Our History
Early Days
The origin of the Holsworthy office, in Devon, is shrouded in the mists of antiquity and goes back to the time "whence the memory of man runneth not to the contrary"
Papers taken from the firm's archive in the Second World War (and pulped in support of the war effort) showed that the firm had at one time been active on behalf of clients who had lost money in the South Sea Bubble of 1720, and that two centuries ago many of the letters from the firm to its London agents were applications on behalf of clients for £1 tickets in the State Lottery.
Benedictus Marwood Kelly
An unbroken chain of principals in the practice can be traced back to Benedictus Marwood Kelly who, as well as a lawyer, was also Holsworthy's last private banker. He died in 1836 and his epitaph in the parish church attests to his qualities "of industry unremitting, of probity unsullied and piety most sincere", to which his successors aspire to this day!
He had married a Miss Coham of Black Torrington and one of their sons was the founder of Kelly College at Tavistock.
In due course the practice devolved on Arscott Bickford Coham who died a bachelor in 1870 when the firm was carried on by his partner Cecil Bray of Langford Hill, Marhamchurch, in Cornwall. Cecil Bray managed to support a comfortable lifestyle. He was driven to work in a horse and trap by his faithful servant Emanuel Stacey who, when his master died in 1910, was so distressed that he threw himself in front of a railway train and was "dismembered". The firm has always had exceptionally loyal staff!
Cecil Bray managed to support three unmarried sisters Lucy, Mary and Margaret who used to drive to Holsworthy in their two horse brougham with a liveried coachman in front and a liveried carriage boy, Orlando Vinnecombe, up behind.
Cecil Bray and Peter
The firm became "Cecil Bray and Peter" in 1876 when Bray was joined by Apsley Petre Peter the oldest son of a Launceston solicitor Richard Peter, whose other son Claude founded the firm of Peter Peter & Sons of Bude in 1919, eventually to become the Bude office of the present firm.
On his arrival in 1876 Apsley Petre Peter may not have noticed the office boy who had started work for Cecil Bray a year earlier at the age of nine. This office boy was James Rowland who served the firm as a clerk for 57 years (as did his brother John for 55 years) and who lived to see his son Stanley John Rowland qualify as a solicitor in 1927, he having also started as office boy in 1908 at the age of 13.
Peter Peter & Sons
After the death of Apsley Petre Peter the firm was carried on by his son Apsley Kenelm Peter who took Stanley John Rowland into partnership in 1935 and they continued as "Peter Peter & Sons" until 1948 when Apsley Kenelm Peter died and the former office boy became the firm's senior partner.
In the same year Stanley John Rowland took into partnership his cousin Edgar Frederick Clark who had also started at the bottom as a clerk and had later served Articles with the firm, and they continued in partnership until Stanley John Rowland's death in 1974 soon after he had celebrated the sixty sixth anniversary of his joining the firm.
Meanwhile, he and Edgar Frederick Clark had been joined in partnership in 1952 by Verner Townend, who retired in 1969, and in 1966 by his son James Moffat Rowland who had also been Articled with the firm.
In 1971 they were joined by Nigel John Rowland Clark the son of Edgar Frederick Clark so that the firm then consisted of two fathers and their sons.
In 1979 Adrian Bennett became a partner and in 1981 Edgar Frederick Clark retired, to become a consultant.
Peter Peter & Wright
In 1982 a branch office of the firm was opened at Bridge Street Chambers, Bideford and three years later on 1 January 1985 Peter Peter & Sons of Holsworthy merged with TA Goaman & Wright of Bideford and became "Peter Peter & Wright", with Jeremy Mohun Wright becoming a partner.
Brian Douglas Rowson joined the enlarged firm as a partner in 1986 along with Clive Ernest Soby Smale, who had served his Articles of Clerkship with the firm.
The following year in 1987 brought the merger with Peter Peter & Sons of Bude and Okehampton. On this merger the partnership strength was increased by three John Anthony Spiers, Anthony John Cloke and Christopher John Scoffham.
On 1 June 1989 there was a further merger with McNeill and Co of Bideford, when Alec McNeill became a partner, and this led, in 1990 to the opening of a branch office in Barnstaple.
On 1 January 1992 Deborah Pearl Brookes, who too had served her Articles with the firm, became the first woman partner in the firm's long history.
Tony Spiers retired from the partnership in 1996 and Toby Rowland was appointed a partner in 1998.
Laurence Overend became a partner in July 2000. Jeremy Wright and Tony Cloke retired in December 2004. Nigel Clark succeeded Jeremy as senior partner upon Jeremy's retirement and remained senior partner until Adrian Bennett was appointed to that role in 2011.
David Higgs become a partner in January 2005 whilst Laurence Overend retired from the practice in August 2005. Lorraine Wakefield became a partner on 1 January 2006 and remained as such until her return to a tertiary teaching role in September 2012. Philippa Buckland joined the partnership on 1 January 2008 and remained within the partnership until July 2014.
Deborah Brookes retired from the partnership in October 2011 and in January 2012 five new partners, Lucy Pritchard, Zoe Sims, Claire Woolsey, Anne Slade and Michael Miller were appointed. Lucy Pritchard returned to New Zealand in August 2012.
Adrian Bennett retired as senior partner in December 2012 remaining with the firm as a Consultant at which time Clive Smale was appointed as senior partner, having begun his career with the firm's predecessor Peter Peter & Sons in 1973.
Since then, Alex Betambeau became a Partner in January 2014; Rebecca Chapman in January 2015; Lauren Hockin in July 2020, Darren Reed in January 2021; and Sam Risdon and Mark Bailey in July 2021.