West Riding Registry of Deeds Indexes

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

The West Riding Registry of Deeds was active from 1704 to 1970 and consists of over 12,000 memorial copies of Deeds and associated indexes. These refer to property and land transactions throughout the West Riding and are a unique source of information.

Registration of transactions was customary but not compulsory. Not all deeds were registered. Copyhold (manorial) land and short term leases under 21 years are not registered.

The memorials are accessed by the use of indexes. There are a total of 11,588 index volumes for the period 1704 - 1970. Of these 11,338 are personal name indexes and 250 place name indexes. These indexes are in bound volumes and are not available online.

Personal Name Indexes

The indexes are arranged in year order and then alphabetically by surname, forenames and/or initials. From 1704-1763 only the name of the seller is indexed, after 1763 the names of all parties are recorded. Up to 1794 the names are arranged by the initial letter of the surname only. After 1794 the indexes are fully alphabetical.

Place Name Index

These indexes are incomplete and cover the dates 1704-1787 and 1884 - 1923. They are listed by township or parish and are not fully alphabetical. These indexes are useful if the location of a property/land is known but the name of the owner is not.

Wills

There are also indexes of Wills that were registered between 1704-1879 and 1885-1890. These are usually abstracts of Wills related to the assignment and/or granting of probate and may not contain full details of bequests, grants or legacies.

Indexes of Judgements

These are listed under the surname of the defendant in cases where land/title/property has been in dispute and the judgement is registered. These indexes cover the period 1707 - 1888. The entries record the names of the defendants and plaintiffs, the references for the memorial volume where the judgement was recorded and reference to any further proceedings.

Enclosure Award Index

This index is dated 1847 and records enclosure awards listed by place with the reference for the volume where the award was registered.

Index of Surnames - 1846

This is an index of surnames and includes a list of variant spellings and information about pronunciation.