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Search Information and Tips

The Basic Search Process

Hopefully, the way the search process works should be fairly self-evident. However, just in case it's not quite as logical as I thought, here is a description of the basic sequence followed by all the searches:

The main Search page, which can be reached by clicking on the green "Search" button at the top of each page. It shows all the collections currently searchable, with an asterisk next to those which are not complete (for example, although some individual suit rolls are completely transcribed, not all of them are). Find the collection or list that you would like to search, and then click the "Search" button immediately below it, which will take you to...
The search form, which is designed to search this particular collection, with source and copyright information below, plus a link to the relevant information page. Type in the surname (or other information) that you're looking for, select the type of search, and click the "Search" button, which will take you to...
The search results page, which will list all the records which fit your search criteria, followed by the same search form and source and copyright information as the previous page. Some characters are not allowed in the search form (such as & , # or ' ) so if you have used a forbidden character, or left the form blank, you will get a warning message and the form will appear again. You will also get an error message if you are not logged in. Otherwise, you should see a table containing all the matching records (with buttons to move forwards and/or backwards if there are more than twenty), each with a "View Record" button stating the number of credits required. Clicking one of these will take you to...
The record page, which will give you all the information contained in the record you have asked to view. With the exception of PCC wills or records you have already viewed within the last 365 days, you will need to have credits in order to view this page, and an error message will appear if you do not have enough. Once you have made a note of the information, you can click on the "Return to Search Results" button, which will take you back to...
The search results page you just left. From here, you can either choose another record to view, or search again.

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Keeping Track of Records

Once you have viewed a record, its text colour will change slightly in the results table, and the attached "view Record" button will change to a cost of 0 credits. This ensures that you can see which records you have looked at, and also view the record again without costing any more credits.

However, this effect will only last for 365 days after your first viewing the record, so I would encourage you to make a note of the information for your own records within this time. In particular, be sure to make a note of the record number, as it is the best way to find the same record again, or to make sure that you have found a different one.

All the records you have viewed in the last 365 days are also accessible from your "My Account" page. Just click on the "Viewed Records" button for a complete list.

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Credits

The number of credits required to view a particular record will be printed on the "View Record" button at the end of the relevant row, and the number of credits you still have left will be printed in an orange box near the top of both the results page and the actual record page. This should enable you to keep an eye on your credit level.

You can search/browse all of the collections without buying any credits, although not all the information will be visible. Ticks and crosses may appear in the results tables to indicate whether the record has any information in a given field - if a question mark appears, you won’t know whether it does or not until you actually look at the record.

(Note that the will index entries for wills probated in the PCC are free to view, whether you have credits or not - you can use this to get an idea of what the records are likely to be like.)

Provided that you have already registered and logged in, you can buy credits by clicking on "My Account" at the top of the page, then clicking on the "Buy Credits" button, which will take you to a page showing you the subscription options.

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Navigation

The search pages use buttons to navigate from one page to another within the search process. They also use pale yellow "GPS bars" at the tops of pages to show you where you are and take you back to some of the earlier pages. They are designed to be used this way.

Your browser may do some very peculiar things if you try to use the "Back" and "Forward" buttons to navigate. This largely consists of telling you the previous page has expired, asking to resend information, or else refusing to update its information.

However, all browsers should work perfectly well if you simply navigate your way through the search pages with the buttons and GPS bars provided!

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Finding the Right Person

Anyone who has ever spent any time with historic documents will be fully aware that spelling was very inconsistent, and a surname could be spelt several different ways. Although this website does not use wildcard searches, Surname (and Forename) input fields have the option of searching for the exact surname you type in, or for surnames containing the expression you type in, or for surnames beginning with the expression you type in.

Searching for the first one or two letters of a name, rather than the whole word, could allow you to pick up both Angeworth and Ainsworth (for example), or Oseland and Ozeland. You will have to scan through more results that way, but you are more likely to find all the variants. One exception to this is the surname Jukes/Jewkes/Dukes, which is spelled with two different initials - here you might be better searching for the different variants separately.

Forenames, by contrast, were so frequently abbreviated in the records that they have been put into the "Forename" fields of the database in full, with modern spelling. The original spelling/abbreviation is retained only in the actual entry itself.

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