Percentage of 1858- probate records on Ancestry vs those that exist.

[majormonkey]

Hi all,

does anybody know the how complete the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 on Ancestry is?

Most of my ancestors do not appear in the indices, but even if they left no will, should they not be listed in the calendar?

Thanks
John

[lizdb]

As far as I know it is pretty complete, after all it has the images from the index books.

If the deceased person left a will, then there will be an entryin the index as Probate will havebeen granted to enable the executors to carry out their duties.
If the deceased didnt leave a will, then someone may apply for Letters of Administration to enable them to deal with the deceaseds estate, and if this is the case there will also be an index entry. However, this was not always needed - sometimnes a bank or suchlike would require it before releasing funds, but many of our ancestors never had bank accounts - their "estate" was probably just a few clothes, maybe a  couple of chickens and if they had money it was probably tucked under the mattress! So there would be no need for Letters of Admin, and thus no record.

[dawnsh]

Most of my ancestors do not appear in the indices, but even if they left no will, should they not be listed in the calendar?

Thanks
John

Hi John

Could I ask why you think that a person who did not leave a valid will to be probated should appear in the probate calendars?

The only reason I can suggest that an entry may not easily be found is that when the calendars were compiled by the courts, a typograhical error in the name appeared. The entry will be there but spelt differently. eg: Double check both variations of surnames beginning Mc or Mac.

If you suspect that a person left a will but there is no entry when you do a search on Ancestry, check the actual images as the Ancestry database is littered with transcription errors.

Do a search on these first names: Look for the amendments made to the Geroge's (George), no amendments made to the Wiliiam's or Willliam's, there are 3 Ailce's, the list goes on.

Always do a 5 year search from the year of death and actually look at the images not just the transcriptions.

Dawn

[majormonkey]

Thanks,

My confusion was over the letters of administration, which appears in the indexes if there was no will. I understand (correct me if i'm wrong) now that if there was no will and someone applied for lettters of administration, only then will it be recorded in the index.

[dawnsh]

If a grant or representation exists for a Letter of Administration where there was no valid will, then there will be an entry in the calendars.

[dawnsh]

This might help

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/family-history

[GrahamSimons]

One other point for finding names: double-barrelled surnames are (mostly) indexed by the second half, so Fotherington-Thomas will be found under Thomas, and Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes under Fiennes.