I'm only guessing here, but if you don't have the information, you don't have it.
I let my first US passport expire and then misplaced it for about 20 years before I felt the need to get a new passport. I was told because I didn't have the details about it, not to worry about it and got a new US passport with no problem...if the US isn't/wasn't keeping track of my old passport details, I would imagine the UK isn't going to be too worried about it either...but, as I said, I'm just guessing here!
(My old passport miraculously re-appeared a few years after that and I keep it in a safe place now, just in case.)
Congrats, btw, on your Britishness!!
