THE Malvern-based science firm QinetiQ has sold its 1901 Census online business - which it ran for the National Archives - to Friends Reunited for £3.3m.

The website, launched in January 2002, has played a key role in the burgeoning popularity of family tree research.

The business has been bought by Friends Reunited's genealogy website Genes Reunited.

QinetiQ will oversee the migration of the website from its Malvern base to Friends Reunited's head office in Oxted, once appropriate systems are in place to ensure an uninterrupted service to users.

"The success and phenomenal popularity of the 1901 Census site over the past couple of years speaks for itself," said James Kirby, director of the census business at QinetiQ.

"We have developed and delivered one of the largest and most sophisticated database systems, via a web interface, ever seen.

"But while QinetiQ is skilled at delivering managed businesses, we don't have a broad consumer base, so it makes sense for Friends Reunited to now take this successful business on to the next level."

Since its launch, the 1901 Census for England and Wales website has handled more than 120 million hits, processed more than 12 million paid downloads and helped millions to research their family trees.

The site provides free search access to the data with low cost 'pay-per-view' downloads for the actual documents.

Ongoing research has shown that almost 90 per cent of users would recommend the 1901 site to others and 75 per cent of them rate the site as good to excellent.

Michael Murphy, chief executive of Friends Reunited, said: "We found that as the site grew, our members were discovering more and more links in their family trees and so their thirst for more detail on their ancestors grew too.

"Responding to their requests for official government records, we looked at ways that we could add this service to effectively create a one-stop-shop for anyone wanting to research their family tree."