Gordon - working on probate records

The National Archives is putting online copies of all wills proven by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury between 1384 and 1858 in England and Wales. More than 800,000 wills from the period 1650-1858 are already online. We spoke to Gordon, who works on the team responsible for the transcription of the wills.

Gordon, can you tell us a bit about your job and what it involves?

Yes, to give you some background, between about 1384 and 1858, appropriate wills were lodged and registered with the ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury once they had been proven.

All these wills were scribed by hand into huge books, which have been lodged with The National Archives. The original books are incredibly heavy - they were written on parchment and this also makes them very sensitive to environmental conditions.

PROB 11 (probate records) copy book

The National Archives have decided to make them available online on a site called DocumentsOnline. To this end all wills are being scanned and sent to a third party company. There information from each will is entered into a spreadsheet; this information includes the first name, second name, the occupation and the parish of the deceased, as well as the date the will was proven, thereby creating the search criteria for a huge online database of wills.

I work in Quality Assessment. I check the information on the spreadsheet to make sure that it is accurate before it goes into the database. For instance, if a will refers to a town called Brighthelmstone then it is my responsibility to update that town name to its modern title - Brighton. Another common problem is that because spelling was much looser in the past a lot of words have to be modernised and made understandable. Every detail has to be checked so that the information provided online is correct and makes as much sense as is possible in a modern context.

What do you like about working at The National Archives?

I've really enjoyed working on this project and will be sorry when it comes to an end because it has been like taking a walk through history.

The collection provides a cross section of a society through each age and each will gives a unique insight into its time. For example a 'Peruke Maker' was a very common occupation in the eighteenth century - it means a wig maker. (View a list of Peruke Makers on DocumentsOnline).

The image below shows part of a vellum page of the PROB 11 copy book

The wills give you a flavour of the time - for example I come across a great many occupations to do with the sea and ships, the wills serve as a reminder into our maritime past and the age of empire and expansion.

Sometimes this can be quite chilling, I have often come across mariners who made wills travelling from West Africa to the West Indies, which was of course the slave route, and also slaves were often left as assets in wills. (View a list of people from the West Indies on DocumentsOnline)

What's the most interesting will you have come across on this project?

There are quite a few to choose from. One often comes across the will of someone really famous unexpectedly, which is really nice. So far we have Brunel, Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott and Nelson* to name a few. One will bequeathed paintings which became the foundation of the National Gallery.

But my favourite is the will of Napoleon Bonaparte; I find it fascinating because it's not so much a will as a political statement!

You can download a copy of Napoleon's will for £3 from DocumentsOnline.

*Nelson left two wills - a very short one, and a very long one.

Have you ever done any of your own research at the National Archives?

Yes, I have a friend living in South Africa who collects medals. He asked me to research a World War One medal he had bought. Because he knew the name of the soldier who had won the medal I was able to trace the regiment the man had belonged to, and then found the war diary of the regiment. This contained a description of the action the regiment was involved in on the morning the man was killed, and of his role in the action before he was killed. My friend was delighted with the amount of information I had been able to find.

Have you always been interested in history?

I have always been interested in history ever since I was at school but working on this project has rekindled that interest. I have read books on George I, II and III while I have been here. When I retire I plan to do a lot more research into the Great War because it a great personal interest of mine.