Wills
Search hints & tips
To carry out a search, input the search criteria in the appropriate field(s) and click on the Search button.
The Wills Database can be searched by any of the following but Surname/Forename is the most straightforward and, therefore, the recommended method:
- Surname *Recommended method
- Forename *Recommended method
- Registry
- Date Of Death Range
- Date Of Grant Range
- Full Abstract
Refining Search
You may enter more than one search criterion. Refining your search is recommended in order to restrict results to a manageable number, e.g. searching simply on surname for Burns returns in excess of 350 hits while searching for surname Burns and forename D* (see Wildcard Search information below for definition of * in a search) would return 6 hits.Date Entry
You may enter date ranges for both the 'Date of Death' and the 'Date of Grant'. The table below show examples of the date entry and what the system converts the date to.
| Date Entered | From Date | To Date |
|---|---|---|
 |
The system converts the date to the 1st date of the year -> 01-JAN-1860 | The system converts the date to the last of the year -> 31-DEC-1860 |
 |
The system converts the date to the 1st date of month in the year -> 01-FEB-1860 | The system converts the date to the last date of month in the year -> 29-FEB-1860 |
 |
The system does no conversion on this date -> 11-FEB-1860 | The system does no conversion on this date -> 11-FEB-1860 |
Wildcard Search
A 'wildcard' search facility also exists by using the wildcard character *, e.g., inputting D* in the Forename will retrieve Wills with a Forename beginning in D. The wildcard search can be used in both the Surname and Forename.Search Options
There are a number of search options as shown in the image below:
- Record Per Page - This allow you to choose the number of results that appear on each page.
- Include the above name criteria in the full abstract search - This option includes searching for the forename and surname across the full abstract. This will return more records as it will include names of anyone mentioned in the abstract as opposed to just the owner of the will.
