Indexes to Irish Wills - Five Volumes in One

by William Phillimore Watts Phillimore

Indexes to Irish Wills is an alphabetical index of over 30,000 Diocesan wills proved in the Consistorial Courts of Ireland between 1536 and 1857. Arranged by Dioceses, and preceded by maps showing in which Dioceses the various Irish counties are situated, the Indexes provide the name of the testator, his parish, county, and the date of probate and are, in short, complete lists of Diocesan wills proved up until 1857, when the various ecclesiastical courts were abolished by Act of Parliament and superseded by the Probate Court. Since the Public Record Office in Dublin was destroyed by fire in 1922, information furnished by this work is very often the only source for determining the social and financial status of an ancestor. These indexes also provide clues for checking land records for an estate partition and transfers of lease from testator to heir. This volume is a perfect companion to Sir Arthur Vicars' Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810. About the William P. W. Phillimore was the editor of the invaluable Parish Register Series. He edited the first two volumes of the Indexes to Irish Wills, the succeeding volumes being edited, after his death, by Gertrude Thrift.

Hardcover

First published March 14, 2011

About the author

William Phillimore Watts Phillimore (formerly Stiff) MA BCL (1853–1913) was an English solicitor, genealogist and publisher.

William Phillimore Watts Stiff was born on 27 October 1853 in Nottingham, the eldest son of Dr William Phillimore Stiff M.B. Lond., M.R.C.S. Eng., of Sneinton, Nottingham, afterwards superintendent of Nottingham General Lunatic Asylum, and Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Watts of Bridgen Hall, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. In 1873 William Stiff senior changed the family surname by royal licence to Phillimore, his great-grandmother's maiden name. William junior studied at The Queen's College, Oxford, and was awarded a second-class degree in Jurisprudence in 1876.