Court of the Bishop of Worcester (Episcopal Consistory)

England Gloucestershire Probate Records, Oxfordshire Probate Records, Warwickshire Probate Records, Worcestershire Probate Records

Step By Step
1. First search each index (see below) to help you more quickly find the will or administration (admon), writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry. 2. Proceed to the "Probate Records of This Court" (below) to determine what original probate records exist for this court. 3. Contact or visit the Essex County Record Office or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers. 4. Visit The Family History Library, or, one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers worldwide and search indexes to probate records; then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons also on microfilm via any centers near you.

Indexes
The original and microfilmed records above include indexes.

The Family History Library has the following calendars and indexes.


 * A calendar of wills and administrations preserved in the consistory court of the bishop of Worcester, 1451-(1652) edited by Edward Alexander Fry. Also available in The Index library (British Record Society) : v. 31, 39. Also available |online#v=onepage&q=&f=false online.
 * Episcopal Consistory Court of the Bishop of Worcester Calendar of wills administrations, 1661-1858.
 * Calendar of wills and administrations, 1700-1858.
 * Index of Probate from January-March 1660 for the Bishop of Worcester Original Wills.

Archive Locations
The original records are deposited at the Worcestershire Records Office.

Archive Records
They include:


 * Original wills, administrations and inventories, 1493-1652, 1660-1858
 * Register copy wills, 1451-1739 (with gaps), 1833-1836
 * Probate and administration act books, 1661-1858

Family History Library Records
Records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and through the many family history centers world-wide. They include:


 * Original wills of the consistory court of Worcester, 1493-1857
 * Registered wills, 1451-1671
 * Act books of the consistory court of Worcester, 1661-1857

Jurisdiction
This court had jurisdiction over most of the county of Worcestershire. It also had jurisdiction over the city of Warwick and the deaneries of Kineton and Warwick in southwest Warwickshire (here's an alphabetical List of Warwickshire Parishes that came under the Bishop of Worcester's pre-1837 court jurisdiction). This court (Bishop of Worcester) also held concurrent jurisdiction over parts of Gloucestershire diocese, prior to 1541 (though few Gloucestershire wills are found in its records).