Search Devon Wills Index

Each record includes a transcript of the original record. The detail in each transcript can vary, but most will include the following:

• Name of testators (those who made wills) and intestates (those who did not make wills, but whose estates were administered).
• Sex
• Occupation
• Probate year
• Place
• Original place - shows how the place name was originally transcribed
• County
• Additional information
• Court – this field explains in which court the will was proved.
• Source – check your source on the Devon Wills Index Source List available in the Useful Links section and below the transcript. The table will give you further details about how to locate the original documents.
• Document reference - reference to be used for the host archive
• Document type – this field will explain if the record is available in its original form, as a transcript, a copy or an abstract. However, if the form is listed as ‘List entry’ this means that the will no longer exists and has only been found in a list or index.
• Document form - whether it is an original or copy of the original
• Reference code - reference used within the collection

The overall aim of this index is to create a finding-aid to enable the researcher to determine what probate materials were originally recorded and most importantly what documents have survived (original document, copy or abstract) and where they can be located.

The majority of wills and administrations of Devon people were proved or granted either in Devon itself or in London. The originals of those wills proved in London (very nearly all at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, "PCC") have survived. However many probate records for the county of Devon and Diocese of Exeter including the Exeter Principal Registry were destroyed by enemy action in 1942, when the Probate Registry was destroyed in the bombing during the Exeter Blitz of WWII.

This index has been created as a combined project by the Devon Wills Project (DWP). DWP is a co-operation involving the Devon Family History Society, Devon Heritage Services, GENUKI/Devon, and the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office to compile an index of Devon wills, administrations, etc. The index shows where copies, transcripts, abstracts or extracts of such original testamentary documents may be found, and in many cases the whereabouts of the original documents themselves.

Archdeaconry Court of Sarum (Salisbury, Wilts.)

(Consistory) Archdeaconry Court of Barnstaple

Diocese of Bristol

Manor Court of Cockington

Consistory Court of Canterbury

Court of the Deanery of the Arches of London

Commissary Court of London

Consistory Court of London

(Consistory) Archdeaconry Court of Cornwall

Consistory Court of Dorset

Archdeaconry Court of Dorset

Edinburgh Commissary Court

(Episcopal) Consistory Court of (the Bishop of) Exeter

(Episcopal) Principal Registry of (the Bishop of) Exeter

Edinburgh Sheriff Court

(Consistory) Archdeaconry Court of Exeter

Glasgow Sheriff Court

Mayors' Court, Exeter

Newfoundland Probate Courts

Prerogative Court of Armagh

Prerogative Court of Canterbury

Peculiar Court of the Dean & Chapter of Exeter

Peculiar Court of the Dean of Exeter

Peculiar Court of the Dean of Salisbury

Peculiar Court of the Vicars Choral of Exeter

Principal Probate Registry

Archdeaconry Court of Taunton

Manor Court of Templeton

(Consistory) Archdeaconry Court of Totnes

Court of the Prebend of Uffculme