Probate records are a most valuable primary source for the study of social history, local history and family history. Wills and inventories comprise the main probate records, and are supplemented by administrations, accounts and other documents created when disputes arose.

Inventories and valuations were part of the process of proving wills, but relatively few have survived. There is a reasonably high survival rate for inventories in the period 1660 to 1740 amounting to about 50% in Gloucestershire, but outside this period there are very few. Wills and inventories give a colourful snapshot of the lives of our ancestors, providing an insight into household arrangements, household and occupational goods, lifestyle, wealth and status, providing evidence of kinship, family sizes, occupations and landholdings.

There is a wealth of rich information included in these Cheltenham abstracts, including wills from ; yeomen, cordwainers (cobblers), blacksmiths, feltmakers and many more occupations, listing hugely detailed inventories.

Records can be searched by first name/last name and also by 'free text' search.

 See full details about Cheltenham Probate Abstracts

Oath rolls are an underused source of individuals' names in the 16th to early 18th centuries. They could contain the names of a substantial proportion of the adult male population within the areas which they covered, and so offer a valuable pre-19th century "census substitute".

Nearly 12,000 Surrey names dating from 1695 can now be searched in this British Origins collection, available to British Origins and Total Access subscribers. The collection includes Association Oath Rolls for:

• City of London Livery Companies, 1696
• Surrey, 1695

 About Association Oath Rolls on British Origins

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