Database of Wills

Finbar Cullen | 29 January 2015 | Blogs

I have not spent much time on this, but I was intrigued to read about the launch of a new database allowing the public to search a government archive of 41 million wills dating back to 1858. I am not sure how far back I will ever need to go, but this could be an interesting resource. It contains wills from England and Wales. Different procedures apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The database also includes the wills of those who died while serving in the British armed forces between 1850 and 1986.

It is disappointing to note that they have not yet corrected the typo in the section “About the information contained in your grant and Will”.

There is a fee of £10 for each copy.

Finbar Cullen, ResearchPlus

Files – photo: Garsya on Shutterstock.com

• Scotland’s charity regulator (OSCR) plans to publish charity accounts (9 February 2015)
  
• Review: How to Love Your Donors (To Death) (23 February 2015)
  
• Survey on the new Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) website (24 February 2015)
  

About Finbar Cullen
Finbar Cullen established ResearchPlus in 2005 to provide fundraising research services for the not-for-profit sector. He researches people, companies and grant-making trusts and foundations, mostly in the UK, but also other parts of the world. Finbar has published directories of “unpublished” grant-making trusts (registered with the Charity Commission and with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator), and each month he contributes to The Trust List, highlighting newly registered grant-making trusts worthy of particularly close attention.