Federation Of Family History Societies

190,000 Welsh Wills Online – Free to View

The National Library of Wales has good news for family historians, social historians … and the inquisitive!  Over 190,000 Welsh wills (some 800,000 pages) have been digitised and are now available on the Library’s website or direct on their online catalogue and are free to view.

Wills which were proved in the Welsh ecclesiastical courts before the introduction of Civil Probate on 11 January 1858 have long been deposited at The National Library of Wales.  An online index and an opportunity to view digital images of these wills within the Library building has been available for some time, however, remote users can also view the digital images following the release of a new site on 16 October.

Amongst the collection is the will of Twm Siôn Cati alias Thomas Johnes, Fountaine Gate, Caron (SD1609-20), this year being the 400th anniversary of his death.  The will of Howell Harris, the famous Welsh religious reformer can also be seen (BR1773-51). 

As well as being a fabulous source of information the National Library’s online wills offer the ability to view all 193,000 wills free of charge, a service few other similar institutions are able to offer.  Whilst most institutions charge readers to view their documents, the Library only charges for providing copies of them.

More information can be viewed at http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=1514&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=2640&tx_ttnews%5bbackPid%5d=160&cHash=d41a0c9a42.

Roger Lewry
FFHS Archives Liaison

19 October 2009