The Berkshire Record Society

Notices and Newsletters

Notices

2011 Annual General Meeting

The 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Berkshire Record Society was held on Thursday 28th April at the Berkshire Record Office. After the meeting Mrs Joan Dils spoke about the planned new edition of An Historical Atlas of Berkshire.

Three example maps from the new edition of the Berkshire Historical Atlas to be published later in 2011.

Berkshire Archdeaconry Probate Index, 1480-1652

In January 2011 Berkshire Record Society published a new and comprehensive index to the fine collection of Berkshire Archdeaconry probate records held at Berkshire Record Office. This follows two years work by the editor, Dr Pat Naylor, and for the first time provides not only a complete index to personal names but also indexes to both place names and occupations.

Probate records have long been known as an important source for historical investigation of the social and economic history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and – as Dr Naylor notes in her introduction – Berkshire is fortunate to have such an impressive collection: almost 10,000 original wills, as well as numerous detailed and informative inventories, accounts, grants of administration and various accompanying papers, together with around 9,000 pages of register entry wills and administrations. The Berkshire archdeaconry collection of probate accounts continues until 1712, but the vast majority of the accounts it contains date from the period before 1652. This Berkshire collection is the third largest to survive after those of the dioceses of Canterbury and Lincoln.

The index has been produced with generous support from the Marc Fitch Fund, Berkshire Record Office, Berkshire Family History Society, Oxfordshire Family History Society and Berkshire Local History Association. It is in three parts and is available from the Society c/o Berkshire Record Office, 9 Coley Avenue, Reading, Berkshire RG1 6AF.

• Part 1: Index of Personal Names
• Part 2: Index of Place Names
• Part 3: Index of Occupations

The three volumes are only available as a set. The normal price for the set will be £75 but a special price of £55 will apply until 31 December 2011. UK Postage - £6. (Please enquire for overseas rates)

2010 Annual General Meeting

The 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Berkshire Record Society was held on Tuesday 29th June at the Berkshire Record Office. After the meeting Dr. Pat Naylor, editor of the new index to Berkshire probate records, 1508-1652, spoke about her volume Berkshire Archdeaconry Probate Index, 1480-1652 under the title "Probate records and the local historian: the case of Berkshire."

Newsletters