After 12 January 1858 the administration of wills for England and Wales was taken over by government. Wills were proved, and letters of administration granted, by local probate offices. These were sent to the Principal Probate Registry, now known as Principal Registry of the Family Division, London. The indexes or ‘calendars’ are now available to view in several places and in different formats.

At the Probate Registry:
• These Calendars are arranged by the year the will was proved, not date of death – in some cases there can be several years’ delay.
• Information within Calendars includes name of testator, county, place and date of probate grant, reference number.
• You will need to search thoroughly for variant spellings.
• Be aware that names are sometimes added at the end of the page.
• The wills do not generally include inventories.
• While listed chronologically and alphabetically by surname initial, names are then mixed, so entries for Jones, for example, can be found scattered among other names beginning with J.
• Up to 1870, letters of administration (in cases of intestacy) were indexed separately so a double search is needed.
• Copies of wills can be obtained by post using given reference.

At other places:
• For those who cannot travel to London, local LDS Family History Centres hold microfiche of calendars 1858-1957. For your nearest centres, visit www.familysearch.org
• Calendars 1858-1943 are also held at The National Archives, Kew
• Many county and diocesan records offices hold national indexes and originals of local wills including signatures and inventories.
• The Estate Duty Office (later the Inland Revenue) created lists of all wills and administrations attracting Death Duties from all Probate Courts in England and Wales. Theoriginal indexes are held by The National Archives, London, England, series IR27

Further reading
• Wills and their whereabouts – Anthony J.Camp, 1974 London
• Probate Jurisdictions; where to look for wills – J.S.W. Gibson 1982 FFHS.