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.