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*Tracing Your Roots > Irish > Irish Records
* Testamentary Authority after 1857 
 
The Probate Act of 1857 did away with the testamentary authority of the Church of Ireland. Instead of the Consistorial Courts and the Prerogative Court, power to grant probate and issue letters of administration was vested in a Principal Registry in Dublin, and 11 District Registries.

Rules similar to those governing the geographical jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts applied, with the Principal Registry taking the place of the Prerogative Court, as well as covering Dublin and a large area around it. Transcripts of the wills proved and administrations granted were made in the District Registries, and the originals forwarded to the Principal Registry.

Almost all of the records of the Principal Registry were destroyed in 1922. The few surviving Will and Grant Books are detailed below. The Will Book transcripts made by the District Registries survived, however. The records of those Districts covering areas now in the Republic - Ballina, Cavan, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mullingar, Tuam and Waterford - are in the National Archives. For districts now in Northern Ireland - Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry - the Will Books are in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Fortunately, from 1858 a new system of indexing and organising wills and administrations had been devised. A printed, alphabetically ordered Calendar of Wills and Administrations was produced for every year, and copies of all of these have survived. For each will or administration, these record:

  • Names, address and occupation of the deceased person
  • Place and date of death
  • Value of the estate
  • Name and address of the person or persons to whom probate or administration was granted
In many cases, the relationship of the executor is also specified. This means that, despite the loss of so much original post-1857 testamentary material, some information at least is available on all wills or administrations from this period. Very often, much that is of genealogical value can be gleaned from the Calendars, including such information as exact dates of death, places of residence and indications of economic status.

A consolidated index covers the period between 1858 and 1877, making it unnecessary to search each yearly Calendar. The Calendars are on open access in the National Archives and Public Record Office of Northern Ireland reading rooms.

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Creators: John Grenham

 
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