London Church Records

England  London  London Probate Records

Parish History

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The term probate refers to a collection of documents, including wills, administrations (also called admons), inventories, and act books.

Before 1858, every parish was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. Here is an alphabetical list of London city parishes beginning with A through F and the probate courts that had jurisdiction over them. Click on the link for the letter that a parish name begins with.

G-R

S-St C

St D-H

St I-S

St T-Z

1. Find the place where your ancestor lived in the first column.
2. Click on the court name in the second column to learn where to find the records and indexes.
3. Click on each name of the court in the third column if the record isn't found in the first court.
4. Search last the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

If no will is found, your ancestor may not have left one.

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)
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)
All Hallows Honey Lane	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows Staining	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows the Great and All Hallows the Less	- Deanery of the Arches (Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury)	2 - Archdeaconry Court of London 3 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows, Lombard Street	Deanery of the Arches (Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows, London Wall	Archdeaconry Court of London	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Barnard's Inn	Search the courts of the surrounding parishes	.
Christ Church, Newgate Street with St Leonard, Foster Lane	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Endell Street (Holborn)	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Furnival's Inn	Search the courts of the surrounding parishes