Worcestershire Probate Index 1600-1858

There are over 60,000 names in this index of probate records from the county of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Each result will provide you with a transcript. From the available transcripts, you may discover all or some of the following information:

• First name(s)
• Last name
• Sex
• Year
• Date
• Occupation
• Marital condition
• Place
• County
• Country
• Document type
• Fry’s reference – The records covering 1600 to 1650 were compiled from an index created by Edward Alexander Fry in 1910 and thus include a reference
• Jurisdiction
• Archive
• Notes

There are four types of records in this index: grants of administration, administrations with will annexed, limited (where the entire estate of the deceased is not covered), and wills. The Bishop’s Court had jurisdiction over all the probate in the diocese, which covered part of Warwickshire as well as Worcestershire, until 1858.

If someone died without a will, then that means that the individual died intestate. At which point, an administration was taken out to their estate. Letters of administration with will annexed were taken out when the deceased left a will, but there was some failure therein (typically, executors predeceasing or renouncing), so that the provisions of the will could only be partly implemented and then by newly appointed administrators.

The probate material represented in this index has been digitised from the typewritten index volumes held at The Hive in the diocese of Worcester. The records covering 1600 to 1650 were compiled from an index created by Edward Alexander Fry in 1910. Andrew Harris did this work and corrected some errors in the process. Dates have been indexed in the new style, and are, therefore, not always the same as in the original documents. First names and places of abode were modernised; however, last names were recorded as they appear in the original documents.

If you want to find the original documents at The Hive, all you need is the name and date to find them on film.

• Begin your search broadly. If needed, you can narrow your results by including additional search criteria such as a year, place, or document type.

• There are many variations in the spelling of last names in this index. If you are having difficulty finding your ancestor, try using the name variant search option or try out different spellings.