Hello all. The following I have from my days subscribing to Buckinghamshire List. I hope that it will be helpful. Donna For Wills prior to 1858, the easiest resource to start with is www.documentsonline.pro.gov.uk, where Wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) (latest date 1857/8) are available to be downloaded at 3GBP/Will. Not all the PCC Wills held by the National Archives are yet online, they are constantly adding them so it's worth checking back regularly. Though many of these Wills were made by 'better-offs', those of less wealthy people can also be found there, so do give it a go. You can usually tell from catalogue info and probate date whether a Testator is the one you want - out of 2 dozen or so Wills I've downloaded, I think I've only got one wrong person. For other Wills prior to 1858, I recommend that you contact the Records Office/Archive for the area where you believe your ancestor died - this has worked well for me with the Bucks RO who gave me a list of all the NELSONs in their Wills Index, a quote for copying them and then supplied the copies for photocopying and postage cost only. I got about 15 Wills for £9 that way (exc. postage as I collected them). I don't know if all ROs work this way but it's worth a try. Their individual websites are often extremely helpful. The Bucks RO Index includes those strange Wills proved in 'Peculiars' etc. and, I believe, Admons too - but Eve McLaughlin warns that these local holdings are not 'comprehensive', so don't give up if you fall at this hurdle. Then there is the LDS. You can search the LDS Catalogue for both pre- and post-1858 Wills, either online or on fiche at your local Centre. Search for England, then Probate and choose from the (rather bewildering) options that result. Click Film Notes for any of these and you get a list of the films you can order. There are 1000+ films for post-1858 Wills. They are date ordered, then by surname initial (so for each year, there are several films, A-D, E-H, etc). Initially, I thought the LDS would be a cheapish way to access post 1858 Wills. It could be in some cases but, unless you already know date of probate you could have to order several, possibly many, films to find the one you want. At my LDS Centre each film costs about £3 to hire so it could be expensive in cash as well as time to find the specific Will you want (but see about the National Probate Indexes below). One lister suggested doing a surname search on the LDS catalogue because sometimes this throws up individual Will records, that's also worth a try, especially perhaps for less common surnames. For Wills 1858-1943, although there are District Probate Registries that you can use but the easiest route and possibly also cheapest, though it doesn't sound it at first, is to request the Will you want from: York Probate Registry Castle Chambers York YO1 9RG 01904 666 777 I believe this is the most recent address but there seems to be some disagreement between listers on that. They charge £5 per Will copied. You need to give them name and date/place of death of your dead person, as specifically as you can. Whenever you want to find a date of death/probate after 1858 (eg. prior to ordering the relevant film from LDS or to order a copy from York Probate Registry), the National Probate Indexes (on fiche) are the tool to use. These are not held by LDS centres but should be in every RO, Archives or larger Local Studies Centre. I expect researchers abroad will need to check with their own Archives services to see who's got what and where. One lister showed me that the entries in these Indexes can be extraordinarily helpful and informative, even without the full Will. What I've written here is (believe it or not) a 'simplistic' approach to getting copies of Wills, hoping it will help people who like me have spinning heads and don't know where to start. Eve McLaughlin posted a (shorter) message with more options & advice on will-hunting to the Bucks-L list if you want to check that on the Archives (20 Apr 03). But this bit of advice from Oxfordshire RO website is good and tells you which books to consult - including Eve's! - for fuller understanding of such a complex area of research: "The Principal Registry of the Family Division in First Avenue House, (Holborn) London, is the only place where a complete set of calendars of grants (will indexes) is available for public inspection; Collins (1998) explains how to use the Principal Registry. Details of calendars (indexes) held by the district probate registries are given in Gibson (1994), while a more up to date list of holdings in all the registries is offered by the Court Service web site at www.courtservice.gov.uk/wills_probate/ADDRESS.htm. McLaughlin (1994) offers a practical guide to the use of all probate registries. COLLINS, A. Basic facts about using wills after 1858 and First Avenue House (1998) - p 929.334 (COL) COX, Jane. An introduction to wills, probate and death duty records. (1993) - p 929.334 (COX) GIBSON, J.S.W. Probate jurisdictions: where to look for wills. - 5th ed. (2002) - p 929.334 (GIB) McLAUGHLIN, E. Somerset House wills from 1858. - 5th ed. (1994) - p 929.334 (MAC)" Best wishes to all Will hunters - and many thanks to everyone on both lists who sent such helpful replies to my queries. Celia Renshaw in Nottingham UK ==== BUCKS Mailing List ==== Please do not post long surname lists. Dave Carlsen looks after the Bucks surname list, which is the proper place for such postings. Go to: http://webpages.charter.net/dcarlsen/genuki/BKM/bucksurname