Historical background

In 1858, responsibility for probate was transferred from the complex system of church courts to a simpler system of civil probate registries. The search for a post-1858 will become a comparatively easier task. Since 12 January 1858, wills and administrations in England and Wales have been proved and granted in either the Principal Registry of the Family Division, (formerly the Principal Probate Registry), First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1 6NP, or the appropriate district registry. Copies of all wills proved in district registries are held at First Avenue House. Until 1941, the district registries made a second copy of the will which was entered and bound into volumes of register copy wills. It is these volumes of copy wills from the district registries having jurisdiction in Wales which constitute the post-1858 probate records deposited in the Library.

District registries having jurisdiction in Wales

The post-1858 records comprise those from the district registries at St. Asaph, Bangor, Carmarthen, Llandaff and Hereford. The exception is Shrewsbury which covered Montgomeryshire. The following details regarding jurisdictions and record holdings are based on information contained in the typescript schedule of probate records. It should be noted that the jurisdictions reflect the territorial position contemporary with the period of records i.e. 1858-1941, not the current situation. Territorial jurisdiction was abolished in 1926, and the registries at St. Asaph and Hereford were closed in 1928.

Welsh District Registries

The records: their nature and scope

The post-1858 records consist of large bound volumes of copy wills spanning the years 1858 to 1941, when registries ceased to copy wills into registers. They cover all the historic counties of Wales (except for Montgomeryshire), and one English county – Herefordshire. Post-1858 Montgomeryshire wills were proved at the Shrewsbury District Registry whose records are at the Shropshire Record Office.

Contemporary manuscript indexes together with modern card indexes cover most of the records. Deficiencies can be made up by using the printed Calendar of Grants, an annual index of all wills and administrations granted in England and Wales since 1858. This index is available at First Avenue House, most District Probate Registries and some local record offices, and for the period 1858-1972 at this Library.

A brief summary of the holdings for each registry is given below.

Holdings of the Welsh District Registries at the Library