Shropshire Probate Records

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Probate Records

Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. Probate records include wills and administrations. This article is about probate records in Shropshire. See England Probate Records for a general description of probate records in England.

1858 to the Present

Beginning in 1858, the Principal Probate Registry had the authority for probating estates. Click on the link to learn more.

Online Records

1858-1957 England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
1858-1995 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 at Ancestry($); index
1858-2019 England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019 at Findmypast($); index

Before 1858

Before 1858, Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process. To search for a pre-1858 probate record in Shropshire, follow these steps:

Step 1. Search Indexes

Here are some online indexes to probate records that include individuals who lived in Shropshire. Search these indexes first:

Start with:

1521-1860 England, Staffordshire, Dioceses Of Lichfield and Coventry Wills and Probate, 1521-1860 — How to Use this Collection; indexes & images; Also at Findmypast, ($).

1570-1790 Lichfield and Coventry Wills Index. This court covers the northern half of Shropshire.

The following are links to records in the FamilySearch Library catalog.

Registered wills and original wills, administrations and inventories, 1494-1860, and, act books, 1532-1638 for Diocese of Lichfield Episcopal Consistory Court. [1]These include calendars--chronological records of the court's proceedings--not technically name indexes.
Original wills, administrations and inventories for the Diocese of Hereford, 1517-1858 [2]. The Diocese of Hereford covers the some of the western and almost all the southern part of the county of Shropshire.
Mynegai i ewyllysiau Llanelwy St. Asaph probate index, 1660-1858. [3] St Asaph's Diocese covers the Shropshire parishes of Halton, Kinnerley, Knockin, Llanyblodwel, Llanmynech, Melverley, Morton, Oswestry, St. Martins, Selattyn, Trefonen, Whittington.
Abstracts and indexes of original wills, Consistory Court, St. Asaph's Diocese, Wales, 1557-1833. [4] St Asaph's Diocese covers the Shropshire parishes of Halton, Kinnerley, Knockin, Llanyblodwel, Llanmynech, Melverley, Morton, Oswestry, St. Martins, Selattyn, Trefonen, Whittington.
Shropshire probates in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, calendar/index 1700-1749. [5]

A general will index for the Diocese of Lichfield exists online, a scanned edition of P.W. Phillimore's publication by the British Record Society in 1892, Calendars of Wills & Administrations in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Lichfield. This single index consolidates most Staffordshire wills of the various probate court jurisdictions from 1514-1652 for the Diocese of Lichfield and to 1790 for Staffordshire smaller peculiar courts. [6]

Did you find a reference to a probate record?

If yes, go to Step 4 below.
If no, go to Step 2 below.

Step 2. Identify when and where your ancestor died

Determine when your ancestor died. If you aren't sure, use an approximate date.

Determine where your ancestor died. It is easier to find a probate record if you know whether the place where your ancestor lived or died is a parish. To learn whether it is a parish, look it up in a gazetteer. Here is a link to the 1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales online:

Vision of Britain

The gazetteer will either tell you:

A place is a parish, or
What parish it is a part of, or
What place it is near.

If the latter, look that place up in the gazetteer and see if it is a parish.

Once you have identified the parish, go to Step 3.

Step 3. Identify court jurisdictions by parish

Once you have identified the parish where your ancestor lived or died, learn which courts had jurisdiction over it then search indexes for those courts. Every town and parish in Shropshire fell under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. For a list of Shropshire parishes and the pre-1858 ecclesiastical courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, click on a letter link for the name of a parish:

A

B-E

F-L

M-P

Q-Z

Step 4. Obtain a copy of the probate record

Once you have found an index reference to a probate, obtain a copy of the record. Do so by one of these methods:

Shropshire England Probate Records(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - some images may only be available at a FamilySearch Center or FamilySearch Affiliate Library.
Visit or contact the record office that has the original records in its collection.

Shropshire Probate Courts

Most of Shropshire (also known as Salop) was under the pre-1858 probate jurisdiction of either the Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory) or the Court of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Episcopal Consistory). The majority of probate searches will be in the records of these two courts and their superior courts. However, the following smaller courts also had some pre-1858 jurisdiction within the county. Click on a court name to learn about records and indexes.