The company was founded by Tom Curran, a former Architect’s Draughtsman and Entrepreneur, to help Corporate Trustees and Lawyers trace missing beneficiaries and legal documentation. Research was frequently carried out at the Family Records Centre and local archives, as all records had to be searched manually.

Tom Curran retires, and his son, also called Tom, takes over as Managing Director. Work commences to digitise birth, marriage, and death records for use in-house.

Midway through the year, we made a policy decision to no longer undertake public domain case work and focus solely on instructed work.

As of January, we changed our pricing structure to one we believe to be more ethical. Since 2001, we have not accepted instructions from Solicitors to work on a contingency fee basis.

Licence granted to publish birth, marriage, and death indices online. Launch of website 1837online.com, which paved the way for modern genealogy as we know it.

We were proudly awarded the Queen’s Award for Innovation as a result of our work in digitising genealogy records.

Later in the year, we purchased Horsham-based firm Direct Probate Services, which paved the way for us to offer overseas asset services to further support our clients.

We published the 1861 England and Wales census via the 1837online website.

We published the 1891 census, and rebranded 1837online to Findmypast.com

In partnership with The National Archives, we published the outgoing passenger lists on FindMyPast.com, further paving the way for both professional and hobbyist genealogists.

Relocation of our London office first to Bath, and then to Bristol.

Title Research was awarded the Probate Research Firm of the Year at The British Wills and Probate Awards 2022.

In recognition of our outreach and extensive resources created for legal professionals, we were awarded ‘Best Use of Marketing’ at the 2026 Legal Growth Awards. Particular call-outs were made for our blog, monthly webinars, podcast, and quarterly digital magazine.

Title Research continues to focus on assisting estate administration professionals by providing specialist support services worldwide. Partnerships with Professional Conferences, Central Law Training, and STEP allow us to continue to offer advice and guidance whenever required.