About the new CD-ROM containing the West Kent Probate Index, 1750-1858:

Kentish researchers are tolerably well served by probate indexes inasmuch as the wills for the Diocese of Canterbury (East Kent) are more or less fully indexed, although the equally (and sometimes more) valuable administrations are not. Hitherto, those with ancestors in the Diocese of Rochester have had to make do with a card index to some, but not all, wills in the Maidstone searchrooms, whilst the administrations have remained completely inaccessible unless one is prepared to brave long and slow searches in the probate act books.

All is now changed with this master index of wills and administrations to the two probate and two peculiar courts of the Diocese of Rochester. All the 6,300 or so entries have been brought together into a single alphabetical sequence, each entry showing the name and surname of the testator or intestatee, the parish of residence, occupation and/or marital status, the year and month of the grant, and the issuing court.

The index is preceded by a comprehensive and lucid account of the material indexed (citing CKS references), a summary of abbreviations, and further extremely valuable indexes of parishes, other locations, and occupations. All original wills and administration bonds have also been checked and, as Dr Wright says, some entries accidentally omitted from the probate act books have now been rescued from oblivion. The compiler has further given us the bonus of the entire text of his Kent Probate Records - A Catalogue and Practical Guide (published 2004), a masterly overview and full catalogue listing of all the probate records for the historical county of Kent. Armed with an entry of interest from the index, the book will supply the court class references and thus enable rapid location of the will or administration.

The book makes the important point that some groups of Kent probate records are by far the best for any English county, particularly the depositions and probate accounts. A good deal of this material is little known and even less used, and is epitomised by the author reminding us that there are Kentish Tudor probate records which will reveal a man's age and birthplace.
Everyone is probably aware that the National Archives have produced an online index to the national PCC series of wills (class PROB11) in which many Kentish people appear; with the publication of this index, the century leading up to the advent of the Principal Probate Registry in 1858 is well-nigh complete for the Diocese of Rochester, and many pedigrees will now have to be revised, and almost certainly expanded, in the light of this important finding-aid.

Available as a CDRom in Adobe Acrobat from the compiler, Dr David Wright, 71 Island Wall, Whitstable, Kent CT5 1EL. Email: davideastkent@aol.com (See order forms below) Price £12.50 + 50p postage inland; £15 airmail. Trade enquiries are always welcome