Archive for the “Probate” Category

I have previously written about the service file Douglas James Stewart (1899-1918), downloaded from the National Archives of Australia’s website. The file is 61 pages long, and I was unable to do it justice in a single post.

Douglas embarked for England on 10 May 1917 after months of training and medical examinations and inoculations. Ten days before he left he made out his last Will and Testament, lodging it with the Officer in Charge Base Records. A certified copy of the will was kept in his file. I imagine the original was removed on his death.

NAA: Base Records Office Australian Imperial Force; B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers. 1914-1920; 3013311, Stewart Douglas James : SERN 3718. Certified copy of the Last Will and Testament of Douglas James Stewart.

He left everything he owned to his mother, Annie Stewart. I don’t imagine that his property and effects amounted to much. He was 18, he lived at home with his parents; he was a telegraph messenger. Perhaps he owned a bicycle.

His will was witnessed by W.M. Dorney and A. J. Cowled. A search of the National Archives of Australia RecordSearch reveals the identity of these two witnesses.

William Michael Dorney from Raymond Terrace was a State School teacher who had passed his 2nd Lieutenant’s exam at Duntroon in 1916, before he enlisted, aged 30, in Raymond Terrace, near Newcastle. He sailed from Sydney on board HMAT Port Melbourne on 16 July 1917 with the 33rd Batallion, and was wounded in action in France in April 1918. After two months in hospital he was sent back to France and was killed 12 days later by a direct hit from an enemy 77 [gun] while leading his platoon at ‘Road Wood’ on 30 August 1918. His effects were returned to his wife.

Agustus John Cowled was a farmer who enlisted at Cootamundra on 29 March 1916. He was 22. He was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on 1 May 1917 before leaving Australia on 31 October 1917 aboard HMAT Euripides. He lived through the war, despite being wounded and gassed more than once, and returned to Australia on 20 August 1919.

I can’t see that Douglas served with either of these two lieutenants. Douglas had landed in France after training in England on 20 May 1918.

A ‘Certificate re Will’ is also on file. This appears to be a stub from which the will, filled out by the men on a standard form, had been removed. You can see the pin marks on the left hand side. Other men provided their own wills, especially, I suspect, the married ones.

Certificate re Will

The certificate is signed by by the Commanding Officer of the battalion. I would welcome a more accurate explanation of this form.

Sources for witnesses:

National Archives of Australia: Base Records Office Australian Imperial Force; B2455, First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920.

Cowled Augustus John : SERN LIEUTENANT : POB Junee NSW : POE N/A : NOK F Cowel Albert Clayton

Dorney William Michael : SERN Lieutenant : POB Raymond Terrace NSW : POE N/A : NOK W Dorney Gertrude Margaret

I’ve received the following email. You can have your vote towards getting the Index to Probates for England and Wales since 1858 online, as long as you do it in the next day or so (allowing for the time difference).

Subject: Re: ENGLAND & WALES Probate Calendar

John Briden HMCS (Her Majesty’s Courts Service) is hoping to get the  Probate Calendar Indexes to Wills and Grants, issued since 1858 in England and Wales online.

The index includes the full name and address of the deceased and date of death. See http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm

He has put together a short questionnaire and would like to receive as many responses as possible by Friday 27th March.  I realise that this is very short notice but if you are able to help by responding to John it would be appreciated. 

Copy and paste the questions below into an email, add your answers and send your responses to john.briden@justice.gsi.gov.uk

• Q1. If the probate calendar was available on the internet, would you use it?
•  
• Q2. If you would use it – how often would you use it?
•  
• Q3. What probate information would you be interested in seeing online, and why that particular information?
•  
• Q4. Would you like to order copies online, and be prepared to pay for them online?
•  
• Q5. Would you prefer to access the calendar online, but order and pay for copies by post, or by telephone?
•  
• Q6. Would you be prepared to pay a premium to the fee, in addition to the normal cost for a more immediate service?

Original message from:

Mauren Bullows

Archives Liaison Officer

Email: archives.liaison@ffhs.org.uk 

www.ffhs.org.uk

 This email has been sent by: 

The Federation of Family History Societies a Company Limited by Guarantee

Company Number 2930189 (England & Wales) – Registered Charity Number 1038721

Registered Office: Artillery House, 15 Byrom Street, Manchester, England M3 4PF

Just cut-and-paste the questions into an email, add your answers, and send to john.briden@justice.gsi.gov.uk. Let’s add our Australian voices to this issue!

My thanks to Michelle Nichols for drawing this to my attention.

The Public Record Office of Victoria has announced the release of  two online indexes -

Wills and Probate 1841-1925

Outwards Passengers 1887-1896

Here is the announcement in their rEsearch 32 – News from Access Services at Public Record Office Victoria:

NEW PROBATE AND SHIPPING INDEXES LAUNCHED
2008 has seen volunteers at PROV achieve major milestones through their work on indexing PROV records.

Volunteers from the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations have completed the initial stage of a new index to probates in Victoria. The index’s first stage, covering the period 1841-1925, allows researchers to search for the first time 214,000 probates held in PROV’s collection by family name, place, occupation and date.

For assistance in researching wills and probates, refer to: PROVguide 70 Wills and Probate Records; PROVguide 29 Wills and Probate Records 1841-1925; and PROVguide 68 Wills and Probate Records from 1926. These are available online and in hard copy in PROV reading rooms.

PROV volunteers have also completed another instalment of the outwards immigration index. The latest instalment of 290,000 departures covers the period 1887 – 1896, was launched at the volunteers’ end of year celebrations on 16 December.

The new instalment of the immigration index and the new probate index can be accessed online at: < http//access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide023/PROVguide023.jsp