Valerie Storie provided the following summary:
In England and Wales many Wills survive for us
family historians to ponder over. The date to
remember is 1858. Before then, probate (or proving
the Will) was granted by up to 300 ecclesiastical and
lay courts - from the Prerogative Courts of
Canterbury (PCC) and York (PCY) down to Archdeaconry
Courts. After that date, the Principal Probate
Registry came into being.
Historically anyone with goods worth £5 or more -
£10 in London - could make a Will, even boys of 14
or girls of 12 BUT until 1882 a married woman could
not make a Will without the consent of her husband.
If you find a Will left by a female ancestor then she
was invariably a widow. If a woman died
everything belonged to her husband. In 1882 the
Married Women's Property Act was introduced whereby a
married woman could own and bequeath property by Will
in her own right.
In theory a Will relates to 'realty' which means
the disposal of property and rights; a Testament
refers to personal possessions or 'personalty'.
Nowadays we just use the word Will to cover both
terms. Early documents follow a similar pattern
-
"In the Name of God Amen. I (name)
of (place) beinge sicke and weake in Body but
sounde in minde.." and so on.
The last bit about being of sound mind was very
important in case someone tried to contest the Will.
The religious overtones in these early Wills were a
precaution - hedging one's bets as it were - not
necessarily a sign of devoutness, remembering that
the courts proving the documents were ecclesiastical.
A Will was not usually made until the man was ill
and close to death. Few actually penned their own
Will but got a friend, or local parson maybe, to
write it down but no matter who wrote it, the
document had to be signed (name or 'his mark') in the
presence of witnesses - all of whom had to sign too.
Should the testator be literally dying with no time
for his wishes to be written down or witnessed then
the document becomes a Nuncupative Will indicating it
was made orally and signed later by witnesses.
Such Wills were unlawful after the Wills Act of 1836/7.
If you are lucky, an Inventory survives; soon
after death a couple of friends of good standing
would list everything owned by the deceased, room by
room, putting a value on the items, Also
included were monies owed (debtors or creditors), all
livestock, tools of trade, barrels of beer, even
clothes, bedding and cooking pots. (One of my
'nth' great grandfathers had 4 chamber pots!!)
These documents are fascinating, a social history of
the times, and give a real insight into the everyday
life of our forebears - and show us just how few
possessions were needed for day-today living.
The house and land (realty) always went to the
eldest son although provision was normally made for
the widow to continue living in the house during her
lifetime. Personal effects were divided into
one-third for the widow (in dower or known as the
widow's thirds), one-third divided between the
children and the remaining one-third divided as he
wished but it covered funeral expenses etc.
A Will had to be proved with the appointed
executors swearing on oath s to the legitimacy of the
document. If no Will was made the Letters of
Administration (Admon) would be applied for and
granted by the ecclesiastical court to the next of
kin or chief creditor.
Wills and associated documents before 1858 are
mainly to be found in the Public Record Office or
County Record Offices for PCC Wills and PCY Wills are
at the Borthwick Institute in York. After that date
copies of Wills can be found at First Avenue House in
London. Indexes are available giving names, dates,
residences and so on; these Calendar Indexes are
often available at District Registries and CRO's.
A Will can be most useful in unravelling
relationships within a family, perhaps throwing up an
hitherto unknown relative or revealing feuds between
sons, daughters and their spouses. With the
names of grandchildren showing who belonged to whom
etc, a Will can be a miniature family tree all of its
own.
Briefly, these are the points given by Jean Debney
- there are numerous booklets available such as a
Gibson Guide on where to look for Wills and others
from FFHS on interpretation and so on. Check
out the list on the BFHS Bookstall!
