Pharos Tutors Celebrates 21st Birthday
In September 2026 Pharos Tutors reaches its 21st birthday 🎉. Pharos Tutors is a leading provider of online courses in family history, local history and related topics in the UK. I have tutored and written courses for them since 2014 and, since 2020, I have been its owner and Managing Director. Yep, for those of you old enough to remember the old Remington TV adverts - 'I liked it so much I bought the company'.
What's so special about Pharos Tutors?
The most popular type of courses are the tutor-led courses. One of the things I personally like most about Pharos is the fact that each of these courses has a dedicated tutor with expertise in that topic, and students have the opportunity to interact with their tutor in live sessions every week of the course. There is also a dedicated online course forum for each individual course. This is where students post their answers to the week's 'exercises', but is another opportunity for interaction with the tutor and fellow students throughout the course at a time that suits the student. The flexibility of the courses enables students to take part from all over the world. Another element I am especially proud of are the detailed course 'lesson notes' that students receive each week. These truly are excellent value for money and students can refer back to them after the course has ended, perhaps visiting some of the 'explore further' links.
How did Pharos Tutors get started?
Pharos Tutors was created by co-founders Helen Osborn and Sherry Irvine back in September 2005. Helen said of that time: 'We wanted to bring short courses to everyone regardless of their ability or experience, and to bring enthusiasm and our experience as professional genealogists in not only finding people and breaking down brick walls, but also in adding that all important historical context...' You can read more about Helen's recollection of that time in my earlier blog, Introducing Pharos Tutors. Helen and Sherry were soon joined by Gill Blanchard and other tutors, such as Liz Carter, Guy Grannum and Simon Fowler came on board. Simon, who retires later this year, is the longest serving current tutor. Some of the earliest courses were ‘All You Ever Wanted to Know About Civil Registration 1837 – 2005’ and ‘Genealogical Data: Maximizing Success, Minimizing Cost’.
Growth and development
The business continued to grow with more tutors joining, and more courses added. 2010 saw the first run of the Family History Skills and Strategies (FHSS) Intermediate Certificate, developed and delivered in conjunction with the Society of Genealogists. This was followed in 2015 by the FHSS Advanced Certificate. Soon the Advanced Certificate was recognised by the professional association for genealogists in England and Wales, the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) as 'fulfilling some of its admission requirements', meaning that our Advanced Certificate graduates are exempt from some parts of the application process. This was later 'upgraded' to the maximum exemption status, an honour bestowed upon only two education providers at the time of writing. A new type of course was added in 2014, Anytime courses. As the name implies these courses are worked through by students in their own time, they have no tutor or start date. The two-part Foundations of Family History course is particularly popular.
All change
In 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, I purchased the company from remaining owner, Helen Osborn, having been tutoring and writing courses for Pharos Tutors since 2014. Since that time I have commissioned a brand new website and underlying infrastructure, to better support the current scale of the business, and increased the number of courses running by 50%. Some of the subjects areas I have been passionate about adding to the course portfolio have been methodology, local history, house history and reintroducing tutor-led courses on Irish research.
21st Birthday Celebrations
September 2026 marks 21 years since Pharos Tutors was established as a business. We have a number of events planned to celebrate this. The first event is a webinar week in July on the theme, The Ones Who Got Away. This brings together tutors, past and present, with friends of Pharos to offer you a week of one-hour webinars on those difficult to research and often overlooked ancestors. Don't worry if you can't make it live though - all talks will be recorded and made available for one month after the event.
July Webinar Week
The list of talks for the July webinar week, running 13th-17th July 2026, is shown below and can be booked here.
| Date | Time | Speaker | Talk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 13 Jul, `26 | 10am | Dave Annal | Mind the Gaps! |
| Mon 13 Jul, `26 | 2pm | Debbie Kennett | How DNA uncovered a 100-year-old family secret |
| Mon 13 Jul, `26 | 7pm | Simon Fowler | My mother and history: a genealogical exploration |
| Tue 14 Jul, `26 | 10am | Sophie Kay | Negative Space: How Genealogy Gaps Can Help Your Tree Flourish |
| Tue 14 Jul, `26 | 2pm | Joe Saunders | Social Network Analysis in Historical Research |
| Tue 14 Jul, `26 | 7pm | Phil Isherwood | Whatever Happened to Aunt Gonda? |
| Wed 15 Jul, `26 | 10am | Jonny Perl | Understanding What are the Odds? (WATO+) at DNA Painter |
| Wed 15 Jul, `26 | 2pm | Karen Cummings | Who are Pharos Tutors? |
| Wed 15 Jul, `26 | 7pm | Nathan Dylan Goodwin | Finding Henry (recorded, but with live Q&A) |
| Thu 16 Jul, `26 | 10am | Janet Few | Ancestors on the Margins: tracing misfortunate ancestors |
| Thu 16 Jul, `26 | 2pm | Gill Rossini | Researching LGBTQ Ancestors |
| Thu 16 Jul, `26 | 7pm | Dai Davies | Remembering Our Ancestors who Died by Suicide |
| Fri 17 Jul, `26 | 10am | Andrew Redfern | AI as a Research Partner: Strengths, Limits and Sensible Use |
| Fri 17 Jul, `26 | 2pm | Kelly Cornwell | Transported to Tasmania – Researching your Convict Ancestors |
| Fri 17 Jul, `26 | 7pm | Nick Barratt | When Harry Met Dotty |
September celebrations
There will be three elements to the September celebrations:
- A webinar week running 7th-11th September this time showcasing our course topics and tutors
- Some FREE short (10-15 minute) talks introducing our courses and some of their topics
- A free PRIZE DRAW with some great Pharos goodies, books, discounts and offers from friends and Pharos partners.
The timetable for the one-hour webinars is shown below. Booking will be available here after the July event.
| Date | Time | Speaker | Talk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 07-Sep-26 | 10am | Janet Few | A Plague upon all your Houses: epidemic disease and our ancestors |
| Mon 07-Sep-26 | 2pm | Simon Fowler | Life as a Pharos tutor |
| Tue 08-Sep-26 | 10am | Jude Rhodes | Researching in Yorkshire |
| Tue 08-Sep-26 | 2pm | Alec Tritton | Working Class' Occupations in the 19th Century |
| Wed 09-Sep-26 | 10am | Richard Holt | Apprenticeship records |
| Wed 09-Sep-26 | 2pm | Joe Saunders | Becoming a Local Historian |
| Thu 10-Sep-26 | 10am | Karen Cummings | Writing Effective Family History Reports |
| Thu 10-Sep-26 | 2pm | Kelly Cornwell | Using Social Media in Family History |
| Fri 11-Sep-26 | 10am | Else Churchill | Researching in the Long 18th century |
| Fri 11-Sep-26 | 2pm | Julie Goucher | Surname Studies |
Stay up to date with the latest on the Pharos Tutors birthday celebrations by signing up to their newsletter.
