Wills

Before 1858

Prior to this system of civil probate registries, the granting of probate of wills and the issuing of letters of administration was dealt with by church courts. As there were some 300 of these courts it can be difficult to establish the location of pre-1858 wills.

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Probate for most people living in Wolverhampton is likely to have been dealt with by either the peculiar of the Royal Free Chapel of Wolverhampton or the consistory court of the Bishop of Lichfield. Records for these are held at Lichfield Joint Record Office and date back to the sixteenth century.

The wills are indexed alphabetically by the initial letter of the surname and the indexes are held at Lichfield Joint Record Office. Transcripts of the Wolverhampton entries in the indexes are available at Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies.

There is an index to Staffordshire probate records c.1550-1856 available from the
Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry.

Although wills for most Wolverhampton people prior to 1858 are likely to be held at Lichfield, there will be some amongst the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) at the Family Records Centre (1 Myddelton Street, London, EC1R 1UW). Probate records for those who died at sea or abroad or who owned property in more than one diocese would be in the PCC records. However, anyone had the right to use this court and, as it was more prestigious, probate would sometimes be dealt with by the PCC instead of the local courts. Non-conformists, in particular, used the PCC in order to avoid many dealings with the established church.

Indexes to PCC wills are available as follows

1383-1700, 1750-1800 have been published and are available in reference libraries 1701-1749 typescript index available at Public Record Office & Family Records Centre.

1801-1852 yearly calendars available at Public Record Office & Family Records Centre.

Wills at Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies

Copies of some wills are available at Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies. When probate was granted, a probate copy of a will would be granted to the executors. Some of these have survived and have been deposited in record offices, usually as part of a collection of family papers.
For a list of wills and administrations (in format) available at Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies Click here.