Hingley Probates

'''The Probate data on this page has been extracted from the Calendars (annual indexes) of the Central Probate Registry by Alan Stanier in pursuance of his own family history. It is for Hingleys who lived and/or died in and around Cradley between the years 1858 and 1900.'''

Alan makes available an ad-hoc collection of research notes, etc., at his Research Notes web pages. The extracts are restricted to those relevant to his research into his own family tree and entries are in no particular order.

Alan encourages others to use and reproduce this data, and has kindly given permission for its reproduction here on Cradley Links. His link to the Hingleys is his 4 x great grandmother Elizabeth Hingley, who married Joseph Davis 27 July 1817 in Halesowen. For many years Alan's family research met a brickwall with Elizabeth, as he could not tell which of two Elizabeth Hingleys she was (the Rowley Regis register has two baptised on the same day, 12 September 1798). However, this was resolved in 2012 when new information came to light. Shared DNA between himself and Nigel Brown (of Cradley Links) pointed very strongly to the Elizabeth Hingley daughter of Isaac and Esther Hingley. Nigel is also descended from Isaac and Esther, via their son Josiah.

Definitions

Probate refers to the legal process of approval by a competent court that an instrument (normally a Will or Administration in the absence of a Will) of a deceased person was indeed his or her lawful act, together with authority to the executor(s) to carry out its terms.

A Will, properly known as a Last Will and Testament, is a document directing the disposal of a deceased person's property according to his or her wishes while living. When a person dies intestate, that is, leaving no Will, the next-of-kin, or a close friend or creditor, applies to the probate court to grant Letters of Administration of the estate, also called Admons., to settle matters

Before 1858 there were up to 300 or so ecclesiastical and peculiar courts. The peculiars belonged in the main to city corporations, colleges or lords of manors. In 1858 all these fragmented jurisdictions were abolished by the Probate Act, and their powers were passed to the Probate Division (now the Family Division) of the High Court.

HINGLEY PROBATE RECORDS, 1858 - 1900