- The Firm -
The Founder of the Firm
William Shoosmith was born in Sussex in 1820. His father was an Inland Revenue Officer. The Shoosmith family moved to Northampton in 1830, and William was to spend the rest of his life in the town. After a short spell at Mr Wilby's Law School in Wood Street, in 1840 he joined the practice of Mr Hensman in Sheep Street as an Articled Clerk, and qualified as a Solicitor five years later.
In the same year that he qualified, William Shoosmith set up his own practice of "William Shoosmith". He was subsequently to practise on his own account for the next 30 years, until he admitted three of his sons into partnership in 1895. No records of the Firm still exist from its early days. It is probable that William Shoosmith would have been a general practitioner, dealing in most of the aspects of law that would have affected the inhabitants of a small market town.
William Shoosmith
1820 - 1907
In the Firm's Deeds Room, however, there is still a large collection of Nineteenth Century Apprenticeship Indentures which were prepared by William Shoosmith. These were the documents whereby youngsters became apprenticed to an employer for two years or so, in order to learn a particular trade. In one such Indenture, signed in the presence of William Shoosmith on 11 June 1845, John Ward did "put himself apprentice to Thomas Williams of town of Northampton in the County of Northampton, bread, biscuit and general baker to learn his Art..." This is the earliest legal document prepared by the Firm which is known still to exist.
William Shoosmith steadily built up an extensive practice In Northampton. It is believed that the Firm was based initially in the Market Square, but the growth of work required him continually to find bigger offices. He moved to St. Giles's Square, then to Newland just off the Market Square, and then to the Town Hall. In 1897 the Firm purchased 19 Market Square, where it remained until 1929.
Shoosmith as Town Clerk
What makes William Shoosmith's career of particular interest was his deep involvement in the political life of Northampton. He was a Liberal Councillor for nine years before being appointed to the part-time post of Town Clerk in 1869. He remained Town Clerk until his retirement in 1902. For five years, 1892 - 1897, he conducted his private practice solely from his offices in the Town Hall.
Shoosmith became a prominent figure in the town, and the extensive family house which he had built for himself in 1870 at 30 Billing Road was a suitable reflection of his status. He had married Frances Charlotte Henrietta Buxton in 1855, and they needed a large home for their five sons and three daughters.
As Town Clerk he led the negotiations municipalising the Town's water supply in 1884, and for the reorganisation of the markets in the town. Up to then, all the water supplies for Northampton had come from just two wells; whilst cattle, horses and sheep were sold in the streets in the Town Centre rather than In a special market area. According to a contemporary local newspaper, the clearance of the markets off the street was most determinedly opposed, particularly by "the Licensed Victualling interest"! Both schemes required Acts of Parliament, in which Shoosmith was instrumental.
In 1900 he oversaw the extension of the Town's boundaries, and in 1901 he dealt with the Order taking the horse tramways into municipal ownership. In 1874, moreover, he swore in Special Constables during the Northampton Riots, and advised the Magistrates on the reading of the Riot Act. Shoosmith served also as the Clerk of the Peace for 21 years, 1877 - 1898.
Shoosmith and the Nationwide Connection
The Firm of Shoosmiths & Harrison is able to boast that it has acted for the Nationwide Building Society in one or other of its guises since 1848, when the Northampton Freehold Land Society was established. From its inception William Shoosmith was the Building Society's Solicitor as well as one of its founding members. S&H is proud that it has continued to act as the Building Society's legal advisers as it metamorphosised into the Northampton Town and County Benefit Building Society, then the Anglia Building Society in 1967, followed by the Anglia Hastings and Thanet in 1978, and then merged in 1987 with Nationwide Building Society.
Initially the Building Society was virtually run from the dining room its first Secretary (Joseph Gurney), a tailor who lived and worked in Gold Street. There was no actual office, and Gurney would receive all the money at his home.
Frank Harrison. who worked with S&H for 70 years from 1894 to 1964, recalled of the Building Society: "In 1894. when I first went to the office, the Secretary of the Society was Mr Elijah Draper, a tall burly gentleman who wore a silk hat, black striped trousers and black coat and vest. He used to sit at the head of the counter and enter down in the pass book the appropriate sum the person wished to invest... Mr Draper was paid on the basis of so much per share plus all the insurance commission... I remember being in the office of the Society one morning at 8:45am as I used to call there sometimes on my way to the Town Hall, and Mr Draper went to the letter box and said 'thank goodness there are no letters today'!”
The Building Society played a considerable role in the development of Nineteenth Century Northampton as the town expanded. By 1907 it had a membership of nearly 4,000. While the shoe families such as the Barratts and Manfields built their baronial piles on the edge of town, the Building Society helped to provide the finance for the ordinary townsfolk's houses.
There were always strong and mutually beneficial ties between the Building Society, various building firms, and S&H, not least because the key players were generally all non- conformist in their religion and Liberal in their politics. It was partly on the strength of these ties that S&H grew to be the foremost legal practice in the town, acting both on the purchase of land plots for the Building Society and on the sale of the new homes to the townsfolk.
A Victorian example of frugality. This notepaper was used in 1897, two years after the Shoosmith sons joined the partnership.
The oldest surviving document prepared by the firm, an indenture signed by one John Ward in the presence of William Shoosmith on June 11th, 1845.
Shoosmith: the 50th Anniversary
In 1895, after 50 years as a sole practitioner. William Shoosmith finally admitted three of his sons into partnership. At this time the Firm was operating from three rooms in the Town Hall. William Shoosmith and two of his sons sat in one room, and his third son and all the clerks in the others. There were no typewriters or telephones, and no need to put references on letters. This was the age when the clock in the outer office still had to be wound up by a local watchmaker once every week. In 1897 the Firm moved from the Town Hall to 19 Market Square, in which the three sons had acquired the leasehold interest for £1,300. In the same year the Firm's annual profits amounted to £1,416 (£98,030 in today's money).
William Shoosmith finally retired in 1902, in his 83rd year. At the same time, he retired as the Town Clerk, and was appointed instead to the sinecure of "Consulting Solicitor to the Town Corporation" at an annual salary of £250. His death In June 1907 aged 80 led the local press to declare "Of him it may indeed be said that he played his long part in Northampton's public life without reproach, and alike as a Town Councillor, Solicitor and Town Clerk, maintained unfailingly the best traditions of law and of English civic life".
On the same page in the Northampton Independent where William Shoosmith's death was reported, mention was made of a youth in the town being sentenced to 21 days' hard labour for attempted burglary, a Towcester motorist being fined (£269 in today's money) for "driving his motor car to the danger of the public" and a local youth being sentenced to hard labour for criminal assault of a young girl. The nature and scale of punishment may change, but the fallibility of mankind would seem to be unvarying.
The Sons Come Aboard and Frank Harrison Starts... at 25p a Week
In 1895 William Shoosmith was Joined in partnership by three of his sons: William Buxton Shoosmith ("Mr Willie"), Harry Harcourt Shoosmith ("Mr Harry") and Thurston Laidlaw Shoosmith ("Mr Thursie"). The Firm became known as "William Shoosmith and Sons".
Mr Willie, the oldest son, was born in 1862, and qualified as a Solicitor in 1887. He may then have practised on his own account up to 1895, but he also assisted his father as Town Clerk. He succeeded his father as Senior Partner in 1902, and remained with the Firm until retiring in September 1924.
In his spare time Mr Willie was a keen yachtsman on the Solent, and remained so until his yacht was destroyed by enemy fire during the Second World War. He was also one of the first people in the town to drive a motor car. He died in 1953 aged 90. He was unmarried.
William Buxton Shoosmith
Partner: 1895 - 1924
Senior Partner: 1902 - 1924
Mr Harry was born in 1867. He qualified in 1892. but did not take out a practising certificate until November 1895. He retired in December 1923 and died in 1995, leaving a widow but no children.
The best known of the three sons who entered the partnership was Thurston Laidlaw Shoosmith. He was born in 1865 and qualified in 1891. According to the Law Society's records he took out his practicing certificate only in November 1895 when he was admitted into the partnership.
Mr Thursie was known more for his artistic talents than as a Solicitor. He was a watercolour painter of considerable merit, painting not only in Northamptonshire but also abroad. He travelled widely in Europe each summer, mainly to do sketches which he would use when painting his watercolours in the winter months.
Harry Harcourt Shoosmith
Partner: 1895 - 1923
Thurston Laidlaw Shoosmith
Partner: 1895 - 1925
Two of his watercolours are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum; and it has been written that he "dominated the art scene in Northampton during his lifetime and influenced a whole generation of Northamptonshire Artists". In his lifetime he contributed towards the cost of an Art Gallery in the town museum, where an exhibition of his works was held in 1983.
A bachelor, Mr Thursie lived for many years with Mr Willie in Becket House at the end of Derngate. He retired from the Firm in March 1925, and died in December 1933. Several of his pictures are owned by the Firm to this day.
Frank Harrison
As was common practice in most Solicitors' firms for many years, a considerable amount of the routine legal work was undertaken by employees called Managing Clerks. A few would go on to become Articled Clerks and later Solicitors. A typical example was Frank Harrison.
The son of a local shoe manufacturer and Liberal Councillor, Frank Harrison was born in Northampton in 1881. On one summer's day in 1894 his father bumped into the Firm's Managing Clerk, Mr Rush, on a tram and asked if Mr Shoosmith had any vacancies for a junior clerk. A vacancy had arisen and Frank Harrison duly joined the Firm in June 1894 at the age of 13. His weekly wage was five shillings.
In September 1901 Frank Harrison began his Articles under Mr Thursie on a weekly wage of 22 shillings (£68.63 in today's money). In his Deed of Articles, Frank Harrison committed himself not at any time to "cancel, obliterate, spoil, destroy, waste, embezzle, spend, make away with any of the books, papers, writings, monies, stamps, chattels or other properties of the Firm", and promised he would "readily and cheerfully obey and execute the reasonable commands" of his principal!
Frank Harrison ("Mr Frank") qualified as a Solicitor in February 1907. He married in the following year.
None of the three Shoosmith sons had the charisma or drive of their father, who had set up his own legal practice while in his twenties. Mr Frank later recalled that "they were the best sort of fellows in the world, but it was difficult to get them to see a modern outlook on office affairs". The first typewriter finally arrived in 1900 and a telephone in the following year.
Frank Harrison, circa 1918
Clerk: 1894 - 1907
Partner: 1918 - 1964
Senior Partner: 1924 - 1964
The Firm remained buoyant nevertheless. Over the period 1902 to 1923 the annual profits rose from £1,091 to £6,000 (£176,923 in today's money) although admittedly the period after the end of the Great War was a time of high inflation. Over the same period, the work for the Building Society accounted for about one third of the Firm's profits.
Shoosmiths & the Carriage Trade
The bulk of the Firm's work continued to be the residential conveyancing for the ordinary townsfolk and for the Building Society. The Firm never aspired to act for the gentry of the town or county, then known often as the carriage trade. One former Solicitor, who was an Articled Clerk in a local firm before the Great War, recalls how clients were graded according to how they arrived at the office - whether on foot, bicycle, horse and trap or horse and carriage. If it was on foot, they went into the office by themselves. If by horse and carriage, they would usually find the senior partner waiting for them on the doorstep! Not many carriages stopped at the door of William Shoosmith & Sons. Throughout the reign of the generation of Shoosmiths, the Firm operated from 19 Market Square. They had found it hard to run a private practice from offices in the Town Hall, which had confused and even intimidated some potential clients. One client of the Firm recalls how, as a young clerk with a local firm of shoemakers, he visited the Firms offices in the 1920's and remembers the "high wood and glass partitions in the office, with splendid old furniture and the lovely smell of polish".
The Firm continued to grow steadily in size with the appointment of Clerks such as Thomas Eckford in 1911 and Percy George Hayward in 1913. They both later qualified as Solicitors and remained with the Firm for many years. In 1915 the Firm took on another Clerk, called Bevan Pitt. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and tragically was killed in action within a few weeks.
Even in Northampton the threat of enemy attack was not ignored during the Great War. Some clients took out insurance against the risk Of their homes being "destroyed or damaged directly or indirectly by aerial craft (hostile or otherwise) or shots, shells, bombs or missiles from or used against aerial craft" and copies of these insurance policies are still found in some deeds packets 80 years later.
A 1907 invoice
On 25 July, 1918, a printed letter was sent to all clients from the three Shoosmith sons: "We have pleasure in announcing that we have taken into partnership Mr Frank Harrison, who, as a Solicitor, has been associated with us for many years as Managing Clerk. The name of the Firm will remain the same as before".
There were no third generation Shoosmiths available to carry on in the Firm and Mr Frank quickly established himself as a driving force. In 1923 he bought Mr Harrys share of goodwill in the practice for £2,000, and in the following year bought Mr Willie's share for £250. Mr Thursie gave his share to Mr Frank as retirement gift.
The Firm became known as Shoosmiths and Harrison on 1st January, 1924, following the retirement of Mr Harry.
'Mr Frank' Rises from the Basement
Frank Harrison ("Mr Frank") ran Shoosmiths & Harrison as a sole practitioner from the time that Mr Thursie retired in 1923 until he was joined in partnership by the first of his sons in 1938.
Like William Shoosmith, Mr Frank was non-conformist in his religion, and a personal friend of the leading figures of the Building Society. He quickly became a respected figure in the town, and often when he was being driven through the town, the Traffic Police would let his car through even when the lights were on red.
In 1927 Mr Frank acquired the leasehold interest in the Finn's office at 19 Market Square from the Shoosmiths for £2,700. He quickly concluded that the Firm would soon outgrow this building, sandwiched as it was between two other local Solicitors' firms - Becke Green and Stops at No. 20 and Ray and Vials at No. 18.
In 1929, therefore, when 20 Market Square came on the market, Mr Frank acquired the site, paying £4,850 (£149,430 in today's money) for the freehold. It is rumoured that the previous owner of NO. 20 was determined not to sell the site to him and that, in order to get around this minor hurdle, Mr Frank persuaded Watts the Furnishers to buy the site instead, whereupon they sold it on to him!
A fine new purpose-built building was constructed by A P Hawtin, boasting some fine rooms and a lift. This remained in the possession of S&H until 1989. As part of the opening ceremony, Mr Frank and Mr Hawtin stepped into the lift and pressed the button to go up to the first floor. Somewhat inauspiciously they found themselves in the basement as the wires were crossed.
Frank Harrison
Senior Partner: 1924 - 1964
More Harrisons
In 1927 Mr Frank's eldest son Frank Cyril Harrison ("Mr Cyril") began his articles with the Firm. Mr Cyril qualified as a Solicitor in 1932, and became a salaried partner in 1938, on an annual salary of £960 (£31,386 In today's money). He became an equity partner in the following year.
Mr Frank was joined by another of his three sons, Jesse Lionel Harrison ("Mr Lionel") as an Articled Clerk in 1932. Mr Lionel qualified in 1938, and became a partner in 1945. The youngest son chose instead a career in medicine.
The majority of the Firm's work in this period was residential conveyancing and work for the Building Society. The number of account holders with the Building Society rose from 15,033 to 53,003 by 1945, and over the same period the Building Society advanced more than £12,500,000 to enable some 22,000 members to purchase homes in the town. In 1891 the Building Society moved into large offices at the corner of Abington Street and the Mounts, which had to be extended in 1931 and again in the 1960's. S&H now occupies part of this building. During the Building Society's annual audit all of its deeds packets opened during the year had to be checked and resealed by the auditors and the staff of S&H. This would take place in the cellar of the Building Society's headquarters in Abington Street. The smell of melted sealing wax would percolate upstairs to the Building Society's main offices and its staff would talk of "Hell's Kitchen"!
Partners and staff, 1956
Back row (left to right): John Oughton, Lionel Harrison, Cyril Harrison, Dick Tippleston. Front row: Bill Clemmett and Frank Harrison
Life in the Office
Much of the volume work of S&H continued to be undertaken by the Managing Clerks, such as John Oughton and Bill Clemmett, who were both with the Firm for many years.
Divorce work was done as well. For this the Firm, like all others, would employ Enquiry Agents to unearth justifications for a divorce. In one case an Agent was instructed to climb a ladder and peer into a bedroom window. Unfortunately, he fell off. That Agent was not hired again.
Doris Hough (nee Caulcutt) joined the Firm as a Secretary in 1932. She was to remain an employee on and off for the next 47 years. She had to resign when she married in May 1939, as it was then the Firm's policy not to employ married secretaries, but she returned to work during the war once this policy was changed.
Doris Hough recalls that in the 1930's the office was open every Saturday morning, and until 8pm on alternate Fridays so that clients could call in at the end of their normal working day. The staff were given enough money for high tea as a bonus for staying late.
In the absence of photocopiers and fax machines, the staff used a single Roneo copier, which reproduced everything in mauve. If there was an urgent Brief to Counsel which needed to be sent up to London for the next day, secretaries would take it down personally to the Railway Station for delivery on the next train to London.
Mr Cyril and Mr Lionel both served in the Armed Forces during the war, and the Firm continued to be run in the interim by their father and the Managing Clerks.
After the war Mr Frank steadily handed over the reins to his two sons, but he remained the senior partner until his death in 1964. He lived in a fine house in the Northamptonshire countryside near Brixworth, and had his own chauffeur called Jack Barwell, to take him into work every day. Whenever Mr Frank went on his annual holiday abroad, Barwell would set off in the car two or three days beforehand so that he would be there to meet Mr Frank when he stepped off the train in whatever venue.
In 1950 George Pollard was taken on as an Articled Clerk, the first since Mr Cyril and Mr Lionel in the 1930's. There were 23 people in the Firm when he joined. Like all Articled Clerks at this time he received no official salary during his Articles, and in fact his mother had to pay the Firm £500 (£8,013 in today’s money) for the privilege of taking him on. George Pollard became an Equity Partner in April 1959 - the first one in 114 years whose name was neither Shoosmith nor Harrison.
The final years of Mr. Frank's life heralded rapid growth for S&H. In 1955 an office was opened in Banbury at the instigation of the Building Society. Initially this was run directly from Northampton, Mr Cyril perhaps driving over one day and Mr Lionel the next. The Banbury office brought in net fees of almost £312 in its first year. An office was also opened in Daventry in 1964. In the same year Mr Frank died at the age of 83. A young articled Clerk by the name of Michael Orton-Jones was instructed to clear out Mr Frank's desk, and was mildly surprised to come across a loaded gun. Mr Frank had clearly found this a useful device in handling difficult clients.
Head office of Northampton Town & County Benefit Building Society as sketched in 1948 for a centenary booklet
Partners' meetings... 15 Minutes and a Glass of Whisky
F. Cyril Harrison
Articled Clerk: 1927 - 1932
Assistant Solicitor: 1932 - 1938
Partner: 1938 - 1979
Senior Partner: 1964 - 1979
Mr Cyril now succeeded his father as senior partner of Shoosmiths & Harrison. The Firm had offices in the Market Square in Northampton, and outposts in Banbury and Daventry. There were just three partners (Mr Cyril, Mr Lionel and George Pollard), and the work from the Building Society continued to form the majority of the Firm's work.
In March 1964, at the age of just 24, John Thorpe joined the Firm as a partner. His offer letter from Mr Cyril, headed "Dear Thorpe", cited an initial annual salary of £1,500 (£13,415 in today's money) plus a percentage of the profits. John Thorpe had previously been an Articled Clerk at Messrs. Phipps and Troup, Solicitors in Northampton (where Tom Boardman, later a Cabinet Minister and then Chairman of National Westminster Bank, was then a Partner). He had qualified in 1963 and worked with a firm in Reading for a year before joining S&H.
John Thorpe ran the Daventry office from the time of its opening in 1964 until he moved to the Northampton office six years later. S&H had recently taken over a longstanding firm in Daventry called Willoughbys upon the death of its principal, Mr Howe. Apparently the purchase was made largely through sympathy for Howe's widow.
Initially the Daventry office was a small affair. John Thorpe would have to do the office accounts himself, borrowing a local greengrocer's calculating machine at weekends, so that he and his wife could work out the accounts at their kitchen table.
In its first year the Daventry office produced income of £4,928, and expenditure amounted to £1.785. Expenses included an annual postage and telephone bill of £74, and motor expenses of £12. Nothing was spent on entertaining expenses in the first year but a whole £10 (£96.15 in today’s money) was set aside for that purpose for the following financial year.
Expansion in the Northampton office steadily continued. S&H spilt over into offices in Gold Street, but in 1966 these were replaced for premises in Mercers Row, which could be reached from the Market Square office by means of an enclosed bridge. The number of partners rose to seven; and the decision was made to stop opening the office on Saturday mornings.
Northampton itself was increasing in size, but the housing explosion lay some years off. S&H was now one of the largest firms in the County, at a time when most firms were run by sole practitioners. In 1963 there were a total of sixty- four Solicitors practising in Northampton, only one of whom was a woman. It had not been until 1919 that the first women had been allowed to become Solicitors.
Life as a whole was generally less stressful than nowadays. Interruptions from telephones were fewer, and fax machines were but a fantasy. Mr Cyril would not arrive in the office before 10am each morning, as he would have to travel from home at Flore Manor to his land in Upper Stowe or Little Brington beforehand to exercise his horses. During the hunting season, moreover, he would usually be off twice a week with the Pytchley.
Client marketing was largely unheard of, and office management was minimal. The partners' meetings were held just once every three months and lasted fifteen minutes over a whisky at the Northampton Town and County Club in George Row.
Having said that, everyone worked hard when in the office. S&H continued to be known as the conveyancing factory in the town, and maintained its reputation for providing a quick, cheap and efficient service to its clients. As before, much of the volume work was done by the Managing Clerks, including John Oughton, Bill Clemmett, Peter Kilsby and Charlie Butler.
Michael Orton- Jones joined the Firm as an Articled Clerk in 1960 on an annual salary of £156. He became a partner in 1969. Brian Lichfield ran the Banbury office from 1966 until 1970 when he was succeeded by Mark Beeston. Terry Sewell joined the Northampton office in 1971 and became a full partner in 1974. In other offices, Michael Banks became a full partner in 1974, and John Spratt in 1976.
In 1973, during a national boom in the property market, S&H seized the opportunity to open an office in Reading. This came about with the encouragement of a developer client based in the area and was made possible through the contacts which John Thorpe had made when he had worked previously in Reading.
Further development continued throughout the 1970's. One office was opened in Bedford in 1976, and another in Milton Keynes in the following year. The Milton Keynes office was run for several years by Nick Bromwich, who was a full partner with the Firm from 1976 to 1992. By this stage the partnership had increased to about thirteen. In February 1977 the Northampton office expanded into Norwich Union House on the corner of Market Square.
In September 1976 Mr Lionel retired from the partnership, after 44 years' service. His son David had joined the Firm in 1968 as the third generation of the Harrison family in S&H. David Harrison is now a partner in the Reading office.
Alongside his elder brother, Mr Lionel had played an important role in the development of S&H, strengthening its reputation amongst Northampton firms and seizing the opportunities to expand as they arose. In retirement he has done much research on the history of the Shoosmith family, and he has built up a fine collection of Shoosmith paintings.
Mr Cyril retired in September 1979 after 52 years with the Firm, 15 of them as the senior partner. He remained a Consultant until he died in 1988 at the age of 78.
The departure of the Harrison brothers marked the end of a major chapter in the history of S&H. In their professional lives they had seen S&H grow from a sole practitioner’s firm to a substantial regional firm with a wide client base. The change to legal practice had been considerable since Mr Cyril had begun his Articles in 1927, but that change was as nothing compared with what was to lie ahead in the 1980's.
J. Lionel Harrison
Articled Clerk: 1932 - 1938
Assistant Solicitor: 1938 - 1945
Partner: 1945 - 1976
A Far Cry from the Early Days but Shoosmith Would Have Been Proud...
In the last few years S&H has emerged as one of the leading law firms in the country. It can boast 53 partners and more than 750 staff in six offices, spreading from Nottingham to Southampton.
The 1980's offered tremendous opportunities for all law firms which wanted to grow, and S&H made use of every opportunity.
An office in Towcester was opened in 1979 under James Arnold, with the acquisition of Arnold Howes & Co. The Banbury Office expanded into 52 The Green in the following year, and the Reading Office acquired the firm of Churchill Masters & Co.
In October 1982 the Northampton office vacated Mercers Row and moved into the elegant Compton House at the corner of Abington Street, described by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as a "building of 5 Storeys with Marble- faced spandral panels and a brick staircase tower". Compton House had been built in 1962-65 as an extension to the Building Society headquarters in Abington Street.
Nottingham Opens; Reading Expands
In 1984, S&H opened an office in Nottingham under Bob Cooper, who was already practising in that city. In the same year the Reading office moved to larger premises in Bowman House at 2-6 Bridge Street, having taken over the local firm of Charles Coleman & Co.
In 1987 came strategic expansion. S&H acquired Seabroke Harris Co, the longest established firm in Rugby, together with its three partners, who included Brian Dobinson and Graham New.
Seabroke Harris & Co had been looking after the legal affairs of Rugby School since the early 1800's. One of its early partners, Matthew Bloxam is credited with chronicling the moment when William Webb Ellis first picked up the ball during a match at the school and started running with it in 1823. The Firm practised from the same offices in Warwick Street from the mid-nineteenth century until it moved in 1993 to Bloxam Court in Corporation Street.
In September 1987 S&H opened an office in London under John Roche, who had been a full partner in the Reading office since 1981. It seemed appropriate then that S&H should also have a presence in the capital. Based initially near Portland Place, the London office moved to John Street in 1989 when it acquired the firm of Warmington and Hasties.
The partners were careful at all times to maintain the quality and strength of S&H by not over-expanding, and refrained from the temptation of succumbing to a merger with a larger firm. S&H did, however, experience unsuccessful mergers with smaller firms in Peterborough and Cambridge in the late 1980's, and lessons were learned.
As some offices grew. others were closed in order to increase the overall efficiency of S&H. The Milton Keynes office was closed in 1986 and Bedford in 1989. Further rationalisation followed with the de-merger of the Towcester office in 1990, and the closure of the Daventry office in the following year.
George Pollard
Articled Clerk: 1950 - 1955
Assistant Solicitor: 1955 - 1959
Partner: 1959 - 1979
Senior Partner: 1979 - 1989
The senior partner of S&H from 1979 until 1989 was George Pollard. When not in the office, he was an active County Councillor, and he served as Chairman of the County Council from 1985 until 1989.
The management of the Firm could no longer be swiftly dispatched over a few whiskies at the George Row Club. Edgar Mobbs had joined in 1970 as Partnership Accountant, and he played an increasingly important role as the size of the partnership grew. The post of Managing Partner was established in 1988, with John Thorpe as the first incumbent. Nick Bromwich assisted him as Administration Partner and both reported to the Board, which had been established in 1987.
When Compton House was opened in 1982, it was envisaged that it would accommodate any further expansion of the Northampton office until at least the end of the century. This was not to be.
In 1988, the Commercial Property and Corporate Departments in the Northampton office were relocated to new offices at Victoria House in Victoria Street. The partners in these departments included Anthony Price (a full partner from 1983), John Peet (1984), Keith Lewington (1985), Kit O'Grady and John Temple (1987), and Oliver Brookshaw and Andrew Tubbs (1991).
The range and quality of work undertaken by S&H developed rapidly. S&H was the first law firm to employ a Chartered Town Planner when Barry Waine joined in 1987 to advise on town & country planning. There are now experts in the Construction Litigation Unit, the Environmental Unit, the Computer Unit and so forth. The age of the General Practitioner is fast ending.
The growth of the Litigation Department in the Northampton and Reading offices has been particularly significant. In the less litigious era of the 1960's, the court work was done mainly by Mr Cyril amidst his conveyancing and probate work. This changed as S&H attracted a wide range of commercial clients and built up a sizeable team of lawyers, headed in Northampton until his untimely death in 1988 by Paul Roach (a full partner from 1974), and later by Peter Ellis (1980), John Hill (1986), Ron Reid (1988), Chris cox (1993) and Margaret Gibson (1994).
Market Square Closes
In 1989 came the closure of the office at 20 Market Square in Northampton. S&H had had a presence on the Market Square since at least 1897.
In the same year George Pollard retired as Senior Partner, after 39 years with the Firm. George Pollard had made a great contribution to the expansion of S&H, and was an early exponent of the importance of marketing. He was for many years an excellent ambassador for the firm, both inside and outside the office.
John Thorpe now succeeded George Pollard at the helm, and Brian Dobinson took over as Managing Partner. John Peet became the new Managing Partner in 1991. By 1990 the number of partners stood at 45. Mark Beeston retired from the partnership in the same year, and Nick Bromwich followed two years later. Terry Sewell and John Roche were both to retire from the partnership in 1994.
Shoosmiths & Harrison Partners, 1982
Back row (left to right): K.M. Archer (Partnership Secretary), P. E. Ellis, D. L. Harrison, J. E. Spratt, M. H. Banks, J. L. Harrison, D. N. Bromwich, J. P. Roche, E. R. Mobbs (Partnership Accountant)
Front row: P. W. Roach, J. F. Thorpe, G. Pollard, J. C. M. Beeston, D. M. Orton-Jones, T. E. Sewell
The Firm, 1995
Once Solicitors had exchanged contracts over a glass of sherry on a silver salver, and the wealthier private clients might have paid the standard 10% deposit on their new properties in cash. Now such pleasantries have been swept away by the pressures of time recording, meeting billing targets, and the other consequences of modern practice. By the end of the 1980's Solicitors everywhere found that they were now running businesses. The difference with S&H is that, from the moment of its foundation, it was always run in a profitable and efficient manner, designed to provide a good service to its clients at a reasonable cost.
Nevertheless, in all firms the tradition of strong solicitor/client loyalty tended to wane in the 1980's, as most entered the world of marketing and clients became more choosy. Solicitors in forward-looking firms reacted by valuing the importance of being fully responsive to clients' wishes.
Marketing to existing and prospective clients has become of increasing importance. No longer is it always enough to hope for the work to come in through the door. In 1986 S&H was the first law firm to sponsor a rugby match (Northampton Saints against Bective Rangers) following recent relaxations in Law Society Rules on advertising. S&H umbrellas appeared and glossy brochures on every of S&H's specialisations proliferated. In 1992 S&H produced its first Annual Review, in which it broke new ground by being the first law firm to reveal its gross fee figure. The prospect of Michael Orton-Jones appearing in the Firm's first television advertisement cannot be far away.
In 1992 S&H opened a new office in Southampton, as a step towards its aim of becoming the largest law firm in the south east outside London. The new office is run by John West, a partner since 1988. One year later S&H acquired the niche commercial firm of Norcross Hill in Southampton, and both Sally Norcross-Webb and Chris Hill joined as partners. At the time of writing there are three full partners and 71 staff in the Southampton office, which is situated on the Solent business park near Fareham.
Reading remains the second largest office of S&H. It moved in February 1991 to Regents Gate in Crown Street, which it has already outgrown. The equity partners based here are David Harrison (1978), John Castell (1992), John Spencer (1993) and Marshall Leopold (1994). The total number of staff now exceeds 266. In 1994 the main meeting room in the office was renamed the Russell Room in memory of Nick Russell, the former head of the Reading office and a full partner since 1985, who sadly died in 1993.
Banbury, as the second oldest office of S&H, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 1995. Situated just opposite to the Banbury Cross, the office expanded into 52 The Green in 1980 and into 54 The Green in 1990. The full partners based here are Michael Banks (1974), John Spratt (1976), Stephen Finn (1989) and David Endicott (1992). The staff currently number 62.
There are 48 staff at Rugby under Brian Dobinson, based in the new Bloxam Court Building in Corporation Street. In 1993 Rugby partner Graham New became the new Managing Partner in succession to John Peet, and moved to the Head Office in Northampton.
At the northern fringe is the Nottingham office, led by Bob Cooper and Paul Llewellyn (a full partner since 1991). The staff of 26 have been located in offices along the Ropewalk since 1990.
Northampton contains the Head Office of S&H, and continues to expand. The number of staff now totals 328. New offices were leased at City Buildings in Fish Street in 1992, where fee earners and secretaries alike now use word processors as an integral part of their daily work. In 1993 the Probate Department under Trevor George (a full partner since 1986) and the Personal Injury Department were relocated to new offices in Sheep Street, the same road where William Shoosmith had been based as an Articled Clerk 150 years earlier.
Shoosmiths & Harrison recognises that in an ever changing environment, the development of the firm over the next few years will be vital to its success. It is already acknowledged in legal circles as being one of the fastest growing firms in the country. The Board has recently approved a strategy with a vision commensurate with the growing stature of the firm. The challenge is to position Shoosmiths & Harrison as 'The Best Regional Firm' by providing excellent:
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Customer Service
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Management Training
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Development of its business and services
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Systems & Communication
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Information technology
The firm recognises that it cannot rest on the success of the past but must continue to develop vigorously for the future in order to provide a high level of quality and efficiency at a competitive price.
The firm will continue to recruit excellent lawyers and support staff in order to serve its loyal and growing client base. Currently the firm has over 60,000 active files. A far cry from the early days of William Shoosmith but part of the continuing development of the firm of which he would have been proud.
John Thorpe
Senior Partner