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England, Probate & Court

https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-england05.html

Class Outline: Goal 5

Speaker Notes: Click the down-arrow next to Slideshow and select Presenter View. Then click the link on the main slide. For each item in quotes below, open the similar link in The Family History Guide. Last updated: 2024-05-20 Home Page

GOAL 5: Probate and Court Records

Choice A:

“Wills, Letters of administration …”

Briefly review the list items in Who Made Wills?, What information can they provide?, What if no will was made? and Inventories. You can be selective with these items ,as it is a lot to cover, but the content does provide a good overview of wills in England.
In Where are probate records held? emphasize the first item for the role of church courts before 1858, and the last four items that describe the role of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

“FS: England Probate Records”

Mention the list of county links for pre-1858 records. Click Devon as an example and briefly scroll through the Steps in the article. Mention that county probate records will be covered in more depth in the individual county Class Outlines.
In Online Records briefly review the list of links.
Scroll down to Strategy and review the items in the first list for locating records, and the second list for types of information in the records.

“National Archives: Wills and probates before 1858”

Scroll down to Prerogative Court of Canterbury and click the link in the second paragraph, for wills from 1384-1858.
In the search field type Carter and click the search icon.
Click the will link on the right side for William Carter, a laborer in Oxfordshire.
Scroll down and click “Go to record” on the right side.
Note that you can order a document for download. On the left side, click “Preview an image …”Click the second thumbnail image for a look at his will, and the fourth thumbnail for administrative details.

“National Archives: Wills and probates after 1858”

Scroll down to Online Records and click the index to wills from 1858-1995.
In the search fields type Parker for the last name, John for the first name, 1870 for the year of death, and click Save and Continue.
On the next screen, type 01 for the month of death and click Save and Continue.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the image. You can scroll between three pages to see index info for wills. Ordering information is on the right side.

Practice Exercise

Open the main link for the Probate Record Practice and read the problem statement. Mention that learners can click the Hints link if necessary but should not click the Answers link. Tell the learners they have (x) minutes to find the answers. Then read the answers at the end of the time.

Choice B:

“Explore court records … Old Bailey”

On the Old Bailey site click the Keywords button to show the types of keywords that can be selected. Then select Crime, Verdict and Punishment.
In the right side type Parker for the surname and then click Search. The graph shows trials over time (horizontal) and by document length (vertical), with red dots for mentions of Parker and gray dots for all other trials.
Scroll down through the document list and mention that the first four mention convictions of Parkers, while record 5 mentions Ann Parker as a victim, and record 6 mentions William Parker as a London juror.
Open record 5 and click to enlarge the document on the left for details. (Note that record 7 has a strikingly similar case, this time with Anne Parker as the thief.)

Practice Exercise

Open the main link for the Criminal Record Practice and read the problem statement. Mention that learners can click the Hints link if necessary but should not click the Answers link. Tell the learners they have (x) minutes to find the answers. Then read the answers at the end of the time.

Choice C:

“FS: Estate Duty Registers”

In History summarize the first paragraph for an overview of the Estate Duty (Death Duty) registers.
In Information in the Records briefly review the bullet points for information found in the abstracts.
In Indexes summarize the content in the section, to describe how the indexes work and what information they contain.
Mention the Findmypast QUICKLink at the end of the Choice: FMP: Index to Death Duty Registers, 1796-1903”.

“Hearth Tax”

On the home page summarize the first paragraph for a background on the Hearth Tax in England.
In the menu bar click Records, and then scroll through the list of records.
Open “Tax assessment Durham County” and briefly scroll through the results. Also demonstrate the links index in the upper left.

“PR: The Workhouse”

In Workhouse Records review the first bullet list for a timetable of workhouses in England.
In the second bullet list select a few items in the list to read, to illustrate the problems with workhouses.
In the third bullet list select a few items in the list to read, to illustrate why people went to workhouses.

“PR: The Workhouse, Part 2”

In Workhouse Records - Part 2 briefly review each of the record types listed.
Briefly review the links in the Websites bullet item, for online resources to search for workhouse records.

Practice Exercise

Open the main link for the Workhouse Record Practice and read the problem statement. Mention that learners can click the Hints link if necessary but should not click the Answers link. Tell the learners they have (x) minutes to find the answers. Then read the answers at the end of the time.