Barnsbury Will

[caliope]

Hello!

I have come across my great grandfather's (John Twose) will in an Index to Death Duty Register. He died 14 Oct 1896 and the page listing his name gives his name, his residence (Barnsbury), dod, executor, registry (looks like "PR"), number of affidavit and will or admon folio (looks like "W"). Can anyone help in what the registry, # of affidavit and will or admon mean on this register? Also, any information on if/how I may obtain a copy of this will would be very much appreciated!

Thank you,

Liz

[Mythology]

"registry (looks like "PR")"

PR = Principal Registry = London

"Also, any information on if/how I may obtain a copy of this will would be very much appreciated!"

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm

I don't know where you live, so which is most convenient for you - I order mine over the counter at Holborn, but if you use the Postal Service mentioned there, writing to York, it's still a fiver, so it makes no odds as far as the cost is concerned.

[caliope]

Thank you for that information.

If I write to them do I just give them the information I have from the Death Duty Register along with the cheque? Sorry to be so vague about this but I'm in Canada and am not sure of how to go about this.

Thank you for your reply and help!

[Elly]

Just send the full name of the deceased, address and date of death to the York sub-registry, together with your cheque. I gather they are currently taking about 6-8 weeks to turn round requests.

Postal Searches & Copies Dept
York Probate Sub-Registry
1st Floor, Castle Chambers
Clifford Street
York
YO1 9RG

Elly

[Mythology]

Yes, as Elly says, that's all you need.

Including anything that you got from that entry is only likely to confuse the issue, because you are looking at two different things.
What you have is an index - not a "register" - and it is an index to the Death Duty Registers - big books relating to tax paid etc.
This is not the same as the "National Probate Calendar" referred to on the Court Service web page, which is the index to wills and administrations. The Death Duty Register index can be handy as a quick way of finding whether or not there's a will or administration (I can't remember what an 1896 page looks like, but I'd assume that "W" means it's a will, not just an administration grant), but references in that index to a folio or whatever are to things in the Death Duty Register, not to the will itself, apart from the Registry. That is vaguely relevant in that it tells you which registry the will was proved in, but you don't need to know that to order the will by post from York - the National Probate Calendar, which they'd use to look it up, is, as its title suggests, national, so they'll find it whichever Registry it was proved at. They say there's a £5 search fee, which may lead you to think that it's going to cost you more if you don't have all the detail, but the "search fee" includes the cost of the will if there is one - you only lose out if you're applying with crossed fingers when you don't know whether there's a will or not, and nothing turns up.

[Mythology]

Afterthought.

The exception would be if you had a will that was not proved until a good few years after the person's death, as the search fee only covers four years from the death date, and the National Probate Calendar, like the Death Duty Register index, goes by the date the will was proved, not the date the person died. So, if you had someone who, say, died in 1873 but you found them in the Death Duty Register index in 1887, that would be relevant when applying for the will to avoid extra charges of £3 per extra four years on the search. One of mine died in 1866 but the will wasn't proved until twenty years later, 1886 - I'll admit that I have it easy here, a bus straight to Holborn from the bus stop about five minutes walk away in the High Road, but I'm rather glad I knew that from the National Probate Calendar rather than applying by post with crossed fingers!

[caliope]

Thank you, Elly, for the address and info and to Mythology for the additional background information which helps to clear some things up. How I wish I was in England to do all of this but this website is fantastic!

Will write to the York Sub-Registry as soon as possible.

Thanks again!

Liz