« Reply #7 on: Monday 10 July 17 18:19 BST (UK) »
'Berkshire' wills are held by the WSRO because a sizeable chunk of Wiltshire Archdeaconry around Hurst was transfered to Berkshire in 1840ish - prior to which the residents were, of course, Wiltshire residents and hence had their wills go through probate in the Wiltshire Archdeaconry court. Strictly speaking these are not Berkshire wills at all.
My understanding is that Sarum was a higher court than the Archdeaconry of Berkshire and depending on the value and location of the estate, it would have had to be proven at Sarum. The court above Sarum being the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. This would explain why some Shrivenham residents' wills were proven at Sarum and some in the Berkshire Court. You see it amongst a lot of counties in the country, where the consistory courts which were higher than archdeaconry courts were located in one county but covered residents from other counties.
As for the current Berkshire incumbent, well I've been told by some people very active in the genealogy "world" in the area that he does hold the same attitude as his predecessor regarding digitisation, or at least did the other year (and there hasn't been a change of archivist since that time). If he has softened his attitude which eventually may lead to the records being digitised, then good but I shall believe it when I see it.
This is my opinion as well - that they are awaiting a good offer. I know there are a lot of transcribed Berks PRs on FindMyPast but the digitised images are so much better and there are also quite a few still missing from Family Search and FindMyPast.[/color][/color]
I think you'll find that they need to approach the companies, the companies don't approach them. That is my understanding from what I've read. If the Berkshire Archivist is waiting for such a good offer, he may be waiting for a while. That said, the approach to digitisation between Ancestry and Findmypast is different, Ancestry apparently hire temporary staff to digitise the records at the records offices and FindMyPast expect the records offices to digitise them themselves using volunteers usually. I suspect the difference also comes down to how much money they earn from the records being viewed on the different sites depending on the company's initial outlay. While there are of course other companies that do host the records, their subscriber base is much smaller and they won't make as much money from the arrangement. In the case of Familysearch of course, they only provide free access anyway albeit usually at their centres.
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day