Have a go! Look out for the questions on the Academy pages, suitable for beginners, intermediate and more advanced. To save you hunting for the answers, we will circulate them in the FREE Family Tree enewsletter. Simply sign up by 22 May at www.family-tree.co.uk/account/register/
In this month’s Family Tree Academy I want to take a look at one of family history’s best kept secrets. It’s a source that could add some depth to your research, provide links to lots of other useful records and, if you’re lucky, help you to break down some of your trickiest brickwalls.
It’s all about probate. The records in question have a direct link to wills and letters of administration, and we can trace their history back to the late 18th century. Under the terms of the 1780 Stamp Duties Act, a tax was introduced on ‘every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or Sheet or Piece of Paper, upon which any Receipt or other Discharge for any Legacy left by any Will, or other Testamentary Instrument … shall be ingrossed, written, or printed’.
A tax of 2s 6d was levied on estates valued up to £20, with higher rates of 5s on estates of between £20 and £100, and 20s on estates of over £100. It was a
