Essex Probate Records

For a general 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:

When did your ancestor die?
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.

Essex Probate Courts

The following probate courts had some jurisdiction over the county of Essex prior to 1858:

In addition, the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole of England. Wealthier individuals, people who owned property in more than one county or lower court's jurisdiction, and Naval personnel often had their estates proven through the Archbishop's court.

Appeals Courts

Any probate that was disputed and could not be settled by the county courts could be sent to these higher appeals courts:

Some Explanatory Notes on the Courts in Essex

Probate records for the first nine courts listed above are located at the Essex Record Office.

Records and indexes for each court are also available in the collection of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Search the Family History Library Catalog for the title of the court or the court as an author.

Essex Parishes and Their Probate Jurisdictions

Here are links to an alphabetical list of Essex parishes containing a prioritized list of courts with jurisdiction over each. To see which courts to search for probates of persons living in or owning property in particular parish, click on the letter the parish name begins with.

A

B

C

D-F

G

H-K

L

M-N

O-R

S

T-V

W-Z

Probate Indexes

Before looking for a will, you should search an index.

Online Indexes

A general will index for Essex County is available online. This single index consolidates just about all Essex county wills of the various probate court jurisdictions into one database.

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk/earlscolne/probate/index.htm

This online website is a listing of a few transcribed wills.

Printed Indexes

If the indexes on the Internet do not produce possible wills for your ancestors, look in the published indexes listed here.

The Essex County Record Office compiled and published a complete surname index covering wills and administrations from the first eight Essex County probate court jurisdictions listed above (through the Liberty of Sokens). The index is available in three volumns at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City:

Emmison, F. G., ed. [Index to] Wills at Chelmsford. London: s.n., 1961, by the British Record Society. (FHL book 942 B4b vols. 78, 79 & 84; also on microfilms 0962739 and 0962740, and on microfiche 6073796, 6073797, and 6073802.)

Other printed indexes are found listed on the court pages. Click on the court name links above.

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.