient again.  It is a difficult lesson.

Price Cut For Ordering Wills

It is time to get online and order some wills of your British ancestors.  Why?  The cost of ordering post-1857 probate records via the British Government’s Find a Will service has been cut from £10 to just £1.50.  The price cut, which was introduced in a statutory instrument that became law on 22 July, will be in place for the next 12 months.  After that, the price cut is not guaranteed.

Find a Will allows you to search English and Welsh probate records from 1858 by surname and year of death.  Once you find your ancestor's record, you can then order a digital copy, which takes up to 10 working days to arrive.

I have always loved wills and probate records, some of which have included incredible detail about the people listed - their lives, relationships, belongings and values.  

Probate records confirm that the process of administering the bequests and instructions left in a will after a person died were carried out.  They list the names of the will’s executor/s, beneficiaries and witnesses – often the children, relatives or friends of the deceased.  They can even include comments and messages from the testator, illustrating the nature of their family relationships and they include a transcription of the will itself.  In addition, they include the address and occupation of the deceased and their date and place of death.
 Until 1857, probate was the responsibility of ecclesiastical courts run by the Church of England.
From 12 January 1858, a civil Court of Probate for England and Wales was established, with local registries across the country.  The current price cut is only for wills post-1857.

Week 9 - Where There's a Will - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Amy's prompt for Week 9 is Where There's a Will - and I do love wills.  They are fascinating documents and (potentially) give so much information about the family of the individual who wrote it.  Their spouse, children, other dependents, sometimes extended family or business associates - it is always well worth taking the time to see if any of your ancestors left a will.

I have had great luck with wills in my family history research.  They have provided me with invaluable clues - the surnames of married daughters, which children have survived a parent, details of property held and much more.  Getting the most out of the wills I have found has sent me chasing details of executors and witnesses - often relatives, as such a task was not given to strangers.  Who was each person mentioned, and how did they relate to the originator of the will?

My favourite will is that of my great great grandfather David Mulholland, who died in 1902.  The will itself is quite brief and names his wife and surviving children.

Original handwritten will of David Mulholland

A transcription of the will reads :

This is the last will and testament of me David Mulholland of Eurobin near Kilsythe in the Colony of Victoria Farmer.

I give devise and bequeath unto my wife Eliza Jane my dwelling house and furniture and all the land around the house to the railway fence for her life time and each of the two sons pay her five shillings per week for her life time the sons names are Henry and James.  My son David will receive fifty pounds cash.  James will get the homestead paddock and the paddock known as O’Donnell and also the house and land after Mrs Mulholland’s death.  Mrs Mulholland to do with as she likes with the furniture.  Henry is to have all the land across the Ovens River known as Watonga and all the cattle are to be equally divided between James and Henry.  My daughter Mary (Mrs Pape) one shilling and my daughter Ellen (Mrs Stoddart) one shilling.  My daughter Jane twenty pounds.  My daughter Priscilla (Mrs Clark) ten pounds and the balance of the cash to be divided in equal parts between James and Henry after all my debts are paid. 

Considering that David had over 600 pounds in the bank at the time of his death, the daughters who received a shilling each might feel a little slighted, as might his wife who gets to dwell in the farmhouse for the rest of her life but does not own it, and receives 10 shillings a week from the two sons who farmed the land with her husband but she has no money of her own left to her by him.

Also a source of extremely useful information is the probate record attached to the will, especially the Affidavit of Statement which contains a statement of assets and liabilities - basically a list of what David owned and how much it was worth.  The first page of this list (4 pages long in total) details the three parcels of land he owned - subsequent pages listed crops, livestock, farming implements, carriages, harness and saddlery, furniture, cash on hand and money in the bank.  Any debts owed to David, and any debts he owed others were also listed.  All fascinating information and a great insight into the family.

Page 1 of David Mulholland's Statement of Assets and Liabilities

David Mulholland owned 3 parcels of land that formed his farm, and the Statement of Assets and Liabilities details each, and gives quite a bit of information.  For the first parcel of land, it tells us the following details : All those pieces of freehold land containing 132 acres 3 roods and 1 perch more or less being special allot. 6H, allotments 7A and 7B of section 25 and part of allotment B5, Parish of Barrwedgee County of Bogong fenced partly post and two rail partly rail and wire 40 acres partly cleared remainder used for grazing with 3 room stone house with three weather board rooms and outhouses erected thereon municipal assessment 33 pounts per annum valued at 665 pounds.

So much information is contained in wills and probate records, and they are also a record type which dates back to before civil registration, which makes older wills an even more exciting find.  Not all my ancestors left wills of course - many were poor labourers who had little to leave - but every will I have found has furthered my research and given me a much deeper understanding of they lives my ancestors led. 

Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories

Do you have Scottish ancestors?  If so, you will probably be interested in the latest database Ancestry has added to their already considerable holdings.
The new database includes an index and images to the Calendar of Confirmations and Inventories filed in Scotland for the years 1876–1936. Ancestry's website tells us that "In Scotland, probate records are called confirmations and they include a testament and an inventory of the estate. The testament is the court record ordering distribution of the deceased’s estate. Some included wills (testament testamentar) and some did not (testament dative), the latter being more common."
As with probate records everywhere, not everyone filed testaments for a variety of reasons, especially if they had little to leave. The wealthy were more likely to have filed a Confirmation, simply because they had more money, resources and property to distribute. Regardless of your ancestor’s wealth and social standing however, checking the Confirmations way be well worth your time.
The calendar, which began publication in 1876, is separated into a different volume for each year with the entries in each volume are then alphabetised by surname. Information varies across different entries, but each typically includes:

• testament date
• full name of the deceased
• death date and place
• name of an executor (often a relative, but sometimes a creditor)
• where and when the testament was recorded

New post-1858 wills service launches online

Family historians have a new route for accessing copies of their ancestors’ wills following the creation of a new web system.
The Probate Service has launched an online wills index for England and Wales, enabling people to search for any will dating from 1858-1996 and order a digital copy via their computer.  Searchable by name within specific years, the index links to a digitised version of the National Probate Calendar, showing all matching entries from the appropriate volume.  Once the correct person has been found – indicated by details such as address and court where the will was proved – researchers can then ‘click through’ and order a digital copy at a cost of £10 each. The document will then be made available as a download, generally within 10 working days.
Launched on Thursday 11 December, the new system is to act as a replacement for the Principal Probate Registry search room at the Royal Courts of Justice, which will permanently close on Friday 19 December.
While researchers can apply for wills by post or at district probate registries, the London facility has been the only place the complete National Probate Calendar can be accessed by the public. Although scans of Calendar volumes are available through Ancestry.co.uk – used by many when filling out a postal order form – this set only covers 1858-1966.
Thanks to Who Do You Think You Are Magazine for higlighting this new resource.

52 Weeks of Genealogy - Week 3 - Probates (wills and administration)

Shauna has chosen Probates (wills and administration) for her Week 3 topic and tells us that "probate records can fill in missing information on a family, or provide details that would not be found anywhere else or they may just raise more questions. Either way, it is definitely worth checking (usually the records are at the State Archives) to see if there was a will or an intestacy. Remember to widen your search time period as not all estates were wrapped up shortly after death. It may only occur after the death of both partners. There may not be any probate records to find but you will never know unless you look."

I have had quite a bit of luck with wills - many members of my family lived on the land and made wills and some of them are just fascinating reading.  My favourite is the will of my great great grandfather David Mulholland - it provides a great insight into the dynamics of the family.

All the surviving children are named in David's will, including the married names of his daughters but the will itself is an exercise in sexism and favouritism. 

Henry and James, the two sons who farmed with their father get half the land, half the cattle and half the money each after various bequests are filled.  David's wife Eliza gets to stay in their house for her lifetime, but does not own the dwelling.  She may do as she likes with the furniture, however, and Henry and James are to pay her 5 shillings each per week to live on.  Eldest son David, who has his own business, gets £50 cash while unmarried daughter Jane gets £20.  Of the three married daughters, Mary and Ellen get a shilling each and favourite Pricilla gets £10.  The handwritten will is included below.

Shauna tells us "this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world."  Visit her blog here.

Irish Wills database extended

PRONI has extended its wills calendar database to include entries up to 1965, with the data available online now at www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/will_calendars/. This is a great addition to the database, extending it beyond 1943 and filling in the gaps.

The collection is being formally launched today and part of their press release is copied below :

PRONI is pleased to announce details of a public event to formally launch the extension of our Wills Calendar Application. 170,000 additional Will index entries covering the period 1918 – 1921, 1944 – 1965 will be added to this unique resource. These wills were proved in the Armagh, Belfast and
Londonderry District Registries.

This comprehensive index will enable researchers to search over 400,000 Will index entries for the years 1858 – 1965, making this an invaluable genealogical resource.

Victorian Wills on FamilySearch

FamilySearch.org has indexed 1 million records from their State of Victoria probate register collection. The collection covers the years from 1841 to 1989 and generally involves wills. A typical record lists the name of person, date of death, address, occupation, date of testament and a declaration. Most wills list names of children, names of heirs, name of the spouse and name of the administrator of the will. Access is free.

Ancestry.com

Ancestry.co.uk has added a collection of pre-1858 wills. The collection contains about 1 million records. The wills in this collection were managed by the ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England (wills prior to 12 January 1858 were managed by the church). Wills provide a good means of understanding family members and family relationships. A typical will lists spouses, children, and sometimes even parents.
Most early English and Welsh wills from this period were written by people who had to transfer land and significant property. This collection will likely appeal to people who had wealthy ancestors. There are a couple of other things to note before looking at this collection. First, married women were not allowed to own property, so there are few women in the collection. Second, wills were sometimes recorded in the courts years after the person died, so search a wide range of dates after the expected year of death.
I have included as an example the will of my ancestor John Green of Fordham Hall in Essex.  Now all I have to do is decipher the handwriting!

Will Calendars at PRONI

The Will Calendars at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland provides a fully searchable index to the will calendar entries for the three District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry, with the facility to view the entire will calendar entry for each successful search.  The database covers the period 1858-1919 and 1922-1943.  Part of 1921 has been added, with remaining entries for 1920-1921 to follow in the near future.  

Digitised images of entries from the copy will books covering the period 1858-1900 are now available online, allowing users to view the full content of a will.  93,388 will images are now available to view.

Scottish Soldier's Wills

Scottish Soldiers Wills are scheduled to come online in 2014 as part of the commemoration of World War 1.  The wills consist of special forms removed from soldiers' pay books, other army forms, or other documents. They are generally very brief and do not mention individual possessions. They contain limited personal or service history information.
About 31,000 wills survive, of which approximately 26,000 date from the First World War (WW I) and 4,700 from the Second World War (WW II). The rest belong to the period between 1857 and 1966. The wills were written by men up to the rank of warrant officer. About 100 wills exist of officers who were commissioned from the rank during WW I, and a few from WWII. There are wills of some Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel from WW I, and of six women serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II.
The soldiers' wills belong to a special series among the records of the Edinburgh Commissary Office, which received them from the War Office because the men were domiciled in Scotland. Most were not recorded in the commissary registers of the Commissary Office and the sheriff courts.

English Wills

In England, wills fall into two main categories - pre-1858 and post-1858.  Pre-1858 wills were probated in one of two principal courts for England and Wales - the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in the south, searchable at www.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk and the Prerogative Court of York in the north, searchable at www.britishorigins.com.  Below these were other levels of ecclesiastical courts, including what were known as peculiars.
Post-1858 wills were proved at the Principal Probate Registry, established 12 January 1858, and can be searched on Ancestry.  Copies of wills can be ordered at a cost.

Danish State Archives

Probate records from the islands of Sjaelland, Bornholm and Maribo are now online from the Danish StateArchives. Many court records are also now available as well as more records from Copenhagen, including death records and fire insurance records. Being able to use the site in Danish, German or English is a definite plus.  Access is free.