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Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury (PCC)

Below are the Jacomb entries in the index of Wills and Administrations of the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Records of Wills proved by this court were begun in 1383 AD up until the Principal Probate Registry began handling the proving of Wills in 1858. Records of Administrations proved by this court were begun in 1559 AD, over 150 years after records of wills commenced. The index currently contains Wills proved between 1383 and 1857, and Administrations granted during the following periods: 1559-1630, 1649-1660 and 1700-1749.

The index below is compiled from two sources: indexes published by the British Record Society and the DocumentsOnline website of the National Archives. The British Record Society indexes are multi-volume alphabetical lists by year, or a collection of years together. Wills and Administrations are recorded separately in 2 lists (however for some periods of time there is 1 list covering both). DocumentsOnline has made available for download scans of PCC wills in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format - all those listed below (with the exception of the three administrations noted) can be downloaded from their website for a small fee.

Please click on those entries in blue for a full transcription of the will/administration.

* This reference refers to where the full will/administration may be found in the National Archives (TNA), Kew. A full reference such as 'PROB 11/384 130' refers to a specific microfilm reel ('PROB 11/384'), with the 'quire' number ('130') locating the document pages at a point in the film. Where the reference is not full, e.g. 'PROB 11/2169,' a further identifying index list must be consulted first to find the quire number. DocumentsOnline does not give a specific quire number for the documents it provides, only a range of quire numbers. It does, however, quote a specific image reference number. If a will in the list above for which a transcription is provided does not have a quire number, the image reference number has been entered as a temporary substitute, e.g. 'PROB 11/1967 img.ref.341' until such time as the quire number can be looked up at Kew.

The Index above was compiled by Matthew Jacomb and Helen Jacomb from (1) copies of the British Record Society's Indexes of Wills and Administrations of the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Public Records Office, Kew and the Family Records Centre, Islington, and (2) the DocumentsOnline website of the National Archives. Jacomb.com asserts no claim over the accuracy or completeness of these records or their trancriptions.