This Summer School will cover the genealogical and historical use of probate documents in England and Wales before 1858.
Unlock the stories hidden within wills and probate records in this engaging 5-day online course. Designed for family historians and researchers, this course will guide you through the essentials of the probate process, from how wills were created and proved to how they can be used to reconstruct families and uncover social history.
You’ll learn how to find and interpret wills and administrations before 1858, navigate ecclesiastical court systems, and make the most of key online resources and digital collections. The course also explores a wide range of related documents—such as inventories, bonds, and estate records—providing deeper insight into people’s lives and possessions.
By the end of the course, you’ll have the confidence and practical skills to locate, analyse, and use probate records to enrich your research and bring the past to life.
It will look at the records, indexes and finding aids online and in record offices (including the collections at the Society of Genealogists and documents made available via FamilySearch). Each session will use case studies and documents to learn how to read and make the best use of these records and students will be encouraged to find, extract, and abstract documents themselves for genealogical use.
Students will find it useful to have a free personal account with FamilySearch before starting this course. Access to major genealogy subscription websites such as Findmypast, Ancestry and the Genealogist might help, but is not a requirement.
- 5 x 2-hour online classes
- 20% Discount for all Society of Genealogists Members
- Recordings available until 17 August for everyone who pre-books
What will I learn?
-
The Probate Process
- How wills are made and proved
- Who made wills and why they were used
- Historical background of probate practices
- Key glossary and terminology
- How to use probate documents for family reconstruction and building pedigrees
- Techniques for abstracting (summarising) a document
- Insight into relevant projects (e.g. Quaker, Oxfordshire FHS, PCC sample projects)
- Finding and Using Wills and Administrations (Before 1858) – Part 1
- Understanding ecclesiastical court jurisdictions
- The roles of the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York
- Accessing and using online probate records
- Using indexes, finding aids, and related documents
- Finding and Using Wills and Administrations (Before 1858) – Part 2
- The role of lesser church courts
- Exploring online finding aids and record collections
- Using additional indexes and research tools
- Accessing probate records through FamilySearch digital collections
- Other Probate and Ancillary Documents
- Understanding inventories and accounts
- Curation and tuition bonds
- Estate and death duty records
- Litigation and disputed wills
- Wills as Historical Evidence
- Using wills to study specific groups (e.g. Catholics, mariners, soldiers)
- Navy Office wills and Bank of England will extracts
- Women’s voices and perspectives in wills
- How wills provide broader social and historical insights
Click here for information about our events. Contact events@sog.org.uk if you have any questions.
Programme details
| The Probate Process | Online | 13/07/2026 | 10:30 - 12:30 | |
| Finding and using Wills and Administrations before 1858 part 1 | Online | 14/07/2026 | 10:30 - 12:30 | |
| Finding and using Wills and Administrations before 1858 part 2 | Online | 15/07/2026 | 10:30 - 12:30 | |
| Other Probate and Ancillary Documents | Online | 16/07/2026 | 10:30 - 12:30 | |
| Wills as evidence | Online | 17/07/2026 | 10:30 - 12:30 |
About the Speaker
Else Churchill
Else Churchill is the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists in London. Formerly a professional genealogical librarian and researcher, Else has worked for the SoG since 1994. She is the Society’s subject lead, working across the organisation and runs the publishing programme. She was the recipient of the IHGS Julian Bickersteth Memorial Medal in 2023 for her exemplary contribution to family history studies. TEST
