Ways to volunteer | Work
done by Volunteers
Some 30,000 visitors a year use
this unique resource. We also receive over 18000 distance
enquires a year from all round the world. Our users have a
wide range of research interests, including family, community
and local history. We also serve engineering and architectural
consultants, lawyers, social workers and local government
organisations. A commitment to education and learning
runs through all that we do. Volunteering at this busy archive
is an excellent way to learn more about London; its
fascinating history and diverse communities. You will be able
to develop your own skills and help to provide an essential
service for everyone interested I the history of London.
Ways in which you can volunteer at
LMA
Helping people who visit us
LMA’s Public Services Team is responsible for welcoming
researchers to our Clerkenwell site and providing advice on and
access to archives in our public research areas. Staff also answer
enquiries that arrive by post, email, fax, telephone and from the
LMA pages on the City’s website. We run and education and community
service; and through talks and visits to schools we aim to
introduce new users to the wealth of information that can be found
at LMA. We already have a team of experienced family history
volunteers who support the work of the permanent staff on the
Saturdays we open to the public. In particular they assist first
time visitors, showing them how to get started on their family
history research. We are always looking for people with similar
experience to join the team.
Helping to care for archives
The work of LMA’s Preservation Team is very varied; projects
include repairing damaged documents, taking action to prevent
future damage, packaging archive correctly and training staff and
users on the proper handling of documents. The Team is currently
working with volunteers on a number of projects including cleaning
and numbering wills and Freedom papers and packaging some of our
most vulnerable photographic collections. Preservation volunteers
are trained to carry out these tasks and we are interested in
hearing from anyone who feels they may have the necessary level of
skill and care to handle fragile items and to help us preserve them
for generations to come.
Helping to describe archives
LMA’s Acquisition and Cataloguing Team liaises with the owners
of archives to build an archival resource for London that reflects
its history and development as a capital city and world metropolis.
It also catalogues the large collections of records that we take in
as well as improving and automating existing lists for use by the
public. Its work is a key part of making the information in our
care accessible to all. See below for some details on some of the
projects that volunteers have been involved with recently. We also
provide internships for people who are studying to become
archivists or who are interested in a career in archives.
Recent work completed by
volunteers
Diocese of London Consistory Court Wills index
This work was catalogued by volunteers at LMA between 2001 -
2007
Wills contain a huge amount of
information on personal relationships, occupations, material
belongings and even religious conviction, and as such are an
invaluable resource for family, local, social and economic
historians alike. The Diocese of London Consistory Court was
responsible for proving wills of those testators with lands in more
than one Archdeaconry within the Diocese, and is the middle tier of
the hierarchy of courts dealing with probate matters. Users
should be aware that wills of those people with more wealth were
generally proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (held at
The National Archives), and those with less wealth in local
Archdeaconry courts (some held at LMA, and others in appropriate
local authority record offices).
This index contains 31,000 entries of wills and letters of
administration (granting authority to an executor when a person
died intestate) compiled from the London Diocesan Court registers
(DL/C/354-416). Near complete coverage is provided for the
years 1514-1858 (please note there are no registers for the years
1521-1539 and 1642-1670). Please note that at this time the
Diocese of London included a wide geographical area: not only the
square mile of the City, but parts of the ancient counties of Essex
and Middlesex, and some parishes in Buckinghamshire and
Hertfordshire.
Index fields for this resource are as follows:
Name
Occupation/Status
County
Parish
Address
Month and Year Proved
Microfilm number
Page/Folio/monthly entry reference
This index is currently ordered by surname, and available to
download in a series of PDF files. The information will be
available for free text searching in the online version of LMA’s
catalogue of holdings, which will be launched in early 2008.
A CD-Rom version of the index may also be available during the
interim period – please contact LMA for more details.
Due to their fragile state, these registers are not available
for consultation and users should consult the microfilm copy as
directed.
The corresponding original wills can be found in series
DL/C/418-544. Please note that fewer original wills have
survived than their registered copies, and the information
contained in them is identical to those in this index A name
index to the original wills will be included in the online
catalogue in early 2008 – they are currently ordered by date.
Please note that the following conventions for indexing have
been used:
- The date given is that of the probate – when the will was
proved in court – and not the date of death of the testator (this
can sometimes be many months or even years before)
- The use of square brackets [ ] indicates an insertion by the
indexer where the information included is very likely to be
correct, but is not explicitly stated in the will.
- All information is listed as given in the will, including
original spellings. Please note these may not always correspond to
modern equivalents which have been inserted in square brackets
where appropriate.
- Where possible, parish names have been standardised, using
square brackets where appropriate, according to The Phillimore
Atlas and Index of Parish Registers 2nd Edition, ed. Humphrey
Smith, Phillimore 1995.
Downloadable Wills lists
Wills A-B (1mb)
Wills C-D (966kb)
Wills E-G (792kb)
Wills H-J (892kb)
Wills K-M (982kb)
Wills N-R (1mb)
Wills S-T (994kb)
Wills U-Z (709kb)
With thanks to all the volunteers who created this index at
LMA.
While every effort has been made to ensure this index is as
accurate as possible, please do
email us with any suggested corrections.