Letters

Will Power

With reference to Katherine Cobb’s guide to wills (June), I agree that they can be invaluable for unlocking many doors, as well as providing insights as to the testator’s character and family dynamics. Over the past few years I have transcribed details from dozens of wills during family, local and other historical research.

Typically, these are from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which has records from all over the country and often abroad. The transcriptions are not usually word for word (wills often went on and on for pages, and were very repetitive) but contain details of people, relationships, places, important bequests, events etc, and frequently corrections to the top-level references.

Currently there does not seem to be a website to deposit such information in one place where it can be found for free through an open search by key word(s). Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) limits the size of its record notes and, although I usually save the details in the notes section of the profile, and separately on file, these cannot be seen even where I might make the tree publicly available. Sometimes it is impossible to add a correction online: for example, the full name of a ship in mariners’ wills, or where there was a previous and latest address.

I am sure that other readers will have similar experiences and information, plus, perhaps as important, unfulfilled searches for people who are mentioned in wills, but perhaps not found elsewhere. For example, there are many bequests to servants, and even references to missing relatives, last heard of abroad.

So I have a couple of suggestions. First, is there an organisation that could act as a central collecting point for such transcriptions, on the basis that they will be made available for free? And second, is it possible to develop, if it does not exist already, an accepted format and template (as there is with transcriptions for memorial inscriptions), so that information is presented simply and consistently?

The latter would ensure a minimum of facts on the testator, will, codicils, beneficiaries, places, dates etc but also where the source could be cross-checked, and if the transcriber had carried out a full or partial transcription, plus any issues encountered such as document damage, illegibility, foreign text, or probate notes.