Hampshire Probate Records

England > Hampshire

For an explanation of probate records in England, click here.

Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his/her heirs. 

In order to find a probate record for your ancestor, you must answer two questions:

1. When did your ancestor die?
2. Where did your ancestor live or own property?

A key date is 1858, when probate authority was taken from the ecclesiatical courts of the Church of England and given to the civil government. 

• If your ancestor died before 1858, his/her probate would have been proven by an ecclesiatical court and it is important to know where he/she lived, as that will determine which courts had jurisdiction. 
• If you know where your ancestor lived before 1858, you should go to the Court Jurisdictions section below to determine what courts had jurisdiction over your ancestor's place of residence. 
• Beginning in 1858, probate authority was vested in the Principal Probate Registry system.  For more information, scroll to the Post-1857 Probate Records section at the bottom of the page.

Once you have answered the two questions and determined the courts, look for indexes.  Indexes will be found on the individual court pages (when you click on a court name) or in the Probate Indexes section below.

Court Jurisdictions

Before 1858, every town and parish in Hampshire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary ecclesiastical court and one or more secondary ecclesiastical courts.  Here is a list of places in Hampshire beginning with the letter A and the pre-1858 ecclesiastical courts that had probate jurisdiction over them.  Search the courts in the order given.  Search indexes first.  For indexes, click on a parish name or see Probate Indexes Online below.

To see other Hampshire parishes, click on the letter that the parish begins with:  B-C, D-H, I-O, P-U, V-Z.

PARISH	PRIMARY COURT	SECONDARY COURTS - IN SEARCH ORDER
Abbot’s Ann	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aldershot	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Alresford	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Alresford, Old	Pre-1845 - Court of the Peculiar of Old Alresford with New Alresford and Medstead; Post-1844 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	Pre-1845 2 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and the Archdeaconry of Winchester Post-1844 2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Alton	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Alverstoke	Pre-1845 - Court of the Peculiar of Alverstoke with Gosport; Post-1844 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	Pre-1845 2 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and the Archdeaconry of Winchester Post-1844 2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Ampfield	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Amport	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Andover	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Andwell	Search the courts of the surrounding parishes	.
Appleshaw	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Arreton (Isle of Wight)	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Ashe	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Ashley	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Ashmansworth	Mid-1500s-1800 - Court of the Peculiar of East Woodhay with Ashmansworth; Post-1770 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	Mid-1500s-1800 2 - Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and the Archdeaconry of Winchester Post-1700 2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Avington	Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and Archdeaconry of Winchester	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Probate Indexes Online

Before looking for a will, you should search an index.
http://calm.hants.gov.uk/DserveA/search.htm

Hampshire Record Office

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/BRKwills/

This is a collection of about 1000 abstracts of probate documents relating to people residing in the neighbourhood of the towns of Hungerford and Wantage in Berkshire. Since Hungerford is on the County boundary there is some spread into Wiltshire and to a lesser extent into Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritage/index.php

905 probate documents under place of Hampshire
The first stage of our on-line catalogue project provides access to a detailed catalogue of wills, 1540-1858, held in the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives (also known as Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office). The catalogue also contains (for about 25% of the wills) digital images of probate records.
 

Post-1857 Probate Records

Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system.  The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London.  The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service.  To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills.  The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.