Lancashire, England, Index of Wills and Probates Proved at Richmond and Chester, 1600-1858

General collection information

This index includes wills and probates proved at the Archdeaconry of Richmond and Diocese of Chester in Lancashire, England. The records are dated between 1600 and 1858 and may include your ancestor's name, a date and place of death, or where they were last known to be living, but it doesn't include a copy of your ancestor's will or probate record.

Using this collection

Wills and probate records can offer details about your ancestor's life, such as names of family members and the value of an estate. The index is designed to help people find their ancestor's original records.

The index may include the following information:

These records may reveal whether your ancestor owned property and if they were wealthy, however, filing a will with a church was a common practice even for people who didn’t own property. Clergymen saw it as part of their duty to make sure that their parishioners had settled their earthly affairs before death.

Collection in context

The index was created by the Lancashire Archives as a secondary source designed to help find wills and probate documents.

Nb: The first release will include indexes for probates proved at Richmond and we will be updating the collection with indexes for wills proved at Chester over the next year.

Bibliography

Lancashire Archives. "Our Collections." Accessed February 14, 2022. https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-record-office/.

---. "Wills and Probate and Lancashire Archives." Accessed February 14, 2022. http://user.xmission.com/~nelsonb/probateguide2Jun09.pdf.