Find your ancestors in Worcestershire probate index 1660-1858

Discover probate records from Worcestershire relating to your ancestors from 1660 to 1858.

There are over 50,000 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 be able to discover the following information:

• First name(s)
• Last name
• Sex
• Year
• Date
• Occupation
• Place
• County
• Country
• Document type
• Jurisdiction
• Archive
• Notes

Discover more about these records

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.

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. Andrew Harris did this work and corrected some errors in the process. This index covers probate documents from 1660 to 1858. During this time, the Bishop’s Court had jurisdiction over all the probate in the diocese, which covers part of Warwickshire as well as Worcestershire, until 1858.

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

Search tips

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.