Cumberland Probate Records

England  Cumberland

The following article is about probate records in the county of Cumberland. To read general information about English probate records click here.

Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process prior to 1858. To look for a probate record before this time:

1. Discover when and where your ancestor died. If you don’t know, use the approximate date and place where they lived.
   
2. Go to a list of courts that had authority over a place. It's called a jurisdictions table.
   
3. Click a letter or span of letters to see the table. The letters are below in the section called Court Jurisdictions.
   
4. Start a search in the court named in the first column, labeled Primary Court.
5. Click on the name of a court to learn more about finding and using its records. 

Beginning in 1858, authority over probate matters was taken from ecclesiastical courts and put under the civil authority of the Principal Probate Registry. The Post-1857 Probate Records section below contains links to additional information about the records of this court.

Cumberland Probate Courts

• 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)

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 probated 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:

• Court of Arches
• High Court of Delegates
• Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Court Jurisdictions

Before 1858, every town and parish in Cumberland was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts.  When searching for the will of an ancestor, find the name of the town or parish where he/she lived in the jurisdictions lists below. Go to the list of places by clicking on a letter or series of letters below.

A

B-C

D-H

I-N

O-T

U-Z

If you don't know where your ancestor lived, search every court. If no will is found, your ancestor may not have left one.

Probate Indexes

The following Web site contains an index to several parishes in Cumberland. Indexes for only one court are listed in the article for the specific court.
Wills of Cumberland: Abstracts of Cumberland Probate Records pre-1858  is being compiled.

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. Start by using the country-wide surname index. Doing so will simplify the process of locating an abstract.

Original records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service.  To learn more, go to the HMCS Web site.The Family History Library has film copies of some of the records.