Nantwich Wills 1603 to 1688

Jack Cockcroft was a keen Family Historian, but his interests extended very much into Local History and especially the history ofNantwich, which became his adopted town. Jack attended classes on Local History, during the course of which he became interested in the Wills and Inventories of people from Nantwich during the "Stuart" period i.e. 1603 - 1714. He took upon himself the task of visiting the Cheshire Record Office at Chester on a regular basis and there laboriously transcribed the Wills and Inventories covering the town of Nantwich. Having handwritten them at the Record Office, then came the task of typing them into a computer. The  work involved was both tiresome and time consuming, but neither of these deterred him from his task. He transcribed and typed in several hundreds of documents ranging from a single 1 page Inventory to much longer and more detailed Wills. It was during visits to Jack and his wife at Nantwich, to discuss other projects that he was also involved with that I became aware of this work. The Society at this time were just embarking on publishing a series of "Local History" books and Jack's response when I enquired whether he would allow the Society to publish his work was an immediate and unequivocal confirmation. The work was taken on by the  Society, but due to some problems, not least of which was computer incompatibility, it was to take some time before the work was completed and I was much saddened that Jack did not live long enough to see his finished work published.

This is a superb work of reference for students of Nantwich Local History and for Family Historians with ancestors from Nantwich. The period covered is for the "Stuart" monarchs James I (1603 -1625), Charles I (1625- 1649), Charles II (1660- 1685) and James n (1685- 1688).

ln book forn, the work consists of 6 volumes. I think that this format will make the work more affordable and more easily accessible.