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Volume 1: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Register "Spage", 1480-1490 This volume was the first of the rwo published by the Surrey Record Society, in 1916. It has a particularly detailed introduction, click here to see the whole introduction. The "Spage" Register is the earliest record of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey which has been preserved. The first will entered was proved on 16 July 1484, and the latest record of probate was on 25 January 1490. How long previously the Court had been in existence we cannot say. Three wills (SW/1_11, SW/1_160 and SW/1_253) of earlier date than 1484 have for some reason been inserted in "Spage," and one of these (SW/1_11), probate of which was granted on 19 October 1480, is stated to have been proved "coram nobis offic. Surr."; the Court was therefore in existence at least as early as 1480. No argument can be based on the absence of more ancient Registers, for the records may have been carelessly kept or lost. In the neighbouring Archdeaconry of London there is a Register covering the period from 1393 to 1415, whilst the next Register which has been preserved belongs to the 16th century. The later records of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey extend with some gaps to 1821. They are now preserved at the London Metropolitan Archives. Acknowledgements The "Spage" abstracts (volume 1), first published in 1916, are based upon a transcript made for Dr A. V. Peatling, F.S.A. presented by him to the Surrey Record Society. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, F.S.A. was responsible for the revision, comparison with the original, calendaring of Latin entries and compilation of the Introduction. Mr T. Craib compiled the index and assisted with the calendaring. Read full introduction Volume 2: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Register "Mathewe", 1490-1524 The Original Register: The second Archdeaconry Court of Surrey will register, register 'Mathewe', is contained in a paper volume 12" by 8 " has been rebound in whole linen and boxed. Parts of the edges (especially the corners) have been strengthened but the volume remains at present (1997) unfit for production. There are 209 folios in the register, with folio 11 missing. A manuscript index has been inserted in front of folio 1. The register contains nine administrations on folios 7, 8, 21, 23, 35, 42, 46 and 47 (SW2_21, 25, 67, 75, 108, 131, 147, 148, 151); two sequestrations on folios 16 and 25 (SW/2_49, 79) and a com. ad colligend on folio 29 (SW/2_90). There are 440 items in the register, the earliest being a will of 10 July 1488 (Walter Hunt; SW/2_26) and the latest being probate of 25 Jan 1524/5 (John Myllust; will dated 3 Dec 1524; SW/2_443). For some unexplained reason, there are few wills in the 1504-12 period, none at all being recorded of those made in the years 1506-08. Register 'Mathewe' marks the basic changeover from Latin to English as the normal language of the wills. There are 259 wills in English and 177 in Latin. Of the 184 fifteenth-century wills only 40 are in the vernacular; of the 253 sixteenth-century wills only 40 are in Latin. The year 1500 (a plague year) seems to be the pivotal year; eighteen wills made in it are in English, sixteen in Latin; for the next two or three years the numbers seem to remain roughly equal, with English gradually increasing its already slight ascendancy. Evidence is lacking for the next decade, but by the resumption of regular registration c.1513, wills in Latin are a rarity. It is very common in this register for no witnesses to be given - unlike other register abstracts in this series, this has not been specifically noted. At this time both priests and knights were accorded the title 'Sir'; in the vast majority of cases it can be determined that a priest is meant, and the word priest has been silently appended in these cases. In a few cases 'Sir' has been left as it is not clear whether priest or knight is meant. The Latin is in places very difficult, at least to this poor scholar [Cliff Webb], and in some places there are blanks, queries and words of uncertain meaning enclosed in single inverted commas. However, the major contents of register 'Mathewe' are now open to use by those with no Latin or palaeography. Volume 3: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Register "Mychell", 1529-1532 The Original Register: The third register in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series is called 'Mychell', as usual, after its first testator's surname. It is 11" by 8", paper, and was repaired, guarded and filed in 1975. The folios do not start until 97 (and then run to 208), which presumably accounts for the gap between it and register 'Mathewe' which ends in 1525. Mention is made on the last page that the book belonged to Ralph White, notary public in Bath and Wells and official of the Court of Arches, and after his death to Robert Johnson, notary public, his successor as registrar to the Archdeacon of Surrey. The register contains 258 wills from the period 1529 to 1532. The register is in general, though not strict, chronological order. One entry shows the value of wills to all sorts of historians. Will SW/3_170 makes it clear that the south aisle of West Horsley church, previously dated by historians only very vaguely to the sixteenth or first quarter of the seventeenth century [see Surrey Archaeological Collections 22 p.168, 1909], was erected shortly before 1530. Volume 4: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Register "Heats", 1532-1538 The Original Register: Register 'Heats', named as usual after its first testator James Heats, is the fourth register to survive in the archives of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, deposited at the LMA. The register is 12" x 8 " and paper, bound in whole cloth and boxed. Folios run from 1 to 237. Parts of folios 13 and 31 have been torn off. There are two folios 168, one of which has been lettered 'a' in pencil, but 'bis' in contemporary hand in ink. The vast bulk of the wills are from the period 1532-1537, though there are two from 1531, and one stray item from 1527. There are a total of 510 wills in the volume. Acknowledgements. Grateful thanks are due to Miss J. Coburn of the Greater London Record Office for permission to produce this edition, to her assistants in that office, but in particular Mrs J. Kenealy for making the original available for final checking and her support at every stage of editing. The work would have been infinitely prolonged but for the kindness of John Janaway of Surrey Local Studies Library, in making photocopies of the register available. Volume 5A: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Register "Pykman", 1538-1541 This volume has a particularly detailed and informative introduction by Cliff Webb, which gives information not just on the Pyman register abstracts, but generally on wills in Tudor times and later. The full introduction discusses in detail the structure of Tudor wills. The "Pykman" register of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey covers the period February 1538 to May 1541. It is the fifth register to survive in the archives of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, deposited at the LMA (reference DW/PA/7/5). In the manner of many such registers it is named after its first testator, Richard Pykman (pronounced Pikeman). It contains a total of 395 wills. The original register: The register is of 10«" x 7 " paper, rebound in whole cloth and boxed. The register seems to have consisted originally of 231 folios, foliated in Romans. At some point the register was rebound, paginated and an index compiled. At that point certain folios (63-88, 137-160 and 164-184) were missing. Most of these were recovered, and are now kept separately from the bound register. Folios 149, 152, 155, 158-160 and 222 remain missing. On their arrival at Somerset House, after the centralisation there of the probate records of many courts with jurisdiction in south-eastern England after the abolition of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in 1858, George Rodman, one of the archivists (though the term did not then exist) corrected the index, added foliation to the pagination in that index, and had bound in the list of entries. He then provided a contents list for folios 63-88, 137-184 (excluding the gaps) and 223. When the register was rebound (apparently late in the eighteenth or early in the nineteenth century) the binder cropped the folios, which were originally 11¬" x 8". Folios 63, 150-151, 153-154, 156-157 and 223, though loose, were cropped in like manner, but the remainder of the loose folios remain their original size. Folio 3 is inserted reversed so that folio 3r appears after folio 3v, as are folios 5 and 6. When the register was microfilmed, and since the register is "unfit for consultation" the film must be used, the bound volumes was filmed first and then the loose folios. Thus the order on the film (GSU film 0097153) is folios 1-63, 89-137, 186-221, 224-231, 63-88, 138-185, 223. As with all early wills, there are difficulties in reading the often idiosyncratic text, though almost all of Pykman is in a single hand. Many years ago, an abstract was made of the first seventy folios. In this abstract, of which there are copies at the Greater London Record Office, the Surrey Record Office and with West Surrey Family History Society, the wills have been rearranged in alphabetical order of parish of testator. For the purposes of completing this work, the old abstract has been word processed, restoring the abstracts to the original register order. An abstract was then made of folios 71-231, completing the work. Read full introduction Volume 5B: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey 1542-1544 The Original Register: This volume, British Library Ms 24925, is clearly a stray will register, or quasi-register from the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, filling a small part of the gap between registers "Pykman" (Volume 5A) and "Tully" (Volume 6) [LMA refs. DW/PA/7/5-6] (1541-59), which is only very partially filled by the surviving original wills. The register is of paper and approx. 8 1/2" x 12 1/2", and has a late 18th or early 19th century binding of morocco leather, with ornate marbled end-papers. At the front there is a note that the register was 'purchased at Messrs Boon 12 July 1862'. Its provenance prior to appearing in this sale is unknown. The first two folios of the register consist of a 19th century list of the wills it contains. This has not been copied. The main portion of the text consists of folios 3-25, and contain the details of some 60-odd wills. This modern foliation in pencil and arabic numerals supercedes the original, contemporary foliation in ink and roman numerals. At an intermediate, probably 19th century, date, the volume has been paginated in ink; this pagination, which follows the current order of the folios has been ignored in this work. When the register was re-bound, the folios were not kept in the same order as the original foliation. There follows a concordance of the new and original folio numbers:
This rearrangement causes less disruption to the text than one might suppose, since the clerks did not frequently allow a will to run on from one folio to the next, but that there was originally more to this register than now survives is shown by the fact that folios 1 and 12 are missing and that the will of John Alynson which is the last will on original f.25 ends in mid-sentence, and clearly continued on now-lost f.26. Most of the text is in a single hand, though there are some wills in other hands. Acknowledgments Thanks are due to the British Library Board for granting Cliff Webb access to this manuscript, and for allowing both these abstracts to be made, and for slips for the wills concerned to be entered into the Surrey Wills index. Volume 6: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Tully", 1542-1544 The Original Register: The register is 11 " by 8¬". There are 299 folios. The binding case is missing and several leaves are loose; the whole is kept in a box case. Due to misfoliation there are no folios 31-39 and there are two folios 214. At least one folio at the end is missing. The earliest will had probate granted on 1 April 1559, the latest on 3 July 1561. In total there are 385 wills. This register follows a gap from 1541, when the wills appeared to have been unregistered, though the unregistered wills survive. For the first part of this register, the unregistered wills survive also (though they have not generally been collated except where there was uncertainty in reading the register). This remains, therefore, an abstract of the register. When checking doubtful cases, there was found occasional items such as lists of debtors which were not registered; in addition the abstracts were made from print-out from film; the chances of errors are far greater with this method than with transcription from the original, but this was all that circumstances made possible. Many wills registered in the second half of the register do not have unregistered wills surviving. After this register there is a long gap in registers to 1595, though again many unregistered wills survive in this period. Some wills in this volume enable us to give prices on common goods at the time. For example, two wethers (castrated pigs) cost 6s 8d, a brass pot cost 5s, two bullocks £1 13s 4d or £2. In will SW/6_63 a horse cost 14s. Widows often leave quite detailed wills, the lengthiest will in the volume is indeed from a Cicely Bolton, widow (SW/6_13). Volume 7: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Herrimgman", 1595-1608 This volume was one of the two originally published by the Surrey Record Society (the other being Volume 1: "Spage"). It contains the largest number - 1,213 - abstracts in the Surrey & South London Will Abstracts series. Acknowledgements This volume was based upon work originally done by Mr A. J. Jewers, who presented it to the Society. Miss Ethel Stokes collated this work with the original Registers and added valuable subject-matter. Volume 8: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Berry", 1608-1615 The Original Register: This register is 16 in. x 10 in. paper and contains 410 folios. The register mainly covers the period 1608 to 1615, though there is a will as early as April 1607. It contains 839 wills, though there is a little duplication. Volume 9: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Stoughton", 1614-1621 The ninth in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of will registers was named (as usual after the surname of the first testator in the register) 'Stoughton'. The earliest will had probate granted on 28 March 1614, the last on 10 March 1620/21. In total there are 627 wills. The Original Register: The register is 16¬" by 10«". There are 348 folios, folios 343-348 (and folio 38) being blank. There are two folios 25 marked 'A' and 'B' and folios 62-66 are missing, while f.174 follows f.175, and is in turn followed by a second folio 175. The first is marked '175A' and the second '175B'. There is no folio 254. This archive was filmed in the 1950s by the Genealogical Society of Utah. Only wills where there was difficulty in reading a word or words have generally been checked against the filed will. However, no general collation between the register and the filed will has been attempted, and this remains, therefore, an abstract of the register. When checking doubtful cases, occasional items were found such as lists of debtors which were not registered; in addition the abstracts were made from print-out from film; the chances of errors are far greater with this method than with transcription from the original, but this was all that circumstances made possible. Volume 10: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Peter", 1615-1623 The tenth in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of will registers was named (as usual after the surname of the first testator in the register) 'Peter'. The earliest will had probate granted on 6 April 1615, the latest on 18 September 1623. In total there are 571 wills, though only 566 had been counted when the index to these wills prepared by Cliff Webb was published in 1990. In some cases, these wills are duplicated either within this register or with wills recorded in other registers, and this may account for this discrepancy in number, only different wills being counted in the printed index. The Original Register: The register is 15«" by 10«". There are 299 folios. Folio 111 is marked '111 and 112' and there is no folio 112, the entry at the end of folio 111 continuing without interruption at the beginning of folio 113. There are two folio 257s, one of which is marked 257A. Here they have been rendered folios 257A and 257B to be consistent with normal practice in such matters. This archives was filmed in the 1950s by the Genealogical Society of Utah; folios 44v-45r were not filmed and have been copied from the original register, as there are no filed wills for 1618 which is their year. Other wills where there was difficulty in reading a word or words have generally been checked against the filed will. However, no general collation between the register and the filed will has been attempted, and this remains, therefore, an abstract of the register. When checking doubtful cases, there was found occasional items such as lists of debtors which were not registered; in addition the abstracts were made from print-out from film; the chances of errors are far greater with this method than with transcription from the original, but this was all that circumstances made possible. Volume 11: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Yeast", 1622-1631 Register "Yeast" is the eleventh in the series of pre-Commonwealth will registers of the Archdeaconry of Surrey. The Original Register: Like most registers of this period this one appears to have been made up from a number of loose gatherings, with only rough regard for chronological order. The following folios are missing: 43, 85, 236, 305, 542, all due to misnumbering, and folios 237 and 303-304 are blank. There are two folios 1, 267, 327 and 437 (labelled 1A and 1B, etc.). There are also two folios 286 but one will runs right through both folios. In quite a number of cases where the parish is not given in the body of the will, and is therefore not in the register, it has been written on the filed will. This has been systematically searched for and the parish given (silently) in the abstract, as have any differences between the draft of the abstract and the index of wills (published as British Record Society Index Library volume 99), but other than this the filed wills have not been searched for other discrepancies with the register. Volume 12: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey 'Farmer', 1627-1639 The twelfth in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of will registers was named 'Farmer'. (as usual after the surname of the first testator in the register, John Farmer). The earliest will had probate granted on 3 April 1627, the latest on in February 1638/9. In total there are 1,075 wills. In some cases, these wills are duplicated either within this register or with wills recorded in other registers, and this accounts for any discrepancy in number with the printed index (British Record Society 99, 1990), only different wills being counted in the printed index. The Original Register: The register is 15½" by 10½". There are 529 folios. There are no folios 86-89 and there are two folios 114, 127, 159 and 182, none of which are differentiated in the original. Here they have been rendered, e.g. folios 127A and 127B to be consistent with normal practice in such matters. There are also two folios 468, but these have been differentiated A and B in the original, as well as here. This archive was filmed in the 1950s by the Genealogical Society of Utah; folio 235v-236r was not filmed and have been copied from the original register. No general collation between the register and the filed will has been attempted, and this is, therefore, an abstract of the register. Its GSU microfilm call number is 0097157, its London Metropolitan Archives microfilm call number is X/32/9. Volume 13: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey "Harding", 1639-1649 Register 'Harding', which this volume abstracts, is the last pre-1650 register in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. In the late 1640s the numbers of wills proved started to fall steeply. Whereas in the 1630s, it was normal for this court to prove well over a hundred wills a year, only 44 were proved in 1646, thirty-odd each in 1647 and 1648 and only twelve in 1649. After 1649, any wills that would have been proved in the court were proved instead in the central probate registry, whose records are stored with (and to some extent indistinguishable from) the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Only with the Restoration was the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey reconstituted and probate business resumed. The Original Register: Register 'Harding' measures 15½" by 10½"; the folios run from 1-504. There are no folios 495-98, while folios 312 and 504 are blank. However, there are two folios 149, which are not differentiated therein. When the register was filmed folios 490v-491r were inadvertently omitted. They have been copied from the original. The original has also been checked where a reading was doubtful from the film or print-out obtained from the film. There are 972 wills in the register, extending in date from April 1639 to May 1649. It is quite frequent in this register for probate to be granted not to the executors themselves, but to named parties variously described as proxies or surrogates to the executors. These names have been omitted, and the probate act silently rendered as 'to exec.' in this abstract. In other respects, this abstract follows others in this series. Volume 14: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey filed and unregistered wills 1534-1558 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of filed wills starts in 1534, but there is but a single will for that year, then one for 1538. The 1534 will (William Upfold of Cranleigh; SW/14_1) was in fact registered, though an abstract is given here simply because it is the first in the series. The 1538 will (Robert Richardson of St Margaret Southwark; SW/14_2) is thus the first actual unregistered will. The next filed wills date from 1543, and from then there are filed wills for most years up to 1649. At certain periods, including the whole of 1560-93, there are no registers, and only the filed wills survive. For some periods both filed wills and registered copies survive. In this early period, the only will register containing wills which also survive as filed copies (with the solitary exception of the William Upfold will referred to above) is register 'Tully' (London Metropolitan Archives reference DW/PA/7/6). Wills appearing in that volume have already appeared as Volume 6 of this series and are not repeated here. The wills are filed roughly in the date order of probate for 1534-1557, but in roughly alphabetical order in 1558. Both 1557 and 1558 are years with large numbers of wills, especially the latter, due to there being a plague at this time. The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series (Volumes 14-18). This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. Volume 15: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey filed and unregistered wills 1561-1571 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of filed wills starts in 1534, and abstracts of all the wills up to and including the year 1558 appeared in Volume 14, the immediate predecessor to the current work. Most wills in 1559 were registered into Register 'Tully' (Volume 6). A few 1559 wills were not registered, and these were abstracted in Volume 18. No wills survive at all for 1560. There are no registers for the period 1560 to 1593, only the filed wills survive. The present work contains the 674 wills which survive for the period 1561-1571 inclusive. Within this period, wills survive for some years in considerable numbers, while some years such as 1565 are clearly very defective, and no wills survive at all for 1564, 1566 or 1567. The wills are filed roughly in the date order of probate during this period. The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series (Volumes 14-18). This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. Volume 16: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey filed and unregistered wills 1572-1581 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of filed wills starts in 1534, and abstracts of all the wills up to and including the year 1571 appeared in Volumes 14 and 15, the immediate predecessors to the current work. Most wills in 1559 were registered into Register 'Tully' (Volume 6). A few 1559 wills were not registered, and these were abstracted in Volume 18. There are no registers for the period 1560 to 1593, only the filed wills survive. The present work contains the 648 wills which survive for the period 1572-1581 inclusive. Within this period, wills survive for some years in considerable numbers, while some years such as 1572 are clearly very defective, and no wills survive at all for 1573 or 1577. The wills are filed roughly in the date order of probate during this period. The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series (Volumes 14-18). This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. Volume 17: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey filed and unregistered wills 1582-1594 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of filed wills starts in 1534, and abstracts of all the wills up to and including the year 1581 appeared in Volumes 14, 15 and 16, the immediate predecessors to the current work. Most wills in 1559 were registered into Register 'Tully' (Volume 6). A few 1559 wills were not registered, and these were abstracted in Volume 18. There are no registers for the period 1560 to 1593, only the filed wills survive. The present work contains the 812 wills which survive for the period 1582-1594 inclusive. Within this period, wills survive for some years in considerable numbers, while some years such as 1583-85 and 1589-90 are clearly very defective, and no wills survive at for 1594. On the other hand over 200 wills were filed in 1593, a year of heavy mortality due to the plague The wills are filed roughly in the date order of probate during this period. The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series (Volumes 14-18). This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. Volume 18: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey filed and unregistered wills 1559, 1595-1648 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey series of filed wills starts in 1534 with a single survival and another single item from 1538. The next filed wills date from 1543, and there are then filed wills for most years up to 1649. At certain periods there are no registers, and only the filed wills survive. For some periods both filed wills and registered copies survive. In the earliest period, the only will register containing wills which also survive as filed copies (with the solitary exception of the will of William Upfold, SW/14_1) is register 'Tully' (London Metropolitan Archives reference DW/PA/7/6), abstracted in Volume 6. A few wills from 1559, which should be registered in 'Tully' (Volume 6) are in fact missing there, and are here abstracted at the end of this volume (abstracts SW/18_301 to 310). There are no registers between the end of 'Tully' (Volume 6) and the beginning of register 'Herringman' (London Metropolitan Archives ref. DW/PA/7/7; abstracted in Volume7) in 1595. The present volume contains abstracts of filed wills not registered in 'Herringman' and its successors up to the end of the reign of Charles I, the last of which is register 'Harding' (London Metropolitan Archives ref. DW/PA/7/13; abstracted in Volume 13). The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series (Volumes 14-18). This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. Volume 19: Commissary Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1662-1673 During the visitation of the Bishop of Winchester, the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey was 'inhibited', i.e. suspended. Before the Civil War, wills processed during the visitation were proved in the Bishop of Winchester's own court, whose records are at the Hampshire Record Office. After the Restoration the Bishop appointed a Commissary to act during that period. The Commissary was also empowered to grant administrations, a power not given to the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. The first will register of the Commissary Court of Surrey starts in 1674, but the series of filed wills starts in 1663. There are various indexes and act books which mention wills as early as 1662, and an appendix to this work lists wills noted there, but for which the original does not survive. There has even been some loss since the series was filmed in the 1950s, and a few abstracts are taken from the films of wills now apparently lost. Only the filed wills survive for this period. The term 'original wills' is sometimes used for this series. This is a misnomer, as most of the filed wills are office copies, not the originals, which presumably went to the executor. 445 abstracts of wills are given up to 1673, and notes of 253 more now lost. Volume 20: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1660-1671 From 1649, any wills that would have been proved in the Archdeaconry Court had been proved instead in the central probate registry, whose records are stored with (and to some extent indistinguishable from) those of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Only with the Restoration was the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey reconstituted and probate business resumed. The register which this volume abstracts is the first post-1660 register in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. To the registered wills, abstracts of unregistered wills in the same period have been appended. The register contains 855 wills and 137 further unregistered wills are abstracted. The Original Register: This register is neither foliated nor paginated. The quires are numbered however, and there are 73 quires of 16 pages in the register, which thus contains 584 folios or 1,168 pages. [2000] Volume 21: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1671-1679 The register which this volume abstracts is the second post-1660 register in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. To the registered wills, abstracts of unregistered wills in the same period (36 in number) have been appended. The register contains 626 wills. Among the interesting wills in this register is that of Elizabeth Newcomen (Sw/21_413). She set up a charity school in Southwark, whose name was remembered in school names into the nineteenth century. It should be noted that terms denoting relationships as stated in wills of this period are not always the same as in use now. In particular, cousin may mean cousin, but was frequently used for nephew or niece. While the term 'in-law' was used frequently, firstly it may refer to a step or half blood relationship, and is frequently omitted altogether. No attempt has been made to 'correct' these usages here, which might be even more misleading. The Original Register: This register is numbered in quires of 24 pages per quire. There are 45 quires in the volume. Volume 22: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1680-1689 After the Restoration there was a restoration of episcopal authority both generally and in probate matters. In the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey there are two successive registers of wills immediately following 1660. These cover 1660-1679 and, together with unregistered wills of the same period, were abstracted in Volumes 20-21 of this series. However, there is no register of this court for the period 1680-89. It is not certain if one was compiled and later lost, though this seems likely, since a register starting in 1690 does survive, and there is a register for the Commissary Court of Surrey for the same period. Many of the wills are annotated with the value of the inventory and occasionally with the date the inventory was taken. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves do not survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories (eg SW/22_70). It should be noted that terms denoting relationships as stated in wills of this period are not always the same as in use now. In particular, "cousin" may mean cousin as we understand it, but was frequently used for nephew or niece. While the term 'in-law' was used frequently, firstly it may refer to a step or half blood relationship, and is frequently omitted altogether. No attempt has been made to 'correct' these usages here, which might be even more misleading. Volume 23: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1690-1695 After the Restoration there was a restoration of episcopal authority both generally and in probate matters. In the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey there are two successive registers of wills immediately following 1660. These cover 1660-1679 and, together with unregistered wills of the same period, were abstracted in Volumes 20-21 of this series. There is no register of this court for the period 1680-89. The unregistered wills were abstracted as Volume 22 of this series. The registers now resume, and this index contains abstracts of the register (DW/PA/7/16) which covers this period and the few unregistered probate documents for the period. Many of the wills are annotated with the value of the inventory and occasionally with the date the inventory was taken, also sometimes with information as to the date of death of the testator. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves do not survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories. This was a period of war, and many of the wills are of sailors. Many died in the service of King William III and Queen Mary II, and their wills are frequently annotated to this effect, giving the name of the vessel they were in when they died. Since these men died abroad, this will usually be the only record available as to their deaths, and so is especially valuable. Sailor's wills of this period were usually made on printed forms, and in almost every case the testator leaves a very simple will bequeathing everything to one person, usually his wife, 'attorney and executrix' (eg It should be noted that terms denoting relationships as stated in wills of this period are not always the same as in use now. In particular, "cousin" may mean cousin as we understand it, but was frequently used for nephew or niece. While the term 'in-law' was used frequently, firstly it may refer to a step or half blood relationship, and is frequently omitted altogether. No attempt has been made to 'correct' these usages here, which might be even more misleading. Volume 24: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1695-1699 After the Restoration there was a restoration of episcopal authority both generally and in probate matters. In the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey there are two successive registers of wills immediately following 1660. These cover 1660-1679 and, together with unregistered wills of the same period, were abstracted in volumes 20-21 of this series. There is no register of this court for the period 1680-89. The unregistered wills were abstracted as Volume 22 of this series. The registers then resume, and abstracts of the register (DW/PA/7/16) which covers 1690-95 and the few unregistered probate documents for the period appeared as Volume 23. A new register covers the period 1695-99 (DW/PA/7/17) and once again there are a few unregistered wills, abstracted at the end. The register is paginated in a modern hand. Many of the wills are annotated with the value of the inventory and occasionally with the date the inventory was taken, also sometimes with information as to the date of death of the testator. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves do not survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories. This was a period of war, and many of the wills are of sailors. Many died in the service of King William III and Queen Mary II, and their wills are frequently annotated to this effect, giving the name of the vessel they were in when they died. Since these men died abroad, this will usually be the only record available as to their deaths, and so is especially valuable. Sailor's wills of this period were usually made on printed forms, and in almost every case the testator leaves a very simple will bequeathing everything to one person, usually his wife, 'attorney and executrix'. Quite frequently the will is witnessed by his shipmates. See Example SW/23_529 It should be noted that terms denoting relationships as stated in wills of this period are not always the same as in use now. In particular, "cousin" may mean cousin as we understand it, but was frequently used for nephew or niece. While the term 'in-law' was used frequently, firstly it may refer to a step or half blood relationship, and is frequently omitted altogether. No attempt has been made to 'correct' these usages here, which might be even more misleading. Volume 25: Commissary Court of Surrey registered wills, 1674-1696 During the visitation of the Bishop of Winchester, the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey was 'inhibited', i.e. suspended. Before the Civil War, wills processed during the visitation were proved in the Bishop of Winchester's own court, whose records are at the Hampshire Record Office. After the Restoration the Bishop appointed a Commissary to act during that period. The Commissary was also empowered to grant administrations, a power not given to the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. The first will register of the Commissary Court of Surrey starts in 1674 (London Metropolitan Archives Ref. DW/PC/7/1), but the series of filed wills starts in 1663, with a few earlier index entries only. Wills in the period before 1674 were abstracted in Volume 19 in this series. In many cases the filed will has been annotated with the value of goods given in the inventory (though the inventories themselves do not survive). This has been added in round brackets after the reference, with the occasional other detail revealed in the filed will, and not entered into the register). Abstracts of the 1,119 wills in this register are preceded by four wills (and succeeded by one) of the period which were (for whatever reason) unregistered. There are, therefore, 1,124 wills contained in this volume of abstracts. Volume 26: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1700-1708 After the Restoration there was a restoration of episcopal authority both generally and in probate matters. In the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey there are two successive registers of wills immediately following 1660. These cover 1660-1679 and, together with unregistered wills of the same period, were abstracted in Volumes 20-21 of this series. There is no register of this court for the period 1680-89. The unregistered wills were abstracted as Volume 22 of this series. The registers then resume, and abstracts of the registers (DW/PA/7/16 and DW/PA/7/17) which cover 1690-99 with the few unregistered probate documents for the period appeared as Volume 23 and Volume 24. The next will register (LMA: DW/PA/7/18) covers the periods Jan 1699/1700 - Dec 1702, Jan 1704/5 - Sep 1708 with one declaration of Jun 1703. The next surviving will register does not begin until 1722, There are a substantial number of unregistered wills in the period 1700-1708 (indeed only one 1703 will was registered and none for 1704), and these appear first. Then appear abstracts of the registered wills, and finally a single unregistered will which had been missed on the first check. In total there are 1,034 wills abstracted in this volume. Many of the wills are annotated with the value of the inventory and occasionally with the date the inventory was taken, also sometimes with information as to the date of death of the testator. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves do not survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories. This was a period of war, and many of the wills are of sailors. Many died in the service of King William III and Queen Mary II, and their wills are frequently annotated to this effect, giving the name of the vessel they were in when they died. Since these men died abroad, this will usually be the only record available as to their deaths, and so is especially valuable. Sailor's wills of this period were usually made on printed forms, and in almost every case the testator leaves a very simple will bequeathing everything to one person, usually his wife, 'attorney and executrix'. Quite frequently the will is witnessed by his shipmates, as in Example SW23_529. Volume 27: Commissary Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1697-1728 During the visitation of the Bishop of Winchester (or during vacancies in the post of Archdeacon), the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey was 'inhibited', i.e. suspended. Before the Civil War, wills processed during the visitation were proved in the Bishop of Winchester's own court, whose records are at the Hampshire Record Office. After the Restoration the Bishop appointed a Commissary to act during that period. The Commissary was also empowered to grant administrations, a power not given to the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. The first will register of the Commissary Court of Surrey starts in 1674 (London Metropolitan Archives Ref. DW/PC/7/1), but the series of filed wills starts in 1663, with a few earlier index entries only. Wills in the period before 1674 were abstracted in Volume 19 and from 1674 to 1697 in Volume 25 in this series. There is no will register for this period, and so it is the filed wills which have been abstracted, with the occasional detail from the act books. In many cases the will has been annotated with the date of death. Also a note is usually made where the value of the testator's goods falls below two thresholds £5 and £20. The inventories themselves hardly ever survive. This has been added after the reference. One or two wills appear on the film of this period, but are not now to be found. It must be assumed that they are lost. There is also a stray Wiltshire inventory on the film. The will and a note of the existence of the inventory were transferred to the Wiltshire Record Office with the other probate material of the Wiltshire courts, but this inventory was not so transferred and it must be assumed lost. All these documents have been abstracted in this work. There are no filed wills in the Commissary Court in the year 1707. They may have been lost, there may have been no Episcopal visitation that year or they may have been filed with the Archdeaconry series. It is noticeable that there are more than the usual number of wills filed in the Archdeaconry Court that year. There are 784 wills contained in this volume of abstracts. Volume 28: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1709-1715 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey probate records do not contain will registers after 1709 until 1722. The first part of this hiatus, filled by the filed wills, is copied here, containing abstracts of all wills proved in the court between 1709 and 1715. Volume 29: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1716-1721 There are no registers of wills for this period in the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, so these abstracts are taken solely from the filed wills. Many of the wills are annotated with the value of the inventory, also sometimes with information as to the date of death of the testator. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves do not survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories. Volume 30: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1722-1727 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey will registers continue with London Metropolitan Archives Reference DW/PA/7/19 which contains the wills of this court from Apr 1722 to Dec 1725. There is no folio 318 due to misnumbering. Volume 31: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey unregistered wills, 1728-1730 There is a further gap in the will registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey from 1728 to 1730. These abstracts are taken from the filed wills only, therefore. Many of the wills are annotated with the date of death of the testator. This information has been added in round brackets after the reference. The inventories themselves only very rarely survive for this period, though a few wills list goods in such detail that they virtually represent inventories. Volume 32: Commissary Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1728-1730 The Commissary Court only normally proved wills when the Archdeaconry Court was 'inhibited' by the visitation of the Bishop of Winchester (normally during a period around late April, May and early June each year). However, the court could prove wills of clergymen outside this period, since they were always under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Occasionally (inevitably) a non-clerical will is found outside these normal bounds. The wills registers in the Commissary Court resume after some 30 years in 1729. The first register in the resumed sequence Register 'Pinfold' [LMA: DW/PA/7/2] named not, as is usually the case with will registers, after the first testator, but after a clerk of the court, contains the wills from 1729 to 1739. The register is paginated and has 251 completed pages. The next register, register 'Cheslyn' [LMA: DW/PA/7/3], also named after a clerk, contains the wills from 1740 to 1746. It is neither paginated nor foliated. The final register abstracted in this set of abstracts has the old name register Caesar [LMA: DW/PA/7/4] and contains the wills from 1747 to 1762. It is divided into 29 numbered quires of eight folios per quire. There are just three unregistered wills in the filed papers of this court for this period which have been added at the end of the other abstracts. Volume 33: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered wills, 1727-1733 The Archdeaconry Court of Surrey will registers continue with London Metropolitan Archives Reference DW/PA/7/20 which contains the wills of this court from January 1725/6 to September 1727. The next register (DW/PA/7/21) contains the wills from January 1730/1 to December 1733 and is also abstracted herein. No register survives for the period of late 1727 to the end of 1730, and unregistered wills 1727 to 1730 form a separate volume (Volume 31) in this series. These abstracts continue in the same format as previous ones in this series. Once again, the register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. Volume 34: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered wills, 1734-1739 The will registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey continue. These abstracts continue in the same format as previous ones in this series. Once again, the register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. Volume 35: Commissary Court of Surrey registered wills, 1763-1857 The Commissary Court only normally proved wills when the Archdeaconry Court was 'inhibited' by the visitation of the Bishop of Winchester (normally during a period around late April, May and early June each year). However, the court could prove wills of clergymen outside this period, since they were always under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Occasionally (inevitably) a non-clerical will is found outside these normal bounds. The wills registers in the Commissary Court continue, four registers covering the period of the abstracts in this volume. The registers continue to be named: 'Harris' 1763-1779 now London Metropolitan Archives Ref: DW/PC/7/5, 'Adderley' 1780-1800 now LMA Ref: DW/PC/7/6, 'Rothery' 1801-1828 now LMA Ref: DW/PC/7/7 and 'Sumner' 1829-1857 now LMA Ref: DW/PC/7/8. There are just three unregistered wills in the filed papers of this court for this period which have been added at the end of the other abstracts. The following filed wills are unfit, and it has not been possible to search them for the additional information such as date of death and value of probate which sometimes appear on them: DW/PC/5/1766/2; DW/PC/5/1769/2; DW/PC/5/1769/33; DW/PC/5/1771/5; DW/PC/5/1775/2; DW/PC/5/1777/11; DW/PC/5/1777/15; DW/PC/5/1780/9/1; DW/PC/5/1782/7; DW/PC/5/1785/6; DW/PC/5/1788/8; DW/PC/5/1808/2; DW/PC/5/1814/1; DW/PC/5/1847/1/2; DW/PC/5/1853/2. In addition DW/PC/5/1788/1 is currently missing. Volume 36: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered wills, 1740-1745 The will registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey continue. These abstracts continue in the same format as previous ones in this series. Once again, the register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. Volume 37: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered wills, 1746-1751 The will registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey continue. These abstracts continue in the same format as previous ones in this series. Once again, the register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. Volume 38: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1752-1762 The will registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey continue. These abstracts continue in the same format as previous ones in this series. Once again, the register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. A few unregistered wills have been appended. Volume 39: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1763-1777 The register entries have been annotated with further matter from the filed wills. These consist of (a) additional documents such as bonds and inventories and (b) manuscript annotations on the filed wills concerning the size of the estate and when the testator died. A few unregistered wills have been appended. Volume 40: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1778-1800 Archdeaconry Court of Surrey Will Register reference DW/PA/7/31 has been the victim of very poor contemporary foliation. There is no folio 208; when folio 240 is reached it is actually numbered 340, but when folio 352 is then reached, the next folio is numbered 153. Then when folio 190 is reached there follows folio 200. The folios following folio 215 are numbered from 208. There is then no folio 288, due to misnumbering. Finally, there are two folios 392 (numbered A and B in the abstracts). This makes the value of including the folio numbers in these abstracts dubious in the extreme - they have been included, very reluctantly, but they will only mislead those who fail to read the introduction. Volume 41: Archdeaconry Court of Surrey registered & unregistered wills, 1800-1821 The first and by far the largest part of this volume is an abstract of the last will register of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. This now constitutes London Metropolitan Archives reference DW/PA/7/33 containing wills from October 1800 to December 1821. It is also contains a small group of six unregistered wills from this period. After this register ends, there is no continuing volume, only filed wills to the end of the Court's existence in 1858. As usual at this period some idea of the date of death is given. Not infrequently this is exact, but more often such formulas as 'died last month' and 'died within three months' were used. Occasionally, it is clear that no information was forthcoming, and the clerk would merely say 'died since February 1805' or some such. In these cases February 1805 is the date of the will, and since this adds no information this has not been copied. Estates generally were organised in bands (1) under £5; (2) under £20; (3) under £100; (4) under £300; (5) under £450; (6) under £600 (7) under £800 and the occasional bigger estate rounded up to the nearest £500. Later, c1818, another band of under £200 seems to have been introduced. Occasionally, the exact amount or a nearer approximation is given while in other cases a more exact amount is first written and then crossed through and the approximation substituted. It may be assumed in the latter cases that the crossed out amount is, in fact, a nearer estimate of the actual value of the estate than the amount finally given - these crossed out amounts have, therefore, been given in the abstracts suitably annotated. |