THE Northampton office of Jackson–Stops is celebrating 100 years of trading from the same office in the town.
The founder of the firm, Herbert Jackson-Stops was 26 when he opened his first office in The Town Hall in Towcester in 1910, practising as an Estate Agent, Auctioneer, Valuer, Architect and Civil Engineer. In his role as auctioneer he took the lease of Towcester Town square and held weekly livestock auctions.
By 1920, Herbert realised the importance of establishing an office in the county town and the firm started trading from 20 Bridge Street as Chartered Surveyors, Auctioneers and Estate Agents specialising in the sale of village and rural properties.
1921 was the real turning point for the firm with the first landmark instruction to sell the 1,400 acre ducal estate of Stowe and the contents of the mansion on behalf of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. The estate was sold by auction with the contents sale taking 18 days with a total of 3,833 lots!
The Stowe sale was a watershed and sales of other country houses and estates quickly followed and continue up to the present day. Herbert’s knowledge of timber and forestry was to be invaluable in the between-the-wars period when the timber on an estate was often worth as much as the property itself.
By 1924 he had opened an office in London and, in doing so, acknowledged the fact that he was not interested in the firm just being a local agent but a national one too, with the benefits that would inevitably bring to clients of the firm. Immediately after the Second World War, offices were opened in Chichester, Chester and Newmarket and, like Northampton, these offices are still going strong today and a testament to the ethos of the firm for over 110 years being professionalism, honesty and integrity at all times.
Adopting a philosophy of embracing the latest technology over the decades has enabled the firm to not only survive but thrive at both a local and national level. The firm currently boasts seven offices in London along with 36 country offices stretching from Truro in the south-west to Chester and York in the north and across to Ipswich and Norwich in the east.
The Northampton office continues to be multi-disciplined, offering agency, valuation and property management advice to residential property owners together with an expanding land and new homes department servicing both landowners and developers.
The current experienced members of staff in the office look forward to proactively advising existing and new clients both during the firm’s centenary year and into the future.