Wills & Admons (Ireland)

Nature of Source

Before 1858, probate in Ireland was administered by the ecclesiastical courts of the established Church of Ireland, regardless of the deceased’s religion.

Hierarchical Court Structure:

• Prerogative Court (Dublin): For those with assets in multiple dioceses or estates of a high value.
• Consistorial (Diocesan) Courts: Dealt with estates within a single diocese.
• Peculiar Courts: Under local control and exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop in whose diocese it lay (less common).

Indexes and abstracts of many wills and administrations from this period survive, despite the loss of originals.

Following the Court of Probate (Ireland) Act 1857, a new civil court called the Principal Probate Registry based in Dublin came into effect from 1 January 1858. The court assumed jurisdiction over probate and administration matters, supported by a network of eleven District Probate Registries (e.g., Armagh, Belfast, Cork, Limerick). Wills were proved and a grant of probate issued to executors. If a person died intestate, the court issued Letters of Administration (also called Admons) to the next-of-kin.

Due to legal and social constraints such as coverture for married women, it was less common for women to make wills during this period. However, many widows and unmarried women with property did leave testamentary records.

The shelling of the Public Record Office in Dublin’s Four Courts during the Irish Civil War in 1922 caused a major loss of archive records. Unfortunately, nearly all original pre-1858 or is it pre-1900) Prerogative and Consistorial wills and many original 1858-1870 Dublin wills were destroyed in the fire. Fortunately, duplicates and abstracts survived in some registries for pre-1858 wills and copies of wills made between 1858 and 1922 kept by District Probate Registries remained intact. Later wills, particularly those from 1858 to 1917 have since been microfilmed and are available in various archives and online. Some wealthy Irish decedents owned property in England and their wills, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury before 1858, are held at The National Archives in Kew.

Probate Extracts and Indexes

• William Betham Abstracts, covering Prerogative wills and administrations up to 1800.
• Sir Arthur Vicars later compiled an index (Index to Prerogative Wills 1536-1810, published 1909) based on Betham’s work and widely available online.
• Indexes to Dublin Grant Books and Wills, 1270-1858, also available on CD.
• Grant Books & Calendars, covering all Ireland.
• Thrift Abstracts. Selected diocesan wills (pre-1858).
• Inland Revenue Wills, 1828-1915 (tax copies).

Where Found

National Archives of Ireland
The National Archives does not hold testamentary documents which are less than 20 years old. The Archives holds surviving indexes and abstracts of pre-1858 original wills from Diocesan (Church of Ireland) Courts destroyed in the Four Courts fire of 1922. For post-1858 probate, the Archives holds Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1920 and 1923-1982. Calendars of Wills for 1921-1922 and 1983 1991 are available to search in hardcopy only. They also hold the wills for Dublin and some district registries up to 1991.

Dublin Probate Office
Principal Probate Registry. The Office holds all testamentary records from 1992 onwards. The Office also holds records of all grants which have issued from the 14 District Probate Registries within the past 20 years.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
PRONI holds original wills and grants of letters of administration for deceased people in Northern Ireland from 1900 to 2004. After 2004, original probate records initially held by the Probate Office were transferred to PRONI. The office also holds indexes and calendars of wills and administrations from earlier periods, including a fully searchable index for the District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast, and Londonderry covering 1858 to 1968 (excluding 1920-1921). Copies of some pre-1858 wills have been uncovered in privately deposited archives held by PRONI and an index to these is available.

The Probate Office Belfast
The Principal Registry in Belfast (part of the Department of Justice Northern Ireland) manages all probate applications in Northern Ireland since September 30, 2015.

Period Covered

1500 – Onwards

Genealogical Value

• Name, address, occupation and place and date of death of testator.
• Inventory and value of moveable possessions, but not land held.
• Names of family members and relationships.
• Names of executors and witnesses.

Further References

Will Extracts and Indexes

• Clare, Wallace. A Guide to Copies & Abstracts of Irish Wills: Clearfield, 2005
• Eustace, Beryl & Goodbody, Olive (eds). Quaker Records, Dublin, Abstracts of Wills: Clearfield, 1992
• Eustace, Beryl, P. & Ellis, E. Registry of Deeds, Dublin: Abstracts of Wills 1708-1832: Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1954-1984
• Gibson, Jeremy: Probate Jurisdictions: Where to Look for Wills: Federation of Family History Societies,1985
• Phillimore, William & Thrift, Gertrude. Indexes to Irish Wills: Five Volumes in One: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2011 (1909-20)
• Vicars, Arthur (ed). Index to the Prerogative Wills Of Ireland 1536-1810: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1989 (1897) (Available online at the Internet Archive)

Family History Guides

• Adolph, Anthony. Collins Tracing Your Irish Family History: HarperCollins, 2007
• Begley, Donal. Handbook on Irish Genealogy: How to Trace Your Ancestors and Relatives: Heraldic Artists, 1984
• Connell, Gretta. Tracing Your Westmeath Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2012
• Corrigan, Mario & Durney, James & Kiely, Karel. Tracing your Kildare Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2014
• Davis, Bill. Irish Ancestry – A Beginner’s Guide: FFHS, 2001
• Falley, Margaret Dickson. Irish and Scottish-Irish Ancestral Research: GPC, 1981 (1962)
• Franklin, Margaret. Tracing your Limerick Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2011
• Grenham, John. Irish Ancestors, A Pocket Guide to Your Family History: Gill & Macmillan, 2004
• Grenham, John. Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: Gill & Macmillan, 2011
• Hamrock, John. Tracing your Roscommon Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2007
• Kinealy, Christine. Tracing Your Irish Roots: Appletree Press, 2009
• McCarthy, Tony. The Irish Roots Guide. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1991
• McCarthy, Tony & Cadogan, Tim. Tracing Your Cork Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2011
• Maxwell, Ian. Tracing Your Ancestors in Northern Ireland: A Guide to Ancestry Research in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: Stationery Office, 1997
• Maxwell, Ian. Researching Armagh Ancestors: A Practical Guide for the Family and Local Historian: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000
• Maxwell, Ian. Researching Down Ancestors: A Practical Guide for the Family and Local Historian: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000
• Maxwell, Ian. How To Trace Your Irish Ancestors: How To Books, 2009
• Maxwell, Ian. Your Irish Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen and Sword, 2008
• Maxwell, Ian. Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen and Sword, 2010
• Meehan, Helen & Duffy, Godfrey. Tracing Your Donegal Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2008
• Mitchell, Brian. A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2009
• Mitchell, Brian. Basic Guide to Irish Records for Family History: Clearfield Company, 2009
• Mitchell, Brian. Tracing Derry-Londonderry Roots: Clearfield Company, 2014
• Mitchell, Brian. NEW Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy Paperback: Clearfield, 2020
• O’Connor, Michael H. Tracing your Kerry Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 1994
• O’Dowd, Peadar. Tracing your Galway Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2010
• Ouimette, David. Finding Your Irish Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide: Ancestry.com, 2005
• Paton, Chris. Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet: A Guide For Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2013
• Prochaska, Alice, Irish History from 1700: A Guide to Sources in the Public Record Office: British Records Association, 1986
• Raymond, Stuart. Irish Family History on the Web: The Family History Partnership, 2007
• Roulston, William. Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600-1800: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2005
• Ryan, James. Irish Records: Sources for Family & Local History: Flyleaf Press, 1997
• Ryan, James & Smith, Brian. Tracing Your Dublin Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2009
• Ryan, James. Tracing your Sligo Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2012
• Smith, Brian. Tracing your Mayo Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2010
• Smith, Brian & Kennedy, Gerry. Tracing Your Clare Ancestors: Flyleaf Press, 2013
• Stewart, Alan. My Ancestor Was Irish: A Guide to Sources for Family Historians: Society of Genealogists, 2012

Other

• Bradshaw’s Railway Map Great Britain and Ireland 1852: Mapseeker Publishing, 2013
• Connolly, S.J. The Oxford Companion to Irish History: Oxford University Press, 2007
• Coogan, Tim, Pat. The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
• Dickson, R.J. Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718-1775: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1976
• Grenham, John. The Little Book of Irish Clans and Tartans: Book Sales, 1995
• Robinson, Philip. Plantation of Ulster: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000
• Smith, Paul & Turner, Keith. Railway Atlas of Ireland Then & Now: Ian Allan Publishing, 2014

Websites

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
About wills and will calendars. Wills include information on the deceased (testator) and the property and goods they owned. Witnesses, beneficiaries and executors of a will are also named. Wills can therefore give a picture of a family and how they lived, as well as evidence of their wealth and social status.
National Archives of Ireland
Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1920.
National Archives of Ireland
How to find a will. This guide explains how to locate historic wills and grants of probate or letters of administration in Ireland.
National Archives of Ireland
Testamentary records. This page provides important information about testamentary records from the courts. It includes details on various record types, such as wills, grants of probate and intestacy. Additionally, it covers the historical background of testamentary jurisdiction and the availability of these records.
John Grenham
Irish Wills.
Who Do You Think You Are Magazine?
Irish wills: Why are they important, and where can you find them? Irish ancestry research experts Paul Blake and Maggie Loughran explain how to find Irish wills.
Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations
Guide to Irish Calendars of Wills and Administrations. The guide includes links to downloadable individual calendars covering 1923 to date.
From Ireland
Research Help: Wills, Administrations and Deeds.
Irish Geneaography
Will Probate Districts & Records, 1858+.
Irish Geneaography
Hunting for Irish Wills.
The Genealogist
What makes the Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858 a significant resource for researching your Irish ancestors?
Timeline Research Ireland
Irish Wills, by Nicola Morris
WikiTree
Wills and probate.

Townland Resources
Irish Genealogical Research Society
Index of Townlands, 1901. The site offers access to the Index of Townlands from 1901. The index, published in 1904 by the Commissioners of Census, was created as an aid in processing the returns for the 1901 census of Ireland. The index provides an alphabetical listing of townlands and towns in Ireland, along with various administrative divisions such as parishes and electoral divisions.
Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer
Tailte Éireann (formerly Ordnance Survey Ireland). The service allows users to view historical and townland boundaries and features for the island of Ireland on interactive maps. Enables fast search and pinpointing of particular Irish townlands, names and boundary features.
The IreAtlas
Townland database. Search of the IreAtlas Townland database. The results of a county or townland search show all the townlands within the requested county together with the barony and parish.
nidirect
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. In this section you can access lists of townlands arranged in the following different ways by county, by parish, within the estates of major landowners and alphabetically.
Irish Homelands
The website offers a tool for exploring Irish townlands. Users can access a detailed list of townlands and search by parish or county if you’re unsure of the townland name.
John Grenham
Irish Placenames. 1851 General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, parishes and Baronies of Ireland. Search the entire Index, together with street listings from Dublin, Cork and Belfast cities, more than 65,000 entries in all.
Irish Genealogy
Family Research 2016: Placenames. This article explains and explores how townlands and parishes got their names with links to useful resources.

Online Databases

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Name Search: Datasets include:

• Pre-1858 Diocesan Wills and Administration Bonds. Index to testators and administrators who died before 1858 in the dioceses of Armagh, Clogher, Connor, Derry, Down, Dromore, and Kilmore. Most original documents no longer exist, but indexes survived.
• Pre-1858 Prerogative Court Wills. Indexes to wills from the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Armagh which handled estates with property in multiple dioceses or above a certain value.
• Surviving Pre-1858 Wills. Copies or extracts of wills, letters of administration, and related records that survived in various archives, family papers, and solicitor archives.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Search will calendars. Search the index to will calendar entries for the District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry covering the period 1858 to 1965. View digital images of copy wills for Armagh, (1858 to 1918), Belfast (1858 to 1909) and Londonderry (1858 to 1899).

National Archives of Ireland

• Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1920. Up to 1917, the Calendars cover the whole of Ireland but since 1918 they cover only the 26 counties in the Republic.
• Prerogative and diocesan copies of some wills and indexes to others, 1596-1858.
• Soldiers’ Wills. The National Archives holds a collection of the wills of Irish soldiers who died while serving in the British Army. Most of these date from World War I

National Archives of Ireland

Scanned browsable copies of wills proved in the principal and district registries for 1922 to 1982 are available in pdf format via the NAI catalogue. Type ‘Calendar of Wills’ and the year (eg Calendar of Wills 1962) to access a pdf link for that year. In addition, entries between 1935 and 1949 can be individually searched using the online catalogue.

Probate Register
Probate Office Ireland. Search basic details about wills and grants of representation issued in Ireland since 1992.

Ulster Historical Foundation
The Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded in 1956, dedicated to those researching the history and genealogy of Ulster and its families. The site offers access to over 2 million searchable records including:

• Index of Wills and Testamentary Papers, 1510-1900. This database provides a listing of individuals whose wills or related documents were processed through the Irish probate system before the late 19th century.
• Index to Printed Irish Will Calendars, 1878-1900.
• Irish Will Calendars, 1858-1878.
• Index of Abstracts, Extracts & Duplicate Copies of Original Wills, pre-1858.
• Prerogative Wills, 1510-1856.
• Armagh Wills to 1 August 1838.
• Londonderry Wills, Derry Diocese, 1612-1857.
• Doagh Wills and Administrations, Co. Antrim, 1858-1943.

Irish Genealogical Research Society
IGRS Wills Card Index. The resource comprises approximately 4,000 index cards referencing Irish wills and administrations, primarily from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The index incorporates material from major collections like the Prerogative Wills from the Betham Collection, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, the Welply Collection, and the Swanzy Collection, as well as references to wills held in private collections and various journals such as The Irish Genealogist.

Findmypast

• Ireland Calendars Of Wills & Administrations 1858-1965.
• Ireland Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes 1595-1858.
• Ireland, Inland Revenue Wills & Administrations 1828-1879.
• Ireland, Original Will Registers 1858-1920. The dataset contains over 181,000 records and forms the largest collection of surviving wills for post-1858 Republic of Ireland. The registers come from will books created by the district courts and held by the National Archives of Ireland. The collection includes wills from Northern Ireland until 1917.
• Index Of Irish Wills 1484-1858.
• Sir Arthur Vicars, Index To The Prerogative Wills Of Ireland, 1536-1810, and Supplement (1914).
• Ireland, Diocese Of Dublin Wills and Grants, 1270-1858.
• P.W. Phillimore & Gertrude Thrift, Indexes To Irish Wills 1536-1858, 5 Vols (1909-1920).
• Crossle Genealogical Abstracts. Search genealogical abstracts created by Dr Francis Crossle and his son Philip Crossle in the late 19th century including copies of prerogative court wills from 1620 to 1804.
• Ireland, Genealogical Office Manuscripts, Wills.

Ancestry

• Ireland, Wills and Grants of Probate, 1858-1900.
• Ireland, Indexes to Wills, Probate Administration, Marriage Bonds and Licences, 1591-1866.
• Dublin, Ireland, Probate Record and Marriage License Index, 1270-1858.
• UK, Extracted Probate Records, 1269-1975.
• Web: Northern Ireland, Will Calendar Index, 1858-1965. This data is published by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
• Irish Wills Indexes. This database is a five-volume series of indexes to Irish wills. Original data: Phillimore, W. P. W. Indexes to Irish Wills.

MyHeritage

• Ireland, Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1857-1920.
• Northern Ireland, Wills and Administrations.
• Index of Irish Wills, 1484-1858.
• Vicar’s, Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810.
• Diocese of Dublin Wills, 1634-1858.
• Phillimore & Thrift, Indexes to Irish Wills, 1536-1858.

FamilySearch

• Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858.
• Ireland, Original Will Registers, 1858-1920.
• Ireland, Calendar of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1920.
• Ireland, Inland Revenue Wills & Administration, Will Registers, 1828-1879.
• Ireland, W.P.W. Phillimore & Gertrude Thrift, Indexes to Irish Wills 1536-1858, 5 vols.

The Genealogist
Ireland: Irish Will Indexes 1484-1858. Search indexes to surviving records of Wills, Grants and Administrations, held by The National Archives of Ireland. Records include the original NAI reference, which can be used to order a copy of the existing document.

CD Roms

S & N Genealogy Supplies
Irish Wills 1536-1810, edited by Sir Arthur Vicars FSA.

GenFair
Browse tens of thousands of family history products including from hundreds of suppliers. The largest range of products covering the British Isles. Products include Sir Arthur Vicars, Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810. It contains an index to over 40,000 Irish wills, most of which were destroyed in the 1922 explosion at the Public Record Office in Dublin.

Internet Archive
Index to the prerogative wills of Ireland, 1536-1810.

Irish Family History Centre

• Index to the Act or Grant Books, and to Original Wills, of the Diocese of Dublin 1634-1858.
• Index to the Act or Grant Books, and to Original Wills, of the Diocese of Dublin, 1634-1799.
• Index to the Act or Grant Books, and to Original Wills, of the Diocese of Dublin, 1800-1858.
  Indexes to Irish Wills 1536-1858, 5 vols.
• Sir Arthur Vicars, Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810.