Derbyshire Probate Records

England Derbyshire

Getting Started
Probate is the legal process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. This article is about probate records in Derbyshire. For a general description of England probate records, click here.

1850 to the Present
Beginning in 1858, the Principal Probate Registry had the authority for probating estates. Click on the link to learn more.

Before 1858
Before 1858, Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process. To search for a pre-1858 probate record in Sussex, follow these steps:

Step 2. Identify when and where your ancestor died
Determine when your ancestor died. If you aren't sure, use an approximate date.

Determine where your ancestor died. It is easier to find a probate record if you know whether the place where your ancestor lived or died is a parish. To learn whether it is a parish, look it up in a gazetteer. Here are links to gazetteers online.


 * Vision of Britain

Once you identified the parish, go to Step 3.

Step 3. Identify court jurisdictions by parish
Once you have identified the parish where your ancestor lived or died, learn which courts had jurisdiction over it then search indexes for those courts. Every town and parish in Derbyshire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. Most of the county was under the primary jurisdiction of the Court of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Episcopal Consistory) and the secondary jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which also was the highest court in the country. However there were exceptions.

Click here  for an alphabetical list of the parishes of Derbyshire that were exceptions. If you do not find your place in the list of exceptions, then search the records of the above courts.

To access indexes, click on the court name.

Step 4. Obtain a copy of the probate record
Once you have found an index reference to a probate, obtain a copy of the record. Do so by one of these methods:


 * Visit or contact the record office htat has the original records in its collection.
 * Visit the Family History Library or a family history center and obtain a copy of the record on microfilm. For more information, click on a court name below.

Derbyshire Probate Courts
The following ecclesiastical courts had some probate jurisdiction over Derbyshire before 1858. Click on a court name to learn about records and indexes.


 * Court of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Episcopal Consistory)
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield
 * Court of the Peculiar of Burton upon Trent
 * Court of the Peculiar of Hartington
 * Court of the Peculiar of the Manor of Dale Abbey
 * Court of the Peculiar of Peak Forest
 * Court of the Peculiar of Sawley

In addition, the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole of England.

Appeals Courts
Any probate that was disputed and could not be settled by the county courts could be sent to these higher appeals courts:


 * Court of Arches
 * High Court of Delegates

The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury also served as an appeals court.

Probate Indexes
Before looking for a will, you should search an index. Here is a list of some indexes. Others will be listed in each court's article.


 * Abstracts of Derbyshire Probate Records:
 * Derbyshire wills for the period 1858-1928 (from the Derbyshire Record Office):


 * Derbyshire WILLS, 1525-1928 (browse 35,066 Wills and 5,093 different surnames; pertaining to much more than just people from the parish of Wirksworth):


 * PENTRICH WILLS &amp; PROBATE INDEX (from the Pentrich Historical Society; also includes entries for people in parishes adjacent to Pentrich):

Estate Duty Records
Starting in 1796, a tax or death duty was payable on estates over a certain value. Estate duty abstracts may add considerable information not found elsewhere. Estate duty indexes may help you locate a will. For more information, go to Estate Duty Records.