Release 230 000 World War I Wills/Letters by Soldiers on their way to battle

[ev]

Just spotted this , not sure if it has been mentioned before -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23861821

ev

Added -
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

[ev]

You’ll be able to access the wills for 31 days.
You may have to wait up to 10 days for some documents.
Wills are provided for personal use only: you must get the relatives’ permission if you want to publish them in any way.

Looks like there is a £6 charge(for viewing ?)

Scottish informal Wills(from paybooks , I think) are referenced here -
http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/ (Click on the search button at the top)

ev

[dawnsh]

The Probate Service acknowledged they had these wills the best part of 2 years ago. They donot appear in any of the calendars.

Glad to see they have finally got their act together and started to make them available.

HMCTS charge £6 for a copy will and/or grant of representation so this is the same fee.

I haven't got the need for one but hope they have managed to sort out online payments as this is a 'first' for them.

Dawn

[Stephen Nulty]

Only the search function is available at the moment, there is no "Payment" process working.

[t mo]

an American company called iron mountain are the ones who did the digitising apparently , read it in daily mail online this am .
regards
trevor

[Midlad]

Hi,
       Thanks for the link ev.

I have just found my great uncle who died in France in 1915  have paid for his will

which I have been informed will be downloaded within 10 working days and will be available to view

for 31 days from the download date.

Midlad.

[dawnsh]

Iron Mountain manage the storage facility where all the wills are kept. They are not stored onsite at the Principal Registry in Holborn any longer.

Dawn

[irret]

Quote
Her Majesty's Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) has worked with Iron Mountain to digitise its historic archive of 230,000 WW1 wills, written by soldiers as they headed to the Western Front.
Does anyone know where /when available to search please?

[GrahamSimons]

Info here on Iron Mountain website:
http://www.ironmountain.co.uk/news/2013/impr08292013.asp

which links to the will index on HMCTS website:

https://www.gov.uk/probate-search

I found one of mine in about 20 seconds! Still need to send off for the will though