King Sturge250 years in partnership

KING STURGE

250 years in partnership

by

Tim Stapleton

Edited by Mark Perowne and Paul Gray

1

THE START - 1760 11

NINETEENTH CENTURY 17

TWENTIETH CENTURY 27

JP Sturge 27

King & Co 31

THE MERGER 41

KING STURGE 45

UK 45

Europe 47

The culture 49

FORWARD FROM 2010 51

Opposite: Aerial view of London, 2010. King Sturge headquarters at 30 Warwick Street circled.3

CONTENTS

This publication would not have been possible without considerable work put in by the author, Tim Stapleton, and the editorial input of Mark Perowne and Paul Gray with the King Sturge marketing group behind them. Our thanks go to the whole team.

Join us in our celebration, but more importantly help us to make the 1760 charity appeal a success so we can make a real difference in 2010, and beyond.

Richard Batten and Chris IrelandJoint Seniors PartnersKing Sturge LLP

Two hundred and fifty years – It is a significant milestone for any organisation. In a time when we are forever driving forward, such a milestone does give us an opportunity to reflect on the myriad of changes that the world as a whole, and the property profession specifically, have undergone over this time.

We welcome you in joining us to understand how one piece of the property jigsaw was created and nurtured.

The culture and essence of King Sturge have been forged during these 250 years by responding to, and taking advantage of, changes in our market place. The firm thrives on the challenge that change creates. Innovation has been the key element of ensuring that we approach each circumstance with new and fresh ideas. The expression ‘’forward thinking people” equally applies to the farmer who started a surveying business measuring up fields 250 years ago, as it does today to the members of the multi-faceted firm of international real estate advisers that is King Sturge in 2010.

Independence of thought and practice characterise our approach to the momentous changes that the firm has been through over the last 250 years, be it the advent of the railway, two World Wars, the Great Depression, or now, the impact of the credit crunch and recession.

We are very proud of our heritage but, rather than 2010 purely being a celebration of the historical fact of our 250th anniversary, we see this as an opportunity to help others in society who are less fortunate and also by raising money for research into disease, to help others in the future. As well as assisting a number of charities to fund their activities, the 1760 Charity Appeal will enable us to engage far more with the property industry as a whole, with our clients, and with our staff throughout all our offices.

Our aim is to raise at least £250,000 for charity during the year with the main focus being on the charities chosen by our staff across Europe. As you can see on page 7 these are many and various.

FOREWORD

5Opposite: Aerial view of Bristol, 2010. King Sturge Berkeley Square office circled.

FORWARD THINKING PEOPLE

72

The 1760 Charity Appeal is our way of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding by John Player of a business which was the original precursor of King Sturge. The main focus for the year is to be on the future rather than the past. We are not going to simply look inwards to what has happened to the firm in the last 250 years but outwards to what is going on around us and what may happen in the future.

As the senior partners have written in their foreword, the 1760 Charity Appeal is an opportunity to help others in society who are less fortunate and also by raising money for research into disease, to help others in the future. In the UK the two corporate charities are THE CHILDREN’S TRUST and ORCHID.

Our regional and mainland European offices are also supporting: AfroaidBjörn Schulz FoundationCivil LicitClaire HouseComiClownDemelzaDorothy HouseGrace HouseGuide Dogs for the BlindHome for Mentally Disabled in Psary Hospice Casa SperanteiIDEMJDRFKingsweston Special Needs SchoolL’EnvolNSPCCOrphanage in Milovice Pajacyk charity organizationPhys-CapThe Royal British LegionSt Rocco’s HospiceSue Ryder FoundationThe Notts Lincs Air Ambulance ServiceThe Princess Royal Trust for CarersThe Sick Kids Friends Foundation Wooden Spoon

www.kingsturge1760.com

EUROPE1760

An array of buildings and

cityscapes around 1760 in European

countries where King Sturge has offices in 2010

The urban landscape in Europe at this time was developing at different paces in

different ways depending on the growth of the various countries or empires - as

the Austrian, Russian and Ottoman Empires then contained so many countries

that are now independent.

Belgrade, Serbia

Berlin, Germany

Bristol, England

Brussels, Belgium

Bucharest, Romania

Budapest, Hungary

Cardiff, Wales

Constantinople, Turkey

Edinburgh, Scotland

London, England

Paris, France

Prague, Bohemia (Czech Republic)

Pressburg (Bratislava), SlovakiaSofia, Bulgaria

Warsaw, Poland

Zagreb, Croatia

The story of a partnership that began 250 years ago is determined by the character of the many individuals who have been or are part of the firm. A partnership, unlike a Plc, in both law and practice is no more than the sum of these individuals. The success of such a partnership, which started with a sole trader in 1760, and grew to one that now has nearly 90 equity partners and 1,600 staff, suggests there are strong forces that hold these organisations together. These characteristics are attractive in retaining both staff and several thousand clients of every possible type in a business that operates across the world.

The reason why King Sturge can now celebrate the 250th anniversary of its foundation only makes sense with some understanding of the significance of 1760, which is the year George III came to the throne.

The middle of the 18th century was a remarkable time: Britain was winning the Seven Years War - the first truly world war, involving India, America and the islands of the West and East Indies as well as Europe. This was also the age of the enlightened despot in Europe: Catherine the Great in Russia, Frederick the Great in Prussia, Maria Theresa in Austria, Louis XV in France and Charles III in Spain. And in 1768 James Cook, probably the greatest explorer ever, began the first of his three voyages to the Pacific in search of the great southern continent and started the revolution from exploration to navigation.

The 1760s was a decade of great change: although agriculture was the main employer the industrial revolution was about to begin. With James Hargreaves’ spinning-jenny starting the industrial revolution and the coffeehouse society of Sheridan, Boswell, Johnson and Goldsmith creating an artistic revolution, it was an age of wonder as the scientists moved our understanding of how things

worked into the modern age. This would also sow the seeds of the railway revolution of the 19th century,which created the opportunity for the early success ofthe firm.

On his accession George III was only 22, and he almost immediately made a prescient move when he proposed that the Crown lands be managed on behalf of the government and that the surplus revenue should go to the treasury rather than the monarch. In return the king would receive a fixed annual payment - today known as the Civil List. This decision was, in part, his recognition of the increasingly important role that property was going to play in the lifeblood of the UK economy. Thus the Crown Estate was born, a major client of King Sturge, also celebrating its semiquincentenary in 2010.

The role of the land surveyor had begun to develop in the 17th century and the body of knowledge grew with the Young Surveyor’s Guide in 1716 and the Duty and Office of a Land Steward in 1731, both published by Edward Lawrence. At the same time there were many technical advances to create an improved theodolite, upon which the entire surveying profession was based.

Much of the work was driven by the enclosure movement, undertaken initially by private agreement, replacing the strip farming system. This enabled the new larger landowners to invest, improve, rotate and thus vastly increase the productivity of agricultural land; hence farming became a business and the assets needed to be managed and valued.

It was also in the 18th century that Bristol overtook Norwich as the second most populous city due to three factors: the significance of the port and its role in the slave

THE START - 1760

11

1760 Accession ofGeorge III

Opposite: George III (1738-1820)

1760 Crown Estate founded

1760 Hamleysfounded

1760 LansonChampagnefounded

1764 Hargreaves’SpinningJenny

1763 Peace of Paris ends Seven Years War

1768 Royal Academyfounded

trade as part of the British success on the world’s oceans; easily mined coal; and the Bristol Navigation built in 1728, linking Bristol to Bath, supplying its building materials.

It was in this changing environment that in 1760, John Player, a Quaker of Stoke Gifford, near Bristol, began to combine surveying with his farming activities. It proved rewarding and he was joined in 1772 by his nephew Jacob Sturge and, under the style “Player and Sturge”, they continued the surveying business from Red House Farm in Coombe Dingle. Player was also an authority on geology, fossils and leather tanning according to papers in the Gloucester Record Office. In 1778 Jacob Sturge married Mary Young, the sister of Samuel Young whose direct descendant, John Young, was the senior partner of JP Sturge in the 1980s.Another, Simon Young, is a current partner of King Sturge. Jacob’s and Mary’s elder son, Young Sturge, born in 1781, left the country practice of his father in 1799, to set up a new office in Small Street, Bristol, having come to an agreement that he would take over the land measuring and planning aspects of the business.

1312

The triangular trade drove Bristol’s economy throughout the 18th century. In 1698 the first ship sailed from Bristol to Africa, then to Jamaica and back to Bristol.

On the outward journey the ships carried cargos for trading - cloth, guns, metalware, much made locally.

On the middle passage it has been estimated that 10,000,000 slaves were transported, British ships carried 2,800,000 of whom about one fifth were carried on Bristol ships, though Liverpool later became the main port.

On the return passage there were three main goods:

Sugar:For which there were 20 refineries in Bristol in 1760, one of which still stands as the Hotel du Vin.

Tobacco:For which three 19th century tobacco bonds still stand, the 20th century bonds in Canons Marsh were demolished to make way for the Harbourside redevelopment.

The 19th century Bedminster factory of WD and HO Wills was demolished in the 1970s and its replacement at Hartcliffe demolished in the 1990s.

Chocolate:The Fry’s factory at Keynsham, which employed 1000 staff in 1880, was acquired by Cadburys after the First World War, and has only recently closed.

Memorandum made the 8th of the 2nd Month, 1799.

“My Father, Jacob Sturge, has agreed to yield up to me the Business and Profits of land measuring and planning, heretofore carried on by him, on the following Conditions, viz:

“I am to assist him in all the other Branches of Land and Timber Surveying and he will assist me in procuring Employment in the above Business.

He also gives me a Reflecting Telescope, a Spirit Level, Surveying Quadrant, Pocket Case of Instruments, a Measuring Chain, A small Bureau, and Adam’s Graphical Essays.

I am to pay for my Board and Washing the annual sum of £15, and for the Keep of my Horse 4/- per week; to pay the assessed Taxes charged on the said Horse and to find myself in Wearing Apparel and all other Articles for my own use.

This Agreement is to commence from 4thmo., 5th, 1798.”“YOUNG STURGE”

Top left: Young Sturge (1781-1844)Top right: 1786 Dursley survey by John PlayerMiddle: 1783 Gloucestershire survey by Jacob SturgeBottom: 1781 Somerset survey by John Player

1770 Captain Cook discovers Botany Bay

1775-1781 American War ofIndependence

1772 Slavery judged illegal

1776 American Declaration of Independence

1780 The first Derby run

Although the rise of Bristol was partly due to the slave trade it should be noted that the city was the first to set up an abolition committee in 1788 - the slave trade being abolished in 1807. The institution of slavery itself was not however abolished until 1833. This was in part due to a member of the Quaker Sturge family who led the campaign for abolition in Birmingham.

Joseph Sturge, a first cousin of Young Sturge, born in 1793 in Elberton, South Gloucestershire, moved to Birmingham as a corn merchant in 1822 and became secretary of the Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society in 1826. He campaigned tirelessly for the rights of slaves and Little Birmingham in Jamaica was renamed Sturge Town in appreciation of his work. He died in 1859 and three years later his statue, “An Apostle of Peace”, was unveiled in Birmingham before a crowd of 12,000. The statue was restored and rededicated with a blue plaque on the site of his former home in 2007, supported by members of the Sturge family and the firm.

1512

Below:

Island of Jamaica, circa 1840,Sturge Town highlighted

Opposite: Statue of Joseph Sturge (1793-1859), Five Ways, Birmingham

Sturge Town, named after Joseph Sturge, the Quaker philanthropist who advocated the end of the apprenticeship system, was established in 1839 by the Reverend John Clark, a Baptist missionary, and was the second designated free town in Jamaica. It had about 120 acres of good land and was located about eight miles from Brown’s Town. The cost of the land, including expenses of conveyance and surveying was about £700. Of this, more than £400 was paid down by about 90 people, and the remainder by instalments and additional purchasers. It has been estimated that settlers paid about £7 per acre for their holdings.

1787 Premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in Prague

1789 French Revolution

1793-1815Napoleonic Wars

1801Act of Union creates United Kingdom

In 1811 Jacob Sturge died and in 1814 his younger son, Jacob Player Sturge, (who had started work aged only 13 in 1807 on a salary of £30 pa with a promised rise of £10 pa) joined his brother, Young Sturge, in partnership. The firm was now known as “Y and JP Sturge, Land Agents and Surveyors” - initially most of its business was with the enclosure of common land and the surveying of parish and private land. In the early 19th century much of the common land of England was enclosed and re-apportioned to the detriment of some, but to the profit of most landowners and many surveyors – including in Gloucestershire, Young Sturge.

As Quakers, the Sturges were not renowned for their sense of humour. Once, when Young’s health was drunk at a city feast, a worthy alderman who had imbibed generously accosted him with, “Your good health, Mr Sturge!” Young replied, “Friend, I hope that in drinking my health thou wilt have a care not to injure thine own.” Difficulties were caused by an Act of Parliament of 1814, concerning the Congresbury Enclosure Award. This Act had been passed to establish the validity of the commissioners’ findings and required oaths to be administered to the commissioners. Young Sturge, being a Quaker, could not take such oaths. Later, a further problem arose over the Quakers’ opposition to the payment of tithes. With the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 had come yet more work for surveyors: new maps were needed for nearly every parish and the apportionment of the tithe rent charge involved detailed valuations for the parishes. Should the Quaker firm of Y and JP Sturge have handled this business? In the words of JP Sturge’s third son Walter, “My uncle and father took the common sense view that it was perfectly legitimate for a Friend [Quaker] to act as the intermediary between the tithe owner and

tithe payer,” and though they turned some business away it was “in consequence of the great pressure of work.”

The 1830s was a time of tumultuous change in political, economic, social and communication terms, all creating opportunities in Bristol. In 1836, at the age of 16, William, JP Sturge’s eldest son, entered the office. He recorded the business hours of those days:

“When I first entered my father’s office as a pupil, the office hours were 9am to 8pm with intervals for meals. I went home to dinner at 3 o’clock returned to the office at 4 and for a short time walked home to tea at 6 o’clock and returned at 7.”

NINETEENTH CENTURY

1716

The 1830s saw transition from the decadence at the end of the Georgian period to the vision, organisation, opportunity and energy of the Victorians. This is illustrated by major projects showing commercial or philanthropic vision to deliver urban infrastructure in Bristol:

1831 Cl i f ton Suspension Bridge started but not finished until 1864, by which time Brunel was dead

1832 Bristol and Gloucester Railway completed

Great Western Railway, Act of Parliament

Bristol Municipal Charities formed to bring together the management of endowed schools, hospitals and alms houses

1836 Bristol Zoological Gardens opened

Top left: Jacob Player Sturge (1793-1857)Top right: Prominent Quakers at the Friends’ Meeting House in Bristolcirca 1850. JP Sturge is in the second row, fourth from leftBottom: Clifton Suspension Bridge circa 1865

1805 Battle of Trafalgar

1807 Abolition of slave trade

1808 Goethe’s Faustpublished

1813 Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice published

1815Battle of Waterloo

1820 Accession of George IV

1821 Constable’sHay Wainpainted

The Great Western Railway was the most significant opportunity for Bristol at this time as it needed the railway to compete with Liverpool and Manchester. On a salary of £2,000 pa and expenses of £300 pa Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed Engineer in Chief with his, ultimately failed, broad gauge of 7ft (2.13 metres).

Central to the project for the station in Bristol was the purchase of Temple Meads, largely owned by the city corporation, advised by JP Sturge. GWR, advised by WH Townsend, offered £600 per acre for the site of nearly 19 acres (£11,300); the corporation’s figure was £12,000. This latter figure was agreed on 13th December 1836 with completion on 20th December.

More land fronting Bath Road was needed, owned by the Society of Merchant Venturers and occupied by a clothmaker, John Hare & Co. Negotiations were not started until 1838 by which time Y and JP Sturge were acting for the railway company. We are fortunate that Mary Sturge, Young’s daughter, was able to describe the burden of work on her mother in her poem, The Miseries of a Land Surveyor’s Wife, written in 1840.

At a meeting in January 1839, with JP Sturge in attendance, it was agreed that the occupiers would receive £2,700.

William Sturge became a partner at the age of 22 in 1842. The death of his uncle, Young Sturge, in 1844 resulted in greater responsibility and a change in the name of the firm to JP Sturge & Son. After William’s younger brothers, Walter and Robert, became partners the name of JP Sturge & Sons was adopted.

The development of, first, the canals, then railways and other utilities created a vast amount of work for land surveyors who, of necessity, also became the valuers.

The canal development of the 18th century had created a compensation code which was then applied to railways in the 19th century. Railway land purchase was regulated

by the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845. In practice a percentage, typically 25% to 50%, was added to market value to reflect the compulsion of sale. William Sturge was the dominant agent in the West Country - in 1848 he was an expert witness for the South Wales Railway. He wrote “I became acquainted with the eminent railway compensation counsel, John Horatio Lloyd, who formed so high an opinion of me as an expert witness that he once did me the honour to say that he considered it a mark of inexperience in a counsel to cross-examine me.”

1918

In 1846 William Sturge acted for Bristol Waterworks Company for which there are records of acquisitions at Ubley in 1891, of continuing work in the 1940s, the acquisition of the Chew Valley Reservoirs in the 1950s, and management work into the 1980s.

In 1857, on his father’s death, William became senior partner working with his brothers. Their core business was the local land agency and management of estates, collecting rents, building work and sales. Disposals were important, illustrated by the Wrington Estate of some 6,000 acres sold in April 1895. The particulars comprising plans, illustrations and conditions of sale ran to 128 pages including 14 plates and 17 plans. Robert managed the estates of Bristol Municipal Charities which provided the endowment to schools, hospitals and alms houses - and still a client of the firm.

William’s talents resulted in a more diverse career. He followed his father and uncle as Land Steward to Bristol Corporation from 1857 to 1905, but his work was not restricted to Bristol as, in 1855, he was appointed as arbitrator under the Hereford Improvement Act of 1854 to settle disputed compensation between the Corporation of Hereford and others, including the Bishop of Hereford.

Top: Bristol Temple Meads circa 1836Bottom left: Letter from JP Sturge to John Hare concerning the acquisition of Temple Meads land for the GWRBottom right: William Sturge (1820-1905)

1830 Accession ofWilliam V

1829 Stephenson’s Rocket

1842 Hong Kong becomes Crown Colony

1837Accession of Queen Victoria

1831Belgium granted independence

1848Year of revolutions in Europe

Bristol 3 mo 24 1838 Esteemed Friend I am requested by the Great Western Railway Company to see thee as to the price of the premises between Temple Meads & the Bath Road in case they should be required as part of the terminus. I am also requested on behalf of the Bristol & Exeter Company to treat for the premises at the Brick Yard and respecting which an application was made some time since. If Tuesday at 12, 1 or 2, or Thursday at 10 will be suitable I shall be happy to give thee the meeting.

A note naming a time when I may wait upon thee will oblige. My friend respectfully Jacob P Sturge

John Hare Jr Esq

In 1860 and 1870 he was one of three surveyors to value all the property in Bristol for local taxation purposes, and in 1864 was employed by the Somerset County Rate Committee. A Land Surveyors’ Club had been founded in 1834, whose membership was primarily agriculture-based on the work of Enclosure and Tithes Commutation, (the converting of bushels of wheat into a rent charge). This core work was the basis for the skills needed to service the demands of the railway mania of the 1830s, when surveyors probably earned total fees of the order of £½m. William Sturge had acquired a national profile and he was elected to the Club in 1861.

The founding of the Surveyors’ Institution in 1868 by 20 members of the Land Surveyors’ Club was a milestone in this story, since only three came from outside London, one of whom was William Sturge. The members practised in all branches of surveying and the formation of the Institution tipped the scales in favour of regarding the term “surveyor” as the designation of a profession, rather than as a description of a type of appointment. The members sought to institutionalise the new identity as it gave authority to their work and distinguished them and their expert opinion.

The growth of a professional press through the Estates Gazette, founded in 1858, was essential in providing information, coherence, debate and therefore authority as the profession grew. Its fruit was the granting of a Royal Charter to the Institution in 1881.

21

The Surveyors’ Institution (now the RICS) led the debate about the role of professional bodies, as they sought to balance the functions of:

• Education• Regulation in the interest of the public• Promotion• Independent opinion

In his paper on the “Education of the Surveyor” read to the Institution on 7 December 1869, William Sturge spoke as a land surveyor and observed that just being a pupil for three or four years was not enough. The Institution flourished and in under ten years William Sturge was President.

We can still reflect on William Sturge’s views on the merits of an Oxford or Cambridge education for a surveyor: “If he acquires the manners and tastes of gentlemen, he may also acquire the desultory and expensive habit, if not the vices, of too many of his associates and instead of reading, he may waste his time in frivolity and dissipation. Even if he avoids these evils, the tastes and habits he will form will probably render the drudgery of a surveyor’s office peculiarly distasteful to him … on leaving school he should pass the matriculation examination of London University … the young man need not as a matter of course continue his studies at London University … I may mention the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester.”

In his Presidential Address on 11 November 1878 William Sturge covered a broad canvas:

• An invitation to attend the International Congress of Surveyors in Paris• The Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act 1878• The Public Health (Water) Act 1878• The Weights and Measures Act 1878• The Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act 1978• The growth of imports of food• The necessity of labour saving devices

Though the content of these issues may be different today, the context is identical and explains why a study of history by surveyors, economists and, perhaps most important of all, politicians has much to commend it.

Opposite: The first issue of The Estates Gazette, May 1, 1858

1854-1856Crimean War

1859Darwin’sOrigin of Species published

1873British Landfounded

1851Great Exhibitionin London

1869Suez Canal completed

1870-1871Franco-Prussian War

23

In 1893, Ports of the Bristol Channel was published, which included a resume of the firm:

JP Sturge & Sons, Surveyors and Land Agents, 34 Corn Street, Bristol. This old-established firm was founded more than a century ago, and was for many years located in Broad Street, but in the year 1869 they removed to the more extensive and commodious premises now occupied at 34, Corn Street. Messrs. Sturge & Sons here occupy a spacious suite of handsomely appointed offices, with an efficient staff of draughtsmen and assistants. The firm have an extensive old-established connection in the West of England and South Wales. As land and estate agents they have the charge and management of a large extent of valuable property, Mr William Sturge, the senior partner, being land steward to the Corporation of Bristol, and Mr Robert F Sturge having under his care the extensive landed estates of the Bristol Municipal Charities, and their clientèle is numerous and influential. The partnership consists of three brothers – Mr William Sturge, a past president of the Surveyors’ Institution, London; Mr Robert F Sturge, a fellow of that Institution; and Mr Walter Sturge, all of whom take an active part in the business.

In 1888 the local branch was formed, “The Surveyors’ Institution, Provincial Committee; Somerset, Dorset and Bristol Committee”. William and Robert were founder members and Robert was Chairman from 1893 until 1899.

William Sturge, who was born in 1820 and died in 1905, was clearly an extraordinary man. His working life was longer than the entire Victorian period, during which the country changed from a largely agricultural to an urban economy; he travelled that journey through the development of the railways, into the 20th century. In 1893 he published Some Recollections of a Long Life, in which he prophetically observed:

The Socialists, not at present a numerous party, desire that the State should acquire all realised property of every kind, and either hold it in trust for, or divide it amongst, the people at large. With their views, they would not only nationalise the land, but confiscate railways and other public works, and repudiate the national debt. I dismiss the consideration of these schemes as too visionary for the present day, whatever be their power fifty years hence.

The railways were nationalised 55 years later!

William’s approach to business may be compared with Douglas King’s, a century later. They were both responding to the business opportunities presented by the economic upheavals in their respective centuries – William by following the opportunities presented by the industrial revolution and Douglas by taking advantage of the second industrial revolution which followed the two world wars and the Great Depression. Each built up lasting legacies that created the two halves which formed King Sturge in 1992.

22

Above: Surveyors’ Institution, 12 Great George Street, London SW1 -watercolour illustration by the architect, Alfred Waterhouse, 1898Inset: Some Recollections of a Long Life by William Sturge, 1893

1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone

1878 First petrol fuelled car

1888 Van Gogh’sSunflowerspainted

1882 Australia beats England in Test cricket, beginning The Ashes

1894 First modernOlympic Games

1895 Marconi transmits wireless message

24

This pedigree illustrates the propinquity of Quaker families, and the longevity of their businesses. The Player, Sturge and Young families all intermarried in the eighteenth century, their common ancestors being the Millett family – also from Gloucestershire. The people highlighted all worked in the firm, and one still does. The Young family also produced generations of land agents, unconnected with King Sturge, who managed estates around Bristol.

PLAYER / STURGE / YOUNG PEDIGREE

25

RICHARD MILLETd.1645

WILLIAM MILLETTd.1699

ELIZABETH MILLETTd.1684

CHRISTOPHER YOUNGd.1695

CHRISTOPHER YOUNGd.1699

JACOB YOUNGd.1716

JACOB YOUNG1690 -1757

EDWARD YOUNG1721-1782

JOSEPH STURGE IIIb.1684

MARY YOUNGb.1687

JOSEPH STURGE IV1722-1779

FRANCES PLAYER1728-1770

FANNY STURGEm. JOSEPH CLARK

JOSEPH STURGE V1752-1817

JOSEPH STURGE VI1793-1859

“Apostle of peace”

MARY YOUNG1757-1831

SAMUEL YOUNG1759-1816

THOMAS YOUNG1808-1843

HENRY YOUNG1836-1886

EDWARD YOUNG1868-1948

ROBERT STEPHENS YOUNGb.1916

THOMAS YOUNG1865-1957

JOHN SPENCER YOUNG1899-1967

MARY STURGE1818-1867

HENRY STURGE1822-1905

MARGARET STURGE1848-1921

FRANCIS GOODBODY

WILLIAM STURGE1820-1905

JACOB STURGE1754-1811

ROBERT STURGE1834-1915

WALTER STURGE1830-1914

THEODORE STURGE1859-1949

PAUL STURGE1891-1974

FREDERICK ALLEN STURGE GOODBODY

1879-1929

WILLIAM SCOULAR GOODBODY1912-1962

JOHN GERALDSPENCER YOUNG

1929-2009

MARY MILLETTb. 1657

JOHN PLAYERb. circa 1655

SIMON CHARLES YOUNGb.1955

JACOB PLAYER1698 -1772

JOHN PLAYER1725 -1808The founder

YOUNG STURGE1781-1844

JACOB PLAYER STURGE1793-1857

MARY MILLETTb. 1743

In the early part of the 20th century as JP Sturge continued to carry on its business in the South West of the country, King & Co was just starting in London.

TWENTIETH CENTURY

2724

JP STURGE

Before William’s death in 1905 his nephew, Theodore Sturge, and his grandson, Frederick Allen Sturge Goodbody, had joined the firm, as none of William’s three surviving sons had any inclination to be surveyors. By now the address had changed several times, from Young Sturge’s office in St James Barton to Shannon Court then, via Corn Street, to Broad Street. In 1869 the firm left Broad Street for Corn Street again, and in 1917 they moved to 11 Orchard Street. Theodore was the last Sturge to become a partner, though his son Paul briefly worked for the firm between leaving university and going into the Friends’ Ambulance Unit in 1914. He then dedicated his life to Quaker interests, ending his career as General Secretary of the Friends’ Service Council.

After the First World War it appears the firm lost momentum. In 1929, on Frederick Goodbody’s early death, the first partner outside the family, EJ Clarke, was appointed. He and Theodore Sturge saw the firm through the depression and Theodore retired in 1933 although he lived to the age of 90, dying in 1948. In due course, in 1937, PE Tyhurst and Frederick Goodbody’s son, William Scoular Goodbody, became partners, and the firm was once again ready to expand. Sadly, two of the three partners both died aged 50, EJ Clarke in 1950 and WS Goodbody in 1962.

Philip Franklin, who had joined the firm as a trainee in 1938 aged 17 when the firm had fewer than 20 staff, returned from war service in 1947. During the war he had served in the Royal Engineers in Italy, building bridges,

for which he was awarded an MBE. He was later seconded to the Sudan Defence Force with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel, at the age of 26. He was made a partner in 1948 and built on the firm’s Quaker heritage acting for Clarks Shoes of Street (Jacob Sturge’s sister, Fanny, had married a Clark in the 18th century) and the Fry chocolate family.

In 1952 he was elected national chairman of the RICS Junior Organisation, succeeding Douglas King of King & Co. They became close friends, taking pre-war cars around the country together, justifying the journeys by visits to local RICS branches. In 1976 Philip became President of the RICS, almost a century after William Sturge.

Partners in 1958:

PE Tyhurst WS Goodbody

CP FranklinMHA Fraser

RGHM KirkwoodMR Clark

JGS Young

After the death of William Goodbody, Philip Franklin became senior partner in 1963, and under his leadership the firm completed the transition from a firm of land agents to the leading firm of commercial agents in the South West of England.

A rival Bristol firm, Stanley Alder & Price, became the training ground for JP Sturge partners. Michael Clark joined the firm from there in 1956 and became deeply involved in the development of the Broadmead shopping area and in the war-damaged parts of the city. The 1947 Town & Country Planning Act created a considerable amount of work. One unusual task carried out in Broadmead was clearing the medieval plague pit on the site where the Primark store now stands, and ensuring that the remains were decently reinterred.

26

Top left: Theodore Sturge (1859-1949)Top right: Paul Sturge (1891-1974)Bottom left: Philip Franklin (1921-2006)Bottom right: Michael Clark (1920-84)

1899-1902 Boer War

1901Accessionof Edward VII

1903 Wright brothers’ first flight

First Tour deFrance

1908 Bulgaria declares independence from Ottoman Empire

1910Accession of George V

1912 Captain Scott’sexpedition to the Antarctic

1912 Titanic sank

Philip Franklin, who died in 2006, was succeeded as senior partner by Michael Clark in 1981. He died shortly after he retired in 1984 and was succeeded by John Young, who died in November 2009. David Marsh became senior partner in 1989 until the merger with King & Co.

More time was spent in London with partners contributing to various RICS affairs and building contacts across the property industry. David Marsh recalls a dinner in London, when he was Vice Chairman of the RICS JO, in 1966, which was also attended by Herbert James King, the grandfather of Malcolm King - with whom David was to become joint senior partner in 1992.

292428

Top left: Philip FranklinTop right: John Young (1929-2009)Bottom left: David Marsh (b.1934)Bottom right: Max Crofts (when he joined the firm in 1970)

1913 Suffragette Emily Davison throws herself in front of the King’s horse at the Derby

1914-1918World War 1

1917 Russian Revolution

1918 Poland granted independence

1919College of Estate Managementfounded

1921SEGRO founded

David Marsh also started work at Stanley Alder & Price in 1951, but on his return from National Service in 1958 he joined Michael Clark at JP Sturge. Bob Durie joined Stanley Alder and Price in 1958 and moved to JP Sturge in 1962. He started the commercial agency department, becoming a partner in 1967 - the same year as Peter Harrison who dealt with the professional side, including the work for the Bristol Diocese. Later, as the firm expanded into other business areas, Richard Allen became head of building services and was made a partner.

At this time it was considered inappropriate for sons to train with their family firms. Consequently John Young, who joined JP Sturge in 1959, did his training with Lalonde Bros & Parham while Richard Lalonde and John Pool (who became joint senior partners of that firm) trained with JP Sturge.

In the 1960s JP Sturge was unique in Bristol with no residential agency and generally acting for landlords in the management of investment and operational estates. Between the 1960s and 1980s the partners played a major role in the city and the local chamber of commerce, similar to that of the three Sturge brothers at the end of the 19th century.

In 1960 WG Goodbody recorded the firm’s first 200 years, referring to a total of 30 staff. By the time of the 225th anniversary, in 1985, John Young, the penultimate link at the firm with the Sturge family, being the great, great, great, great nephew of Jacob Sturge, John Player’s nephew, was senior partner and there were 100 staff.

In the early 1970s three young staff came and stayed. Max Crofts arrived as a graduate, straight from the College of Estate Management - he opened the Bath office in 1974 and became a partner in 1981. Ned Cussen, who led development, joined from Montagu Evans and Roger Lawrence, who led investment, from Knight Frank - both having just qualified in London. They became partners in 1984. John Payne joined the investment team and due to its success became a partner in 1989.

Oliver ChestertonCecil CluttonBrian EvePhilip Franklin

Norman HarrisH James KingDavid MarshMark Strutt

At the RICS Council dinner on 1st June 1966 in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh there was distinguished attendance of eponymous members and senior partners of major firms, including:

From the end of the 1960s the firm began opening what were called branch offices, the first in Swindon by Simon Bitmead who had joined from Healey & Baker. There followed Bath, Oxford and finally Exeter in 1990. Cardiff was opened through the acquisition of Powell & Powell, with both Mike Davies and Bob Croydon becoming partners of the firm and Bill Caddick a consultant. The need to secure a foothold in London grew and a London office was opened by Tim Poulston in 1984.

In the late 1980s the firm occupied numerous Georgian buildings around Berkeley Square, where it had moved to in 1945 - at which time a valuable legacy of William Sturge came into its own. The immense drawings produced for

HJ King

31

The firm has provided three Presidents of the RICS, one in each century:

1878 - 1879 William Sturge1976 - 1977 Philip Franklin2009 - 2010 Max Crofts

KING & CO

King & Co was founded in 1920 in Winchmore Hill, North London, by Herbert James King who was born in Cambridge in 1887. He had a forebear who was a land agent who would, no doubt, have known William Sturge and it was this influence which helped him make up his mind to become a surveyor. He initially worked in Cambridge and qualified at the age of 23. He also worked in London at Fuller Peiser, now part of BNP Paribas Real Estate, but before the start of the First World War he had become a volunteer in the Royal Engineers and this in due course led to his inevitable deployment to France.

HJ King was badly wounded on the Somme and he returned to the military hospital at Millbank and convalesced in Torquay. After 16 operations on his leg he recovered and he and his wife Trudie, whom he had married in 1915, moved to Enfield where he had obtained a post on the staff of Deason & Lester, an old-established firm of surveyors and house agents.

Five years later, with his war pension and a small gratuity from a grateful government, he set up a business on his own account in a rented, later purchased, timber building with two rooms and a cloakroom in Winchmore Hill, North London. The business was called King & Co and traded as “Surveyors, Auctioneers, Valuers and Estate Agents”. It was, initially, primarily residential-based and participated at the London Auction Mart in both property auctions and the consequent sales of contents. There was also some building consultancy work.

In 1923 the remainder of a lease with eight years to run was taken of 11 The Broadway (now 725 Green Lanes) and subsequently a new 21 year lease was granted by The Oceana Laundry. In 1925, recognising the increasing amount of work and further potential in commercial property, a lease was taken in a suite of offices at 3 and 4 Clements Inn, Strand, adjoining the Law Courts. In those days there

2430

Above: Herbert James King (1887-1978)

Bristol Tramways were all mounted on quality linen and to overcome rationing and shortages they were carefully removed to provide sheets, tablecloths, even shirts, for the partners and employees of JP Sturge.

In 1988, at the height of the property boom, the opportunity arose to purchase 40 Berkeley Square, comprising 25,000 ft², from the University, advised by Mike Henry of Chesterton (later to join the firm). The move in the spring of 1991 gave the opportunity to reconfigure both thinking and operations, but the boom conditions had ceased and the firm occupied only about half the space (the freehold was later sold to the Duchy of Cornwall) and it took a long time to let the remainder and to dispose of the remaining leases around the square.

Tim Stapleton, who was a part-time consultant whilst a lecturer at The University of the West of England for a number of years, joined the firm fully in 1988 on the professional and public sector fronts. He and Mike Finucane, head of office agency, became partners in 1991 just before the merger.

The final year’s accounts of JP Sturge in 1992-93 show a firm with a turnover of just over £6 million, with a continuing shift from agency to professional work, adjusting to the economic conditions.

1922 BBC founded

1922 WimbledonCentre Court built

1929 Wall StreetCrash

1923Original Wembley Stadium built

1926General strike

as he was universally known, obtained compassionate leave and was allowed back to the UK to assist with the family business as his father was very ill with peritonitis. He subsequently rejoined the army and was posted to the staff college at Haifa, finally returning to rejoin King & Co in 1946.He soon completed his studies and became a chartered surveyor.

The City office shut during the war but the rent had to continue to be paid. Once DJ was demobbed it was decided that the office should reopen under his control, his father concentrating on Winchmore Hill. After minor bomb damage was repaired, the City office opened for business with much of the work being devoted to business rates and war reparations for which the firm gained an excellent reputation.

Douglas Barton, who joined in 1949, worked closely with DJ in the City office and together they won the government contract to value for rating purposes all industrial property, football grounds, cinemas and convents in North and East London. Work started in 1951 for the 1956valuation.

Once this was completed it was possible to concentrate on private clients, and instructions in the industrial sector poured in due to the expertise established whilst working for HMG. In 1966 Peter Reed joined the firm and, after stints out of London in Brussels and Leeds, he joined the thriving rating team in 1973. At that time it was still a substantial part of the firm’s business; in the recession of 1974 it was the rating department’s income that secured the future. Peter joined the partnership shortly afterwards.

332432

Above: 3 & 4 Clements Inn, Strand, London WC2 Top right: Douglas Barton (b.1919)Bottom right: Colin Marsden (1931-2005)

was a great deal of industrial and manufacturing activity in North London and many of the clients were in and around Enfield and Winchmore Hill. By 1928 the firm had a turnover of £2,991/1s/6d and a profit of £1,032/5s (£138,000 and £48,000 in 2010 terms).

Between 1928 and 1939 the City office became recognised in rating matters with instructions from local authorities and trade associations. In 1935 the Clements Inn lease could not be renewed and more space was needed, as by then there were about 16 staff in the office, so a 21 year lease was taken at 71 Bishopsgate.

HJ King was active throughout the profession as a member of:

The Rating Surveyors’ AssociationAuctioneers’ Institute and local branchRICS Council and local branch chairmanLocal Estate Agents’ Association – chairman

His service to the profession was recognised by the award of an OBE. He retired in 1959 and died in 1978, aged 90.

He and his wife had two sons. Geoffrey, the younger, was born in 1921, but was killed in action during the Second World War during a raid over Germany in a Lancaster bomber.

The elder, Douglas James Edward King, was born in 1919. He left Taunton School in 1938 when he was 17 and was articled to his father during which time he was paid 7/6 (35p) a week, of which he gave his mother 2/6 (12p) for his keep. He took his first and second exams for the RICS before the outbreak of the War in 1939 and, like his father before him, he was a volunteer with the Royal Engineers. This meant that in 1939 he joined the regiment full time. Once the war started he was posted overseas, not returning to the UK for a period of two and half years. In 1944 DJ,

1944 Land Securitiesfounded

1936 Accessionandabdication ofEdward VIII

1936 Accession of George VI

1936 Jesse Owens wins four gold

medals at the Olympicgames in Berlin

1939-1945World War 2

1950 FirstFormula Onechampionship

To date the firm has provided four Presidents of the Rating Surveyors’ Association:

1969 Douglas King 1996 Peter Reed1981 Douglas Barton 2006 Graham Beaumont

In 1964 the City office moved to Mumford Court with 30 staff, and by 1968 the size of the whole firm had risen to 65 with a strong industrial client base. Indeed King & Co had become one of the three leading industrial practices, competing with Chamberlain & Willows and Henry Butcher - neither of which now exists.

Laurie Abbess joined in the mid 1960s as head of compensation, and by the end of the decade the City office comprised departments dealing with compulsory purchase compensation, industrial agency, development, rating, valuation and building.

35

Partners in 1969:DJ KingDouglas Barton Gordon BellColin Marsden

Douglas King married Betty Martin in 1941, and in due course Malcolm James Geoffrey King was born in 1945, the middle of three children. He has an older sister, Caroline, and a younger brother, Jeffrey, both of whom at times worked for the firm. After an MBA in Canada and initial training at Gerald Eve, Malcolm joined King & Co establishing the new investment department working with Paul Williams, who retired in 2007 after 40 years.

Malcolm King recalls going to the Bishopsgate office at the age of 16 with his father and, being the last to leave the office, was locked in - his father had to be summoned from a City dinner to let him out.

By the early 1970s the firm had continued to grow and Malcolm King, Paul Williams, Laurie Abbess, Ross Liddell, who ran the valuation team with DJ, and Tony Mote had joined the partnership. With the contemporary property boom it became necessary to move again and the choice was 1-4 Snow Hill, situated opposite Holborn Viaduct station. Although thought far too large a space at the time, the business was expanding so rapidly it was soon filled. Tony Mote and Tony Smith ran the industrial agency team, to the South and North of London respectively. Tony Smith subsequently opened the Birmingham office and was made a partner in 1990.

Douglas King saw the firm through the recessions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s and retired as senior partner in 1987. He had become well known in the City business community and was President of the London Chamber of Commerce in 1976 and Master of the Wheelwrights in 1989-90. He died in 1992.

As well as the new investment department, the valuation department grew substantially in the 1970s under Douglas King and Ross Liddell, undertaking accounts valuations for

2434

Top left: Douglas and Betty King’s wedding day, 1941Top right: HJ King’s retirement dinnerBottom left: Snow Hill, London EC1

Colin Marsden’s arrival in 1959 from Stiles Horton Ledger in Brighton brought skills which were to prove crucial to the future of the firm (indeed his qualities were similar and in parallel to those of Michael Clark in JP Sturge). It was his more market-orientated skills in the development and agency worlds that ensured the firm became a more balanced operation as it expanded. Tony Mote joined in 1961 and was part of the expansion of this agency business.

The residential side of the business, based in Winchmore Hill, was also expanding and Gordon Bell joined in the late 1950s to take over many of HJ’s responsibilities in this area as he moved towards retirement. The firm was still operated as a single partnership and Tony Mote recalls that “young staff from the City office were regularly sent to the residential offices to cover for staff on holiday where four residential surveys had to be completed each day, preferably before lunch”.

1952 AccessionofElizabeth II

1958 Munich air disasterdevastatesManchester United

1956Suez Crisis

1963 PresidentKennedy

assassinated

1956Soviet invasionof Hungary

1962Cuban Missile Crisis

1963-1975Vietnamese War

During the 1970s and early 1980s the collapse of the UK manufacturing base meant that many clients were in decline. Whilst this gave opportunities for disposals, the firm needed to continue to develop a wider range of skills and clients, and this led to expansion in the professional services sector. John Dillon had joined Laurie Abbess in the compensation team in 1973 and was made a partner in 1984. By now, however, there was little compulsory purchase work and the department concentrated on rent reviews. This was a very profitable activity at that time and further expansion led to Daniel Nelson-Smith becoming a partner in 1989. Godfrey Wardle joined an expanding valuation department and became a partner in 1988.

Colin Marsden had honed the development and agency business, and by the early 1980s Malcolm King’s and Paul Williams’s investment team was rapidly becoming the most profitable part of the firm. Increasingly the market-facing elements needed closer contact with the West End agents and an office was opened in Grosvenor Street in 1982 headed by Malcolm and Colin. In 1984Mark Perowne, who had joined the firm in 1975 and spent five years in the Manchester office, returned to London to open an in-town retail agency and development department, subsequently becoming a partner in 1988.

Douglas King and the professional teams, together with industrial agency, remained in Snow Hill. The newpartnership secretary, Andrew Peake, and the accounting team also stayed in Snow Hill under the close eye of the senior partner. Andrew later became the partnership secretary to the merged firm and a strong upholder of its culture, retiring in 2003. With Colin’s move to Grosvenor Street, David Pow joined in 1981 to lead the industrial agency team, becoming a partner in 1986. However in 1985, to consolidate the business, a 21 year lease was taken at Stratford Place, off Oxford Street, the Snow Hill and Grosvenor Street offices closing.

When Douglas King retired in 1987, his son Malcolm became the third generation King family senior partner, with Colin Marsden acting with him as joint senior partner.

37

industrial clients. In the West Country these included Clarks Shoes, for whom JP Sturge had previously acted, and Westland Helicopters in Yeovil. Due to the requirements of the increasing number of national clients, particularly on the development side, regional offices were opened.

A major industrial estate instruction created an opportunity for an office in Newton Le Willows, opened by Michael Bellegarde in 1967, which moved to Manchester in 1970. A Leeds office was opened in 1973 followed by Edinburgh in 1978 and Birmingham in 1980. Clients were now well served.

A large investment deal by Paul Williams enabled a Brussels office to open in 1973 which was managed on an interim basis by Peter Reed, until Michael Bellegarde was able to move from Manchester. He was joined by Michael Strevens in 1974, who decided that surveying was more interesting than school-mastering. Michael returned in due course to London, where he became a key member of the valuation department, and was made a partner in 1986.

After the secondary banking crisis and the severe recession of 1974 the level of business slowly began to increase again with a turnover reaching the magic £1 million in 1978.

In the same year the firm opened a new office of 3,500 ft² in Enfield, with a staff of 20. This incorporated both commercial and residential property activity. There were also about 12 staff in total in Winchmore Hill and Cockfosters (having taken over Ward & Ward in 1972) - the total staff including Snow Hill was now over 100.

As the years went by the dichotomy between the largely national industrial practice and the local residential business became more apparent. In 1981 this was recognised and Brian Emly took over the ownership of Winchmore Hill, Gordon Bell that of Cockfosters while Enfield closed.

1966 England winsthe World Cup

1968Soviet invasionof Czechoslovakia

1969 Moon landing

1970 Microprocessor invented

1964Muhammad Ali wins theWorld Heavyweight BoxingChampionship

2436

Above: Douglas James King (1919-92)

392438

Above: DJ King, left; Malcolm King (b.1945), right

Towards the end of the 1980s the investment department, which now included Chris Ireland, Philip Marsden (Colin’s son) and Richard Batten, was winning major investment instructions from the Commission for the New Towns. One of these was the sale of Washington New Town which resulted in the first £1 million fee. Chris became a partner in 1987, and Philip and Richard in 1989. At that time there was also a substantial development boom and Mike Taylor, who had led the firm into the new out-of-town retail sector, also became a partner in 1989.

In 1992 Jim Rowland, head of building consultancy, David Lathwood, head of the Manchester office, and Robin Barton, who led the planning team, were the last to be made partners before the merger with JP Sturge.

The firm’s qualities: conservatively financed, realistic budgeting, national coverage and, most importantly, the rapport and trust between partners saw it through the inevitable recession after the boom of the late 1980s. In such times the professional parts of the business come to the fore and once again a national rating revaluation, helped by the flourishing rent review department, provided the cashflow to see the firm through the difficult trading conditions. The downturn was deep, lasting from 1989 to 1992, during which time several competitor firms failed.

Partners enjoyed each other’s company in a firm which had become an extended family. One of the most important social events was the annual partners’ conference, for which there were many venues, and spouses were also invited to ensure a family connection with the firm. Locations included Oxford, Cambridge, Winchester, Stratford and Broadway, but it was perhaps an indication of the future that one was held in the eighteenth century Francis Hotel, Bath,100 yards away from the JP Sturge Bath office.

1981 Headingley Test Match -Ian Botham and Bob Willis secure England’s victory against all odds

1977Red Rum wins arecord thirdGrand National

1986Mike Tyson becomes the youngest worldheavyweight boxingchampion

1982Falklands War

1986Single European Act

King & Co and JP Sturge merged in 1992 and, although over the years there had been many links, they were each so different in geography, clients and skills that the partners of the two firms at that time did not know each other. This created both the opportunity and the challenge.

Quite apart from the geographical differences between Bristol and London, the two firms operated in entirely different markets. JP Sturge acted for Bristol charitable institutions which were shifting their investment asset base from agricultural to commercial, and for local family-owned manufacturing businesses. King & Co mainly acted for clients involved in industrial property whether as developers, owners or occupiers.

In the autumn of 1990, at the start of the economic and property recession, Ned Cussen of JP Sturge went to London to visit three firms to discuss common interests, particularly research and marketing. He met Malcolm King in November, and subsequently, in 1991, all the partners from both firms met, decided they liked each other and agreed to open their accounts to see whether a merger would be possible.

Logical as this seemed, success depended upon the personal chemistry of the equity partners: nine in JP Sturge and 18 in King & Co, and an agreed financial model. A period of about 18 months ensued as the detail was worked through and agreement was finally reached in late 1992.

During this time it was revealed that Simon Young at King & Co was a direct descendant of the Young family into which Jacob Sturge had married in 1778. Thus once again there was a direct link right back to the earliest years.

THE MERGER

41

The rationale for the merger was based on six elements:

• Geography - The two firms, each with six offices, together provided a national coverage and both wished to open offices where the other was already represented

• Skills - There were widely differing skills in each firm, which could be “cross sold”

• Clients - There were very few common clients, this was both a benefit and an opportunity

• Critical mass - The new firm could be seen as a large business and could get better value out of its combined support services

• Competence - Both firms were recognised as being very good technically in their own field, so there was mutual professional confidence

• Change - Both firms had to change in different ways, a new firm would provide the catalyst. King & Co needed to be seen as not just an industrial firm, when industrial companies were in decline. JP Sturge wanted a strong London presence.

The period between 1989 and 1992 was a difficult time, and although by late 1992 unemployment was well over two million, there were signs that the economy was about to improve. The UK left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism as interest rates of 12% and, for a few hours,

2440

Top left: 40 Berkeley Square, BristolTop right and bottom: 7 Stratford Place, London W1

1989 Hillsborough disaster

1989Fall ofBerlin Wall

1989Fall of Romanian presidentNicolae Ceausescu

1989Tiananmen square massacre

1990Martina Navratilovawins record 9thWimbledon singles title

1991Germanyreunified

15% failed to protect the pound, and finally interest rate policy could change to reflect the needs of the economy. Whilst other firms struggled with insolvency and cash calls it was a good time to merge to create a new and vibrant entity which was called King Sturge & Co.

43

who became a third. However, Colin retired in 1993 and Malcolm and David continued as the two joint senior partners before David himself retired in 1994. For the first 18 months or so the management executive comprised the senior people from the two firms. It was quickly agreed that the UK priorities were the creation of a City office and strengthening the regional network.

Many new partners were appointed, and within about six years post-merger partners were in the majority. In order to set the merger in context, in The Chartered Surveyors’ Survey of 1993, 1994 and 1995 by Economic Development Briefing (the last three years of its publication) King Sturge & Co came respectively first, third and first. This was wholly a “client satisfaction” survey, unrelated to size or turnover unlike current surveys.

At the time of the merger in November 1992 the respective sizes of the two firms were:

Staff Turnover

King & Co 250 £12million

JP Sturge 125 £ 6million

2442

Above: DJ King as Master of the Wheelwrights’ Companywith Betty KingInset: Malcolm King and Colin Marsden

Top: King & Co and JP Sturge logos before the mergerAbove: King Sturge & Co logo 1992

1991Fall of USSR

First Gulf War

1991World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee

1993-1995Yugoslavia dismantled after war - Croatia and Serbia recreated

1992Britain leavesERM

1993Slovakia decrees independence from Czechoslovakia

Malcolm KingColin MarsdenDavid MarshTony MotePaul WilliamsBob DurieSimon BitmeadPeter ReedJohn DillonMichael StrevensMax CroftsDavid PowChris IrelandNed CussenRoger LawrenceRichard Allen

Mark PerowneGodfrey WardleJohn PayneDaniel Nelson-SmithMike TaylorPhilip MarsdenRichard BattenTony SmithMike DaviesJim RowlandBob CroydonDavid LathwoodTim StapletonRobin BartonMike Finucane

KING STURGE & CO PARTNERS IN 1992

The King & Co joint senior partners, Malcolm King and Colin Marsden, were joined by David Marsh of JP Sturge

The steady improvement in the general and property economy from 1992 enabled the firm to grow in two phases, in the UK and then internationally.

KING STURGE

45

UK

In the UK there was unsustainable property growth from mid-2005 to mid-2007 and, just as a correction in the market was starting to take effect, the world economy suffered both financial and raw material shocks. Consequently the last three of the 250 years of the firm have been the toughest trading conditions during the whole of its history - aside from the periods of the two world wars.

After the merger, the firm’s headquarters continued to be in Stratford Place, and additional space was taken in Davies Street, above Bond Street tube station, in the late 1990s. All this was vacated when new offices in Warwick Street were taken in 2006 which, though intended to meet the needs for some years, were fully occupied as the firm took over small London partnerships. The total number of staff based in London (West End and City) was about 500, and about 600 were based in the 13 regional offices. There were 150 staff in theresidential offices.

Malcolm King’s vision, energy and commitment established King Sturge as a major firm, and drove the development of both the UK and international businesses.The latter focused on an ownership structure in Europe and associations elsewhere. Initially the short-term objective was to strengthen the UK with the potential to create the best regional office network. Europe, with a core representation in Belgium and France, would have to wait.

In London, with the market really beginning to recover by 1994, a City office was essential for both market transactions and institutional client relationships. The niche business of Bates Richards had been founded in 1980 by Oliver Bates and Peter Richards. Peter Joslin had joined them in 1983 and Stephen Lines in 1985. They had good client contacts, but needed extra resources including research. Oliver Bates met Max Crofts at a Land Securities Christmas party in 1994, and this opportunity enabled the new partnership of King Sturge to realise their ambition. It was a perfect fit and the small but critical merger in 1996 created a City office at no cost, when profits were modest. Ten years later it was decided that the Central London team needed strengthening again, this time in the West End, and Hanrahan Deane, a niche practice specialising in that area, was purchased in 2006.

Chesterton, having built up the best network in the late 1980s by acquisition of good regional businesses, was exposed to the short-term criteria of investors in publically quoted businesses in the early 1990s recession. King Sturge was the principal beneficiary of the start of their decline, with a team of three partners joining David Lathwood in the Manchester office. Others followed, especially in Scotland. The mid-90s merger of Debenham Tewson & Chinnocks with Bernard Thorpe provided the King Sturge Birmingham and Leeds offices with senior partners. In the same way the merger of DTZ and Donaldsons in 2007 provided yet more recruits.

During the early 1990s the partners had decided that it was essential that the firm did not suffer another recession without the benefit of a plant and

24Opposite page: King Sturge, 30 Warwick Street, London W1 headquarters office

1998 Google founded

1997Hong Kong’ssovereignty transferred to China

1997Death of Diana,Princess of Wales

1994Channel Tunnelopens

1998ScottishDevolution

1999New Reichstag built

machinery team to help with business recovery. In 2000 Edward Rushton Son & Kenyon, a Manchester firm based on plant and machinery, was purchased for £1 from Capital Bank, a subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland. The teams, with a turnover of £1.6 million and 35 staff, moved into the London and Manchester offices and brought new skills including insolvency. In 2008 the acquisition of Bache Treharne expanded this area.

The firm also took advantage of the changing marketplace to expand the retail group with the acquisition of Leslie Furness and Hamilton Glen. Further services were added by moving into the hotel market with a team from Humberts Leisure, and auctions with the department from the failing Erinaceous business.

The King & Co decision to exit the residential sector in North London enabled the firm to develop itself purely in commercial property. After the merger some limited residential work for social housing was provided for national clients. However, the firm recognised they were losing “downstream” business following the sale of brown land. So, from 2003, residential offices were opened in Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and London, including Docklands and Knightsbridge. Again, the core was recruited from Chesterton, not long before that company’s final demise. In 2007 King Sturge bought James Johnston in Greenwich and Blackheath, and Bettisons in Plymouth. In the 2007-08 year the residential group produced a turnover of £20 million, just before the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 led to the substantial correction in the market. In 2005 the UK business became a Limited Liability Partnership.

The office flourished in the 1980s under Peter Walsh who was also MD of Europe, and it remains particularly strong in office and industrial agency and investment. The firm is in the top three in most of its markets with depth and breadth enhanced by offices in Antwerp and Liége.

Paris opened in 1987 with the acquisition of Luzac. The recession struck shortly afterwards which caused several changes in management and staff in the context of the rich tapestry of French employment law. In 2000 Michael Strevens moved from the UK to help manage the office prior to his retirement. He was succeeded by Paul Betts who had started as a graduate in Bristol and then moved to the Prague office. Offices in Germany, including Berlin, had been opened by King & Co shortly after Paris with the purchase of a minority holding in Völckers GmbH which had offices both in West Germany and, after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the recently “opened for business” East Germany. Unfortunately the firm expanded too rapidly, and due to the recession and the East not growing as fast as anticipated, the company had to be dissolved by the mid-1990s. In due course King Sturge re-entered Germany with a wholly owned office in Frankfurt opening in 2002, followed by Berlin in 2007, through a merger with Hettrich GmbH.

After their initial experience in Germany the UK partners decided that the only way to develop a robust network was with a controlling interest in each entity which would mean slower progress, but greater brand security. However, associations offered an alternative to overcome problems, or as an apprenticeship to ownership. This provided a means to achieve representation worldwide, including Asia/Pacific, with ownership centred on European offices.

Also at the end of the 1980s there was recognition of the need for a link to the USA, initially to work with corporate occupiers in Europe. The firm joined CORFAC, a referral group (association) of 50 or so privately owned property advisors in North, Central and South America. Major clients

47

Europe

The mainland Europe story can be told in several phases as the firm grappled with cultural, management and ownership issues. The first office was in Brussels, the capital of the EEC, and it opened in 1973 just as the UK joined the Common Market.

2446

Top left: King Sturge office, Warsaw, PolandTop right: Malcolm KingBottom: King Sturge Residential, Blackheath office

2000 Sir Steve Redgravewins 5th consecutive Olympic gold medal

1999National Assembly for Wales created

1999Euro introduced

2000Dotcom bubble burst

2000Concorde crashes in Paris

2001 nine/eleven

such as Honeywell, Wyeth and Bristol Myers-Squibb have provided cross-border business all over Europe for many years. In 2008 King Sturge joined Chainlinks, a US retail-specific association, and is the largest firm in that organisation.

The network was strengthed in Western Europe with Spain, and in Eastern Europe by taking a bold step into the new Czech Republic. Barcelona opened in 1992 and Prague in 1993. Unfortunately, in 2009, the effects of the worldwide crisis and a continuing deterioration in the Spanish property market forced the firm to withdraw from Spain. By 2000 the firm had gained considerable expertise in Europe, and the improving property market in the UK supported expansion. The new members to the EU were enjoying the benefits and in that year a Polish office was opened in Warsaw. This theme was continued, initially by an association in 2003 with the Bradmore Group in South East Europe and the Balkans. Integration followed a couple of years later, bringing in Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. New offices followed in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, creating the leading firm in central Europe.

In April 2007 an international LLP was formed to manage a single European partnership. The objective remains one of creating the first truly integrated European firm in which business synergies and professional skills continue to be developed.

Malcolm King retired as senior partner in 2005, ending an 85 year, three generation family leadership. He was succeeded by Chris Ireland and Richard Batten as joint senior partners. Chris joined King & Co in 1979 and established himself as one of the national investment market leaders, dealing with the major institutions and property companies. Richard arrived in 1982 after a commission in the army and headed up the professional services group, having developed considerable expertise in the banking and corporate finance sectors. During this period of growth Mark Perowne continued in his role as a

49

The culture

That which can be measured has been thoroughly investigated by turnover, number of staff, number of offices etc, but what of the intangibles? In what is the broadest of churches, clearly diversity, a sense of ownership and extra-mural activities are crucial.

The more formal activities are the involvement in professional and representative organisations; the firm is unique in having presidents of the RICS in all three centuries. There has been strong representation elsewhere in the RICS, in chambers of commerce and membership of the boards of educational and social organisations and charities, embedded in the communities of the regional offices.

The less formal activities involve a considerable ‘play hard’ element. Although the Quaker forebears of the firm would approve of the ‘work hard’ side of their successor’s culture, they would undoubtedly frown upon some of the social events which are so central to maintaining its spirit. Sport also plays a large part in the life and fun of the firm - especially the estate agents’ sevens and King Cricket Trophy. More recently, a triathlon is organised annually for the property industry and it now attracts over 2,000 competitors, one of the largest in the UK.

Sponsorship takes many forms, sometimes assisting staff in developing their wider interests, also in the educational community, promoting new courses for trainees and sharing the costs of research and projects with other stakeholders.

Much of this has been formalised by a Corporate Social Responsibility policy: As a business we are clearly focused on achieving commercial success, but we realise that the way in which we run our business has an economic, social and environmental impact.

long-serving managing partner until he was succeeded in 2008 by Mark Stupples. Richard Fiddes became managing partner for Europe with an ever-changing portfolio.

2448

Above: King Sturge rugby team winning the estate agents’ sevens

2003 England wins Rugby World Cup

2003The Gherkin completed

2002RIM releasesfirst Blackberry

2004Asiantsunami

2003Second Gulf War

2004Brian Lara scores a test innings record 400 not out against England

The client profile has changed, along with the economic times, continuously throughout the 250 years from agricultural holdings through industrial property to institutional investment. Though there are now several thousand clients, typically from year to year the top 50 account for 40% of the firm’s turnover, with institutional investors and banks, property companies, occupiers, charities and the public sector all represented.

Never have clients had greater need of sound and validated advice. We now operate in a world where there will be a more regulated business environment and where there will be tensions between the less developed resource-rich countries and the service-driven economies of the west.

King Sturge has demonstrated continuous adaptability and agility throughout its 250 years. The partnership structure has served the firm well, providing an environment in which a people-based business can flourish without the formality, external accountability and, apparently inevitable, debt of corporate competitors.

The firm now has to face up to the challenges that the whole market is confronting and needs to take advantage of the opportunities that are arising and will continue to do so. Time will decide whether this partnership and its culture will continue to provide one of the most effective property advisory businesses in the world during the next 250 years.

It is certainly the firm’s intention to do so.

51

FORWARD FROM 2010

Between 1992 and 2007 the firm enjoyed ‘non inflationary continuous expansion’ and turnover increased ten-fold through real growth by widening services and deepening expertise. However, the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, exacerbated in the UK by the unsustainable boom in property prices since 2005, has taken its toll.

The world economic crisis, and record falls in GDP across the whole world, are now beginning to be resolved but uncertainties remain. Property, and therefore property owners, funders and advisors have been hit hard. Despite having a diverse geographical and functional business, overall turnover for King Sturge fell by 25% in the 2008-09 financial year, after 15 years of growth in both the property market and the firm’s market share. Profits fell by 50%.

Widespread and painful redundancies were necessary during 2008 and at the start of 2009 to reconfigure the firm for a changed trading environment. Clients were equally affected and considerable agility was required; staff have had to adjust to a new internal and external financial culture.

Nonetheless in the year of celebration of our founding 250 years ago, it is clear that the worst of the economic storm has once again been weathered and the firm is well placed to plan a new phase of expansion of its services to clients, both geographically and by sector.

The story of the firm has largely been told in parallel with the economy. The growth was driven by agriculture in the eighteenth century, industrialisation in the nineteenth century, and was followed by Keynesianism and then Monetarism in the twentieth century.

Opposite: King Sturge Property Triathlon

2008 Arena Zagrebcompleted

2004Facebook founded

2005 Lance Armstrong wins 7th consecutive Tour de France

2007New WembleyStadium completed

2009Jenson Button wins Formula OneChampionship

2010 Amy Williams wins Winter Olympics gold medal

2009Lisbon Treaty finallyratified

52

Acknowledgements

City of Bristol Record Office which holds a comprehensive, indexed JP Sturge archive

Invaluable family information, memories and photographs from:Malcolm KingRoger SturgePeter Sturge

Pedigree research by Nicholas Herbert-Young

Photographic acknowledgementsPage 4: Aerial view of Bristol. Courtesy of Malcolm Lamb, Sealand Aerial Photography Ltd.

Page 8-9: “An Accurate Map of Europe, laid down from the Best Authorities”, Anonymous engraver. Copper engraving c.1760. Courtesy of www.antiqueprints.com.Belgrade, Serbia. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library.Budapest (Pesth), Hungary. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library/Imagno.A view of the Church of Santa Sophia, Constantinople. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library.View of Warsaw, Canaletto. Photograph by Andrzej Ring. Courtesy of the Royal Castle, Warsaw.View of Zagreb, 1792. Watercolour, Lodovic Busan. Courtesy of Zagreb City Museum.

Page 10: George III. © National Portrait Gallery, London.

Page 12: Young Sturge. Courtesy of Peter Sturge.

Page 15: Map of Jamaica, mid-19th century. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library.

Page 16: Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol c.1865. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library.

Page 18: Bristol Terminus of the Great Western Railway, c.1841. Courtesy of National Railway Museum/SSPL.

Page 20: First issue of The Estates Gazette. Courtesy of the Estates Gazette Group

Page 22: Surveyors’ Institution. Courtesy of the RICS

Page 26: Theodore and Paul Sturge. Roger Sturge

Page 32: Clements Inn Passage, London c.1947. Courtesy of the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, ref. Imagelibrary/22

Page 40: Stratford Place painted by Peter Brown

Page 50: King Sturge Property Triathlon. © Romilly Lockyer

Timeline1760: Crown Estate logo. Courtesy of Crown Estate1770: Captain James Cook, 1776. Courtesy of Science Museum/SSPL1878: Benz 1.5 hp motor car, 1888. Courtesy of Science Museum/SSPL1895: Gugliemo Marconi, c.1900. Courtesy of Science Museum/SSPL1912: RMS ‘Titanic’,1911. Courtesy of Science Museum/SSPL1914-18: HJ King. Courtesy of Malcolm King1921: SEGRO logo. Courtesy of SEGRO1922: Wimbledon Centre Court, c.1925. Courtesy of National Media Museum/SSPL1923: Wembley Football Stadium. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library/Elizabeth Mark Goodwin1936: King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson, 26 May 1951.

Courtesy of Manchester Daily Express/SSPL1936: The Royal Family, Coronation of George VI, May 1937. Courtesy of National Media Museum/SSPL1939-45: German Dornier 17 bombers over the Royal Albert Docks, East London, 7 September 1940. Courtesy of Science Museum/SSPL1952: Elizabeth II. © National Portrait Gallery, London1966: Front cover of The Illustrated London News, 6th August 1966. © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans Picture Library 1969: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, 20th July 1969. Courtesy of NASA/nasaimages.org1970: Intel C4004 Microprocessor. Courtesy of www.cpu-zone.com1981: Headingley Cricket Ground. Photograph by PatrickSmyth at Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic Licence1986: Mike Tyson in the ring at Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2006. Photograph by Octal @ Flickr, licensed under Creative Commmons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic licence.1989: Romanian Revolution, December 1989. From “1989 Libertate Roumanie” by Denoel Paris and other photographers (ISBN 2-207-23695-1), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.1991: Tim Berners-Lee. Photograph by Enrique Dans, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence.1994: Channel Tunnel Terminal, Folkestone. Courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library/Bill Meadows2003: Jonny Wilkinson Statue, Trafalgar Square, London, England, 19 October 2007: Photograph by Keven Law, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.2005: Lance Armstrong at the 2005 Tour de France. Photograph by Bjarte Hetland, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence.

Archive research by Sarah PerryPicture research by Kate PluckProject photographer Martin ParkerDesign by Brian Barfoot

Bibliography Some Recollections of a Long Life, 1893 - William SturgeThe Sturges of Bristol, 1900 - Walter SturgeReminiscences of My Life, 1928 - Elizabeth SturgeJP Sturge & Sons of Bristol, A Bicentenary Memoir, 1960 -W S GoodbodyChartered Surveyors, The Growth of a Profession, 1968 -FML ThompsonJP Sturge & Sons, 225 Anniversary, 1985 - Anne BradleyBrunel’s Bristol Temple Meads, 2001 - John BindingMemoirs of King & Co, 2006, edited by Betty King

All data contained in this report has been compiled by King Sturge LLP and is published for general information purposes only. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data and other material contained in this report, King Sturge LLP does not accept any liability (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) to any person for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any errors or omissions. The information, opinions and forecasts set out in the report should not be relied upon to replace professional advice on specific matters, and no responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from acting, as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by King Sturge LLP. © King Sturge LLP April 2010

This publication is printed on recycled, post-consumer fibre, totally chlorine free paper produced from sustainable stock. FSC certification.

www.kingsturge.com

LOCATIONS

UK

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

China

Czech Republic

France

Germany

Hungary

Christopher Ireland

Richard Batten

Mark Perowne

Max Crofts

Edward Cussen

Michael Taylor

Philip Marsden

James Rowland

David Lathwood

David Brooks

Colin Fell

Nicholas Seary

Mark Stupples

Simon Merry

Adrian Horsburgh

Simon Young

Philip Robin

Timothy Johnson

John Lowe

Richard Fiddes

Mark Barnes

Neville Pritchard

Edward Blood

James Beckham

Mark Bourne

Simon Beckett

William Andrews

Peter Clarke

Julian Sandbach

Charles Miller

Philip Hillman

Peter Singleton

Andrew Summersgill

Oliver Paine

Michael Green

Jeremy Richards

Richard Goodall

Jonathan Sykes

Andrew Harding

Christopher MacFarlane

Angus Minford

Paul Betts

Simon Bailey

James Owens

John Foddy

Peter Murray

Robert Atwell

Paul Hale

Nicholas Lees

John Hulme

Christopher Pratt

Ian Greenhalgh

Simon Cusiter

Stephen Hogg

Timothy Wright

Nicholas Deane

Daniel Martin

Patrick Cryer

John Callander

Andrew Frost

MEMBERS OF KING STURGE LLP IN 2010

Sascha Hettrich

Angus Wade

James Kinnell

Jason Sharman

Jens Moller-Madsen

Philippe Semidei

Melanie Brandon

Allan Wilson

Bruce Spencer

Jeremy Attfield

Andrew Ludiman

Michael Peacock

Rupert Perkins

Martin Crossley

Michael Hanson

Penny Hacking

Hugh Savage

Christopher Watkin

Ole Sauer

Julia Martin

Ian Cornock

Dominic Reilly

James Hall

Timothy Hance

Fiona Hamilton

Richard Bashford

John Michell

Mark Whittingham

Poland

Romania

Serbia

Slovakia

Turkey

United Arab Emirates