Probate records are a rich source of information for Family History researchers, particularly for discovering family relationships. Existing probate records can be difficult to access, often involve a paid subscription and offer limited search facilities. Interest in family history has never been greater than it is now but often people face a financial barrier to pursuing their interest and reaping those benefits of connection. The result is less opportunity for individuals and communities.

We were donated an almost complete set of Probate books, which need to be digitised. We carried out a feasibility study and proof of concept with small samples of the data, and have mapped out a project to use professional OCR (Tesseract) on the probate images. Volunteers will then check and correct errors in the OCR output, in line with our commitment to providing high-quality data. We plan to develop a search engine with multiple entry points into the data, allowing maximum value for users.