Wills Pre-1800

Wills Pre - 1800

In 1810 Sir William Betham, Ulster King of Arms, on behalf of the Record Commissioners, superintended the construction of an alphabetical index of testators. He also wrote out, in his own hand, brief genealogical abstracts of almost all those wills that pre-dated 1800, and later constructed sketch pedigrees from his notes. When the Prerogative Wills were destroyed by fire at the Public Record Office in 1922, this work became a very important tool for genealogical research.