London Probate Jurisdictions Parishes A-F

England  London  London Probate Records

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The term probate refers to a collection of documents, including wills, administrations (also called admons), inventories, and act books.

Before 1858, every parish was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. Here is an alphabetical list of London city parishes beginning with A through F and the probate courts that had jurisdiction over them. Click on the link for the letter that a parish name begins with.

G-R

S-St C

St D-H

St I-S

St T-Z

1. Find the place where your ancestor lived in the first column.
2. Click on the court name in the second column to learn where to find the records and indexes.
3. Click on each name of the court in the third column if the record isn't found in the first court.
4. Search last the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

If no will is found, your ancestor may not have left one.

PARISH	PRIMARY COURT	SECONDARY COURTS - IN SEARCH ORDER
All Hallows Barking	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows Bread Street with St John the Evangelist	The Court of Arches of the Archbishop of Canterbury	2 - Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral 3 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows Honey Lane	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows Staining	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows the Great and All Hallows the Less	- The Court of Arches of the Archbishop of Canterbury	2 - Court of the Archdeaconry of London 3 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows, Lombard Street	The Court of Arches of the Archbishop of Canterbury	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
All Hallows, London Wall	Court of the Archdeaconry of London	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Barnard's Inn	Search the courts of the surrounding parishes	.
Christ Church, Newgate Street with St Leonard, Foster Lane	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Endell Street (Holborn)	Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)	2 - Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
Furnival's Inn	Search the courts of the surrounding parishes

Post-1857 Probate Records

Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London. The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service. To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills.  The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for the Principal Registry and the District Registries for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.