Berkshire

Berkshire Wills and Administrations 1508-1652

British Record Society volume 8

Published 1897

Edited by W.P.W. Phillimore

Read the Introduction to the Original Volume, published in 1897.

Locating the original documents

The original documents are at the Berkshire Record Office, Reading. Copies can be obtained by visiting the Berkshire Record Office or by ordering copies by post. Charges for photocopies and for photographs are set out at the Berkshire Record Office website.

Information necessary to obtain a copy of the original document:

• Testator's name
• Date of will
• For common names include the place of abode

About the index

Which diocese is involved?

Diocese of Salisbury

What court or courts are included?

This volume indexes records of the Archdeacon Court from 1508 to 1652.

What does the index include?

This is an index to testators named in wills and administrations.

The index was based mainly on the registers of wills and the act books in which grants of administration were entered. The editor noted all administration bonds but the will entries are from will registers not the wills themselves, which were consulted only when a will failed to match an entry in the register.

In addition to indexing the names of testators, the index includes occupation and place of residence if those details were given. If the place of residence was not mentioned in the will, the index includes the place of burial (prefixed by “b.”).

Names are arranged alphabetically by name, but not in strict order as some names may appear in groups of related variations.

Christian names and place names were modified for the preparation of this index to facilitate searches, unless there was doubt as to the modern equivalent or the most usual spelling.

A few stray wills from other counties - notably Hampshire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire - will be found in the present list. There are a considerable number of wills of University of Oxford men, as well as clergymen.

Dates of wills are the dates of probate unless otherwise stated. The dates are given in “old style.”

Reference numbers - if known, state whether or not they remain valid.

Berkshire Probate Records 1653-1710

British Record Society volume 87

Compiled by Jasmine Howse

Read the volume's original introduction.

Locating the original documents

The original documents are at the Berkshire Record Office, Reading. Copies can be obtained by visiting the Berkshire Record Office or by ordering copies by post. Charges for photocopies and for photographs are set out at the Berkshire Record Office website.

Information necessary to obtain a copy of the original document:

• Testator's name
• Date of will
• For common names include the place of abode

About the index

Which diocese is involved?

Diocese of Salisbury

What court or courts are included?

This volume indexes records of the Archdeacon Court from 1653 to 1710.

What does the index include?

This is an index to testators named in wills and administrations and some other probate documents.

The index had been compiled mainly from the original loose probate documents. The compiler worked from a variety of sources including: wills, administration bonds, probate inventories, testamentary cause papers about disputes, and about 200 copies of Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills of Berkshire people.

The registers and act books are defective for this period and it is fortunate that the loose documents make up for this. Administrations were entered into a register which was prepared at a later date, probably in 1730. This is the source of information about administrations contained in this index.

In addition to names, occupations and places of residence are included in the index. If there are two documents or more and more than one occupation mentioned, both appear in the index.

Place information includes all the details found in the documents. The spelling has been standardised to that found in the Victoria County History.

In the index variants of one surname are grouped under the most usual modern spelling of the name. The search tool is not affected by the grouping.

Dates of wills are the dates of probate unless otherwise stated. The dates are given in “old style.”

Reference numbers – if known, state whether or not they remain valid.