Genealogical research in Kent
Whilst genealogical research usually involves standard records across the British Isles, it is of course essential to understand the situation with local county records. Our headquarters is situated in the historic city of Canterbury in Kent, and Kent is certainly an interesting county from a genealogical point of view.
Parish registers are the primary source for family history research prior to 1837, when civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began, and recently there has been an extensive programme to fully index and digitise all surviving Kentish parish registers (bar those still held in private hands). Whilst this is a huge boon for genealogical research, it should be noted that the transcription process is far from perfect, and so creative searches are often required. But this shouldn’t diminish the usefulness of digitial access to these registers.
Kentish wills prior to 1858 were proved in the probate courts of the Archdeaconry Courts of Canterbury and Rochester and the Consistory (or Bishop’s) Court of Canterbury. There is one Peculiar probate jurisdiction in Kent, being that of the Rector of Cliffe. The excellent volume The Phillimore Atlas and index of Parish Registers provides individual county maps showing in which probate jurisdiction a particular parish was situated.
The highest probate court in England and Wales was the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. This meant that that these wills were proved under the jurisdcition of the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the Prerogative Court was actually in London (or Oxford during the Civil War in the 1640s) rather than in Canterbury itself.
Other useful genealogical sources include records of the Poor law, and for Kent a significant publication has been produced for those records covering Mid Kent. This, and many other Kent-based sources are held in our extension library at our Canterbury HQ.
Contact us today if you have any Kent ancestors to see how we can help.