ESSENTIAL SEARCH SKILLS TO MASTER
ESSENTIAL SEARCH SKILLS TO MASTER
17th century will
Chancery Script
Registered copies of PCC wills were usually written in the highly stylised Chancery script. Note the lower case ‘c’s in the words ‘except’ and ‘account’ on the fourth line, which look like a modern day ‘r’. Will of William Evans, PCC. TNA PROB 11/2142]
The highly stylised Chancery Script was used by clerks at the PCC well into the 19th century so you are likely to encounter it quite frequently. Have a go at transcribing this will – you will find that it’s not as hard as it seems. And you will discover fascinating clues about William Evans and his friends and families. This is just the sort of information you might find in your own ancestors’ wills.
The Family Tree Study Club
This will, dating from 1693, illustrates a number of features of late 17th century handwriting, including the ‘backwards facing’ ‘e’ and the exaggerated curve on the lower case ‘d’. Will of Cuthbert Pattison, Dean and Chapter of Westminster. City of Westminster Archives Centre, 1708/1360.
In the course of your research you’re liable to come across a number of different styles of handwriting. One of the most distinctive old English hands is one known as Chancery script. It developed from medieval texts and from the 14th century, was used by a number of English courts, notably the Court of Chancery.
These marks are just line fillers, used by the clerks to ensure that no additional words could be entered. Remember wills are legal documents.
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The vast majority of the records that we use to research our family history are handwritten. Many of them, particularly from the mid-18th century onwards, include manuscript entries, completing pre-printed forms or pre-printed pages in a register, but many more are entirely handwritten: wills, for instance and pre-19th century parish registers were normally written on plain sheets of paper or in plain notebooks.
The place where family historians are most likely to confront Chancery script is in the registers of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
It is therefore crucial that, as family historians, we should learn to read the various styles of handwriting that we’re likely to confront in the course of our research – and that we should learn to read them well!
Hat trick! Here the word ‘Midlesex’ (from the document on the right) obligingly shows us: