Berkshire (BRK)

Jurisdictions

1. Aside from the exceptions listed in 2 below, the majority of parishes came under (A) the Archdeaconry of Berkshire before 1836 and (B) the Archdeaconry of Berkshire, 1836-1857. See the first two items in the decision table.
2. If research involves one of the places listed below, match the designated letter in parentheses (A-F) with the subsequent heading in the decision table. Each court should be searched in the order of priority indicated on the decision table.

Decision Table

For those who lived in (A) the Archdeaconry of Berkshire before 1836, Search:

1. Archdeaconry of Berkshire
2. Consistory of Sarum or Salisbury (see Wiltshire)
3. Prerogative Court of Canterbury (see London: PCC)
4. Court of Arches, 1660- (see London: Arches)
5. Court of Delegates, 1636- (see London: Delegates)

For those who lived in (B) the Archdeaconry of Berkshire from 1836-1857, Search:

1. Archdeaconry of Berkshire
2. Consistory of Oxford (see Oxford)
3. Do 3-5 above for (A)

For those who lived in (C) the Prebendal of Faringdon, Search:

1. Prebendal of Faringdon (see also the Prebendal of Aylesbury in Buckingham and the Peculiar of Banbury in Oxford)
2. Peculiar of the Dean of Sarum or Salisbury (see Wiltshire)
3. Do 3-5 above for (A)

For those who lived in (D) the Peculiar of the Dean & Canons of Windsor in Wantage, Search:

1. Peculiar of the Dean & Canons of Windsor in Wantage
2. Peculiar of the Dean of Sarum or Salisbury (see Wiltshire)
3. Do 3-5 above for (A)

For those who lived in (E) the Court of the Dean of Windsor, Search:

1. Court of the Dean of Windsor
2. Do 3-5 above for (A)

For those who lived in (F) the Peculiar of the Dean of Sarum or Salisbury, Search:

1. Peculiar of the Dean of Sarum or Salisbury (see Wiltshire)
2. Do 3-5 above for (A)

For those who lived anywhere in the county between 1653-1660, Search:

1. Prerogative Court of Canterbury (start with the Miscellaneous Section at the end of this work and, if needed, London: PCC)

For those who lived anywhere in the county between 1812-1857, regardless of what is found in the probate records of any of the above courts, consider searching also the estate duty registers (see London: Estate Duty)

CD Index for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire

This index covers 1480-1857 and supersedes the printed indexes. (CD-ROM no. 7603 and available online in the in-house network of the FHL)

Printed Indexes/Microfilmed Calendars for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire

1. 1480-1652, (FHL 942.29 B4b) volumes 15-17 
   An older, less reliable version is BRS volume 8 (FHL 942 B4b) and (BYU CS434 .B7). FHL & BYU film 88,088 is an amended copy of volume 8 adding in handwritten notes references to inventories, accounts, commissions and renunciations. There is also an index to all names in the documents for these years. See the Miscellaneous section for details 
   
   1653-1710, (FHL 942 B4b) and (BYU CS434 .B7) volume 87 
   This is volume 87 of the Index Library series (BRS). It is an index to all of the probate records for the years indicated and uses the new volume and box numbers of the county record office. A reference such as 169.89 refers to folio 89 in volume 169 of the registered copy wills. Original or filed documents start with a box number, then a slash followed by the document number: 215/95. This volume ends with further indexes to places and trades/social conditions. Other counties with 9 or more entries are Oxford and Hampshire. See the Miscellaneous Section for an index to all names in the documents for these years.
2. The microfilmed calendars for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire include:
• 1711-1768, Wills (FHL & BYU 88,090, item 1)
  This calendar covers the old volumes 20-25 (now D/A 1/18-23) of the registered copy wills as well as the original or filed wills. The calendar does not provide box and document numbers for the filed wills.
• 1540-1767, Administrations and Act Books (FHL & BYU 88,091)
  This calendar indexes the administrations found in the volumes of Registered Copy Wills, Act Books I-III and part of IV, and will state whether or not there was a bond. From 1660-1700 helpful notations were added in the margins such as I for inventory, A for account, and Co or Com for commission. Written in full are further references to court papers. BRS 87 provides fuller details for each of the notations.
• 1768-1857, Registered Wills and Administration Act Books (FHL & BYU 88,092)
  Each page of this calendar is divided into two columns with testaments or wills on the left and administrations on the right. It covers the old volumes 25-36 (now D/A 1/23-34) of the registered copy wills, part of Act Book IV (now D/A 1/170), and two act books referred to as Books 2-3 (now D/A 1/171-172). Unfortunately, the filed wills and administration bonds are not indexed here. The act books should suffice to find the administration bond, but for unregistered wills the researcher may need to contact the county record office via e-mail for assistance. The current address can be obtained from the GENUKI web site for Berkshire under the subject of Archives.

Microfilmed Records for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire

The original/filed wills for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire begin in 1525. The registered copy wills start as a series in 1508. All of the wills and administration bonds/act books for this court have been microfilmed, in some cases twice. There is a separate collection of inventories for 1530-1562 on FHL film 1,849,504 (item 2); otherwise the inventories are filed with the original documents. There is a large collection of accounts for 1591-1690 among the original documents. They are well indexed in the two BRS volumes found under FHL 942 B4b volumes 112-113. See the Miscellaneous Section for abstracts of some of these accounts. There is also a separate collection of commissions when the executors or administrators were sworn in, affidavits or oaths that the will was genuine or the intestate was dead, and renunciations where the executors or administrators refused to serve. This collection covers 1701-1843 and is found on FHL films 1,849,514-516. Document 266 (FHL film 1,849,516/ item 3) concerns the administration of the property of Mary Roberts, widow of Steventon granted in 1802. The right of a cousin to administer was challenged by other family members who used copies of baptismal and marriage registers and a five generation pedigree chart to support their claim. The surnames involved include Tipetts, Wells, and Hopkins.

Printed Indexes & Microfilmed Calendars/Records for the 3 
Peculiar Courts in Berkshire

The index for Farringdon, 1547-1853 is now online at berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk

A partial index to the original/filed wills of Faringdon was published in 1937 for 1580-1636 (see FHL 942.29 B2b, vol. 41, pages 114-117). For 1801-1858, see FHL & BYU film 95,175. The original documents on film are filed chronologically and alphabetically by the initial letter of the testator's surname. The volume of registered copy wills is indexed separately. All of the probate records for this court have been filmed, in most cases three times. Some non-testamentary business for Faringdon will be found amongst the probate records of the Prebendal court of Aylesbury on FHL & BYU film 173,658 (item 2), including marriage license bonds for 1727-1739.

For the Dean & Canons of Windsor in Wantage, start with the online site at GenUKI. This web site includes probate abstracts from at least 1500-1858 for the parishes of Hungerford, Shalbourne, and Wantage not only from this court and its superior courts, but surrounding courts as well. The web site indexes all names in each document and includes references to New England for the surname Curtis in 1645 and to Virginia for Slade in 1666. In addition, there are filmed indexes on FHL & BYU 95,109 and 95,175. There is also an index for 1668/9-1840 on FHL film 1,067,154 (Item 6). All of the probate records for this court have been filmed.

The tiny court of the Dean of Windsor covered the lower ward of Windsor Castle mainly for citizens of New Windsor. Its probate records from 1369-1638 were abstracted and published in 1957 as will be found in the Miscellaneous Section. For records from 1662-1735, it will be necessary to send a request to The Aerary, St. George's Chapel, Dean's Cloister, Windsor Castle, Berks., SL4 1NJ, England.

For quick access to the films for all of the probate courts of Berkshire, see the probate key or hand list at the FHL on the register table near the British reference counter.

Miscellaneous Section

1. Probate records pertinent to Berkshire are in the Snell-Sherwood Collection on FHL films 416,128-144. There is a description of the contents of the entire Snell collection on FHL film 416,124. The key probate records in this collection include:
1. An index covering 1480-1710 on FHL & BYU film 416,129 to all surnames "other than those of Testators" from the Registered Copy Wills bearing the old volume designations of A-L, M, and 19. The index gives only the surname, volume and folio numbers. Item 1 covers the surnames A-G, Item 2 is H-R, and Item 3 is S-Z.
2. Snell's work with PCC wills for persons from Berkshire is found on FHL films 416,131-144. He first made a listing of such wills from 1631-1807 and some abstracts of them (including 658 wills from the "Busby" register for 1751) on FHL films 416,132 and 416,134. However, the major part of his work inlcudes 9178 abstracts from Berkshire wills in the PCC for 1391-1737, with an index to the names and places found therein. The abstracts are on FHL films 416,140-144, with a name index to them on FHL films 416,135-139 (416,135 is also at BYU) and a place index on FHL film 416,131. (See the FHL catalog under George Sherwood for details of Berkshire probates published by him.)
2. Abstracts of administrations for persons from Berkshire in the PCC, 1559-1711, are in the Sherwood Collection, but may well be a part of the Snell Collection as well. The entries are in chronological order and are under FHL 942.29 S2sne and FHL & BYU film 908,398 (item 3). A smaller collection of administrations from the PCC for Berkshire from 1653-1654 appears on pages 16-21 of FHL 942.29 B2sh, volume 1 and on film 1,441,124 (item 97). Included on page 16 are Berkshire wills found in the Court of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
3. There is also a printed index to Berkshire probates in the PCC just for the year 1801 in FHL 942.57 B2ox, volume 1, number 7.
4. A list of ministers inducted or formerly installed in Berkshire parishes between 1547-1558 will be found at the end of the old volume D of registered copy wills on folios 385-387. See FHL & BYU film 88,095.
5. Volume 4 of the Berkshire Record Society contains 166 abstracts out of some 1500 probate accounts preserved for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire. There is a useful table on page viii showing the number of surviving accounts by year between 1561-1712, most of which were made between 1591-1690. There are indexes to names and subjects at the end of the volume. See FHL 942.29 B4b, volume 4.
6. Abstracts of the probates for the Court of the Dean of Windsor, 1369-1638, will be found in FHL 942.29/W2 H25b, No. 11. The wills and one administration appear on pages 24-26. Testators from outside of New Windsor are:
   John Byles of Stanes, Middlesex, 1436
   William Bagenhale of Leighton Buzzard, Bedford, 1438
   John Cretynge of Caxton, Cambridge, 1500
   John Palmer, husbandman of Barsby, Leicester, 1638
   William Wyse, barber surgeon of London, 1449
7. Images of 3 original probate records for the parish of Brightwell will be found on FHL film 1,849,241 (item 6). The second document is a commission granted in 1761 to Jane Woodley, the widow of Thomas Woodley, a soldier from Kensington in Middlesex, to administer his property.