Available to all: Britain posts 41 million wills online

Includes wills of World War II PM Churchill, novelist Charles Dickens, Princess Diana and children’s writer A A Milne

LONDON: Some 41 million British wills dating back to 1858, including those of Winston Churchill and Princess Diana, were made available in an online database Saturday. The government’s full archive of wills from England and Wales, stretching back more than 150 years, has been put on the probatesearch.service.gov.uk website. It includes the wills of World War II prime minister Churchill, novelist Charles Dickens, Princess Diana, children’s writer A A Milne, code-breaker Alan Turing, writer George Orwell and author Beatrix Potter. The digital copies of the wills cost £10 but basic details for some of them are available online. “This fascinating project provides us with insights into the ordinary and extraordinary people who helped shape this country, and the rest of the world,” said Courts Minister Shailesh Vara.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2014.