Where there's a will - a testamentary records and probate records for the family historian

Christopher is making a welcome return.   After 44 years (43 of them at East Sussex) as an archivist, and having read Jurisprudence at Oxford, he now works as a freelance researcher, translator and editor.   Among his current projects is a calendar of medieval deeds in the archive of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle.

Christopher's talk will cover all aspects of how people in the past dealt with estates of the dead, whether or not they had left a will.   It will cover the languages and formats of probate records, describe the jurisdiction and work of probate courts both before and after the state takeover in 1858.   In particular we will look at the sentences at the ends of wills and at grants of administration, which before 1733 are written in Latin.