I used the term "mercenary", so should explain that what I meant is that probate research firms such as those featured in the BBC programme are doing it for money. Simple as that. No reason why they shouldn't.
I do my genealogical research for my own interest and pleasure, with no financial reward. They do it to pay their and their employees' wages.
This is one of those occasional problems you come across when you've done Latin at university - using words in their original meanings can sometimes cause confusion (or even, as in this case, offence), when I ignore more common, vernacular meanings. I did not intend any derogatory sense in my use of the word mercenary and wholeheartedly apologise to Fraser & Fraser and other such companies if anyone has taken it in a derogatory sense.
Off the top of my head, and without going and looking it up, mercenary comes from mercenarius, which itself is derived from merces, which means reward or wages.
