London Probate Records

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

London Probate Courts[edit | edit source]

Return to the London Probate Records page.

Historical Background[edit | edit source]

Probate records of the City of London commence from as early as 1258 up to 1857. There are several probate court jurisdictions for the City of London, some of which hold extensive probate record coverage for the city and there are a few smaller court jurisdictions which only pertain to a small handful of parishes.

If you know in which parish your ancestor may have died or lived, go to the "Middlesex Parishes and Their Probate Jurisdictions" section (below) and search by parish name in order to determine the correct or most likely probate court to search, first.

Next, see the above links to each Middlesex probate court jurisdictions in order to obtain further information for researching in the prime probate court for a will.

If a search in the most likely probate court jurisidiction proves unsuccessful, then search the next court as listed in ranked order, i.e. "no. 2", and etc.

Some Explanatory Notes on the London Court[edit | edit source]

London Parishes and Their Court Jurisdictions[edit | edit source]

Here is a list of London parishes beginning with letter A and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them. For parishes beginning with B-G, H-R or S-Z, click on the letter links.

PARISH	PRIMARY COURT	SECONDARY COURTS - IN SEARCH ORDER
All Hallows Barking	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 3 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows Bread Street with St John the Evangelist	Deanery of the Arches (Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury)	2 - Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral 3 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 4 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows Honey Lane	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 3 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows Staining	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 3 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows the Great and All Hallows the Less	- Court of the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Deaneries of the Arches, Croydon and Shoreham	2 - Archdeaconry Court of London 3 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 4 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows, Lombard Street	Court of the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Deaneries of the Arches, Croydon and Shoreham	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 3 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
All Hallows, London Wall	Archdeaconry Court of London	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory) 3 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Post-1857 Probate Records[edit | edit source]

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 the Principal Registry and the District Registries for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.