Cumberland Probate Records

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England

Cumberland

Probate Records

Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. Probate records include wills and administrations. This article is about probate records in Cumberland. See England Probate Records for a general description of probate records in England.

1858 to the Present

Beginning in 1858, the Principal Probate Registry had the authority for probating estates. Click on the link to learn more.

Online Records

• 1858-1957 England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1858-1995 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 at Ancestry($); index
• 1858-2019 England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019 at Findmypast($); index

Before 1858

Before 1858, Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process. To search for a pre-1858 probate record in Cumberland, follow these steps:

Step 1. Search Indexes

Before looking for a will, you should search a probate index. It will save time and give a reference to finding a copy of a will. A few indexes are mentioned here. Others indexes, especially if they only index the wills for one court, are mentioned on each court page.

• Index to the Wills Proved in the Consistory Court of Carlisle 1661-1750 at Findmypast - index ($).

Indexes are found in archives and in the FamilySearch Library. Click here to see a list of the library's holdings for indexes and wills. Films can be viewed in the Library or in a FamilySearch Center.

Did you find a reference to a will?

• If yes, go to Step 4 below.
• If no, go to Step 2 below.

Step 2. Identify when and where your ancestor died

Determine when your ancestor died. If you aren't sure, use an approximate date.

Determine where your ancestor died. It is easier to find a probate record if you know whether the place where your ancestor lived or died is a parish. To learn whether it is a parish, look it up in a gazetteer. Here is a link to the 1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales online:

• Vision of Britain

The gazetteer will either tell you:

• A place is a parish, or
• What parish it is a part of, or
• What place it is near.

If the latter, look that place up in the gazetteer and see if it is a parish.

Once you have identified the parish, go to Step 3.

Step 3. Identify court jurisdictions by parish

Once you have identified the parish where your ancestor lived or died, learn which courts had jurisdiction over it then search indexes for those courts. Every town and parish in Cumberland fell under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. Click on a link below for the letter the parish begins with.

A

B-C

D-H

I-N

O-T

U-Z

Step 4. Obtain a copy of the probate record

Once you have found an index reference to a will or other probate record, obtain a copy of the record. Do so by one of these methods:

• Cumberland England Probate Records(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - some images may only be available at a FamilySearch Center or FamilySearch Affiliate Library.
  
• Visit or contact the record office that has the original records in its collection.

Cumberland Probate Courts

The following ecclesiastical courts had some probate jurisdiction over the county of Cumberland prior to 1858. Click on a court name to learn more about its records, indexes and finding a probate for your ancestor. To determine which court, go to the Court Jurisdictions section above.

• Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
• Court of the Archdeaconry of Richmond Western Deaneries - Copeland
• Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)
• Exchequer and Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York
• Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Some Explanatory Notes on the Cumberland Probate Courts

The original probate records are housed in one of four record offices in the following cities: Barrow, Kendall, Carlisle, and Whitehaven. Links to these offices are found on the Cumbria Archive Service site.

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.

Due to contractual agreements, some images and/or databases on FamilySearch.org may only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center or FamilySearch Affiliate Library.