England Finding Chancery Court Cases (National Institute)

Calendars and Indexes
The term calendar usually means an arrangement according to the initial letter of the principal plaintiff’s surname, whereas the term index refers to a completely alphabetical arrangement of names.

Early Efforts
The huge volume of chancery material was not adequately calendared or indexed as it was produced. There are numerous calendars and some indexes to plaintiff’s for different date ranges at TNA, some published and most available through the FHLC (Hill). However, the whole system is bewildering to even an intelligent and experienced family historian let alone a novice. Examples of finding aids include Hughes (1975) at the Society of Genealogists. Many geographical aids exist such as Gardiner’s calendar of chancery proceedings relating to West Country shipping 1388-1493.

Many texts have been written on how to access the material and several of these are still very valuable in understanding chancery records, for example:


 * Sherwood (Chancery Proceedings. Charles Bernau, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, 1908 ) is the classic text written in the chatty style of the time, starting with a description of the Jennens case in 1798 which sparked Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House. He has a plethora of interesting examples for the genealogist.


 * Garrett’s (Chancery and Other Proceedings. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 15 Part 1 in #3 page 97-103; Part 2 in #4 page 139-144) article and booklet (1965).


 * Coldham’s (Genealogical Resources in Chancery Records. Genealogists’ Magazine Part 1 in Vol 19 #10, page 345-347; Part 2 in Vol 20 #8, page 257-260) concise two-part article 1978.

More modern texts include those by Horwitz (Chancery Equity Proceedings 1600-1800. Public Record Office,1998), Moore (Family Feuds: An Introduction to Chancery Proceedings. Federation of Family History Societies), and Hill’s superb 2003 paper (English Genealogical research: Using Chancery Court Proceedings. National Genealogical Society Quarterly Vol 91, page 111-138).

Sherwood Index
This is a slip index compiled by George F.T. Sherwood on 130 films starting at and is in three parts—pre-1599, 1600-1699 in two halves, and post 1699 by decade but is selective not comprehensive.

Bernau Index
Between 1914 and 1929 Charles Bernau and a team of helpers from the Society of Genealogists created a card index to several historical sources, particularly 18th century material. The Bernau Index is available on 615 microfilms with the surname index starting at.

It is mostly concerned with chancery proceedings 1714-1758, but has some from 1350-1800 and a variety of other material such as some:


 * Association Oath Rolls
 * Court of Requests
 * Gentleman’s Magazine
 * The Genealogist Magazine
 * Inquisitions Post Mortem
 * Male Servants Tax
 * Norfolk Quakers
 * Poll Books
 * Records of Officers Services 1829
 * Tontines

It should be emphasized that none of these are complete indexes and it is very much a lucky dip; far better indexes exist for several of these items as well.

Sharp (How to Use the Bernau Index. Society of Genealogists) has a simple guide to using the Bernau Index, but Moore (Family Feuds: An Introduction to Chancery Proceedings. Federation of Family History Societies, 2003) has illustrations of the cards, vary practical step-by-step advice and a quick reference chart for chancery proceedings covered by Bernau.

Earlier descriptions of the Bernau Index are by Bedingfield (My Thoughts on the Bernau Index. Family Tree Magazine Vol 6 #11, page 11-12. [Two errors are corrected by Lawton part 1), and Guy Lawton’s six articles 1991-1993. A further note on other Bernau correspondence is given by the owner, Malcolm Pinhorn (Chancery Proceedings. Genealogists’ Magazine Vol 21 #1, page 33).

The Society of Genealogists Great Card Index, on 626 films commencing at, is another partial index to chancery material but Fitzhugh notes that defendants and plaintiffs names have been reversed!

Online Equity Database
This database being compiled by The National Archives (TNA) with assistance from the Friends of TNA will eventually replace all other finding aids to chancery records. It is searchable by person, place, subject, case details and document number. Some examples of what can be found using this search engine follow.

Chart: Online Equity Database

Each entry gives - Summary (class / bundle / # and date(s); Name of case; All those involved, their part in the case and sometimes other information; Place; Subject of case. Note variations in spellings.

The TNA (formerly PRO) calendars are extremely variable in style and content, but typically give only the plaintiff’s (and sometimes the defendant’s) names. They are difficult to use. Most are part of the PRO published series of Lists and Indexes, and microfilmed so it is possible to do a search completely through the FHLC and then order document copies from TNA. Hill (English Genealogical research: Using Chancery Court Proceedings. National Genealogical Society Quarterly Vol 91, page 111-138) provides an excellent guide for doing this with detailed lists and examples.

The following major indexes to chancery proceedings exist:

The typed Bernau index 1758-1800 gives 25 cases where the plaintiff is Dashwood, for example:

Those getting into research in this area could start with Moore’s inexpensive Family Feuds, which explains the records simply and has illustrations of them and many fully transcribed examples.

Horwitz’ (Chancery Equity Proceedings 1600-1800. Public Record Office) excellent history and comprehensive description of the records (1998) has greater detail on the listings and is heavier reading.

TNA research guides L42 and L22 should be consulted for details on finding pre-1558 and post-1558 chancery proceedings respectively.

Funds in Chancery
Since 1876 the court of chancery has been used by solicitors to deposit moneys when beneficiaries of a will, or next-of-kin could not be found. Family stories often mention money in chancery, estates in chancery or funds in court but the costs of finding and getting it usually far outweigh the amounts received.

The Index to Dormant Funds in Chancery, at least those cases where funds over £50 had remained untouched in court for over 15 years, was printed regularly from 1887 as a supplement to The London Gazette. TNA research guide L21 gives good advice.

A positive story about claiming funds in chancery was provided by Westbury. Although the vast majority of chancery records are at TNA, the researcher should be prepared to encounter copies of material elsewhere. Unett and Tanner describe at length an example of a bill and answer found in the British Library. County Record Offices may also have material related to chancery funds, for example:

TNA research guide gives information on the custody by chancery of the estates of idiots and lunatics.

__________________________________________________________________

Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Court Records-Criminal, Civil and Ecclesiastical offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.