Ever wanted to know more about your ancestors? Their wills are a good place to start.

What’s so important about Irish wills?

Finding an ancestor’s will can help you learn a lot about their life and personality, as well as confirming information such as the date of their death, and it can also help you find other relatives.

Irish ancestry can be a tricky thing to work out. The Public Record Office of Ireland burned down in 1922, resulting in the loss of many records. If you can find an ancestor’s will, this may help plug gaps in family tree knowledge.

1857 Probate Act

The 1857 Probate Act set up a Principal Registry in Dublin, and 11 district registries, that were given the power to grant probate and letters of administration. Before this, the Church of Ireland’s courts took care of Irish wills.

The Principal Probate Registry holds information about all Irish wills and administrations. Testator names are listed in alphabetical order and includes the name, address and job of the person who died, their place and date of death, date and place of probation, the estate value and the names and addresses of the executors/administrators (and their relationship to the testator, if relevant).

While original Irish wills were sent to the Public Record Office in Dublin after 20 years, the district registries made copies of Irish wills that are still around. These days, you will also find Irish wills at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) and in Northern Ireland at the Public Record Office.

Genealogy sites

Will records can also be found on genealogy sites, such as Ancestry, Findmypast, The Genealogist and MyHeritage.

On the National Archives of Ireland website, you can search the calendars of Irish wills from 1923 to 1982. From 1828 to 1879, the Inland Revenue in London held Irish will and administration indexes, which can be found in the National Archives, as well as original Irish wills from before 1992 (and from 1900 for the District Registries in the Republic of Ireland).

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has wills for the District Registries of Armagh, Belfast, and Londonderry. There is a searchable will calendar database and digital images of Irish wills from Armagh, Belfast, Derry from varying years.

A new principal registry was set up in Belfast in 1922 and it has a will calendar database for Northern Ireland’s six counties from 1922 to 1965.

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