Derbyshire records and wills

[Zen Rabbit]

Just a general query.
Where would I go for Derbyshire records?
Would Derbyshire wills be held at Litchfield or elsewhere?

[Jan1954]

According to this website (derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/record_office/records/default.asp - put https://www. in front) the records are being temporarily housed at County Hall in Matlock as the other offices are undergoing refurbishment. However, they do have an online catalogue.

[Coromandel]

Would Derbyshire wills be held at Litchfield or elsewhere?

It depends on the date.

After 1858

You need to check the National Probate Calendar, which lists grants of probate and administration in England and Wales. Much of this is now on Ancestry. You can then send off for copies of wills. There are details of the procedure on a sticky in the wills forum I think.

The Derbyshire Record Office have a 'large quantity' of wills from 1858 to 1928 (which I think I read somewhere else is the date the Derby Probate Registry was closed). You can search their index of these records here:

https://www.
derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/record_office/records/wills/search_wills/default.asp

Before 1858

Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Some Derbyshire wills would have been proved at the PCC. These will be included in the National Archives catalogue and can be downloaded for £3.50 (or maybe a bit less: I think the price has gone down!).

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/wills.htm

Consistory court
An index to 'wills proved in the Lichfield Consistory Court and the various peculiar courts whose records are preserved at Lichfield Record Office', plus grants of letters of administration and inventories, for 1650-1750, can be found here:

https://www.
staffsnameindexes.org.uk/StartPage.aspx?Mode=Details&Index=C

For an index to earlier Lichfield wills see

https://
wishful-thinking.org.uk/lichdb/index.html

Archdeaconry courts
'In many dioceses, each archdeaconry had its own probate court. In Lichfield, this did not happen and the Consistory Court is the main court for the whole diocese.'

GENUKI provides a useful list of online and offline indexes/transcripts covering Derbyshire wills:

https://www.
genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/ProbateRecords/about.html

[Peter Goodey]

See also https://yourarchives.nationalarchives...robate_Indexes

It's not necessarily up-to-date.

[Zen Rabbit]

Excellent Pete!
I'll get searching

[edna1912]

Have you looked on Wirksworth Parish Records on line there are some wills on there?

[Zen Rabbit]

No. Thanks I'll check that out

[janbooth]

FindmyPast have recently put a lot of Lichfield Wills online so it could be worth your while to do a free search there and, if you find any Wills that interest you, then pay to download them.

Janet