Coulsons History
This
is a Legacy site for historic reasons
Coulsons merged
with Ashby Berry on 31 March 2012 to become Ashby Berry
Coulsons
(Left to right back row) Alan
Thraves, Brian Collison, Denis Stagg, John Bryden,
Laurence Bradshaw
(Left to right seated)
Kenneth Snow, Ethel Gregory, Thomas Hudson, Geoffrey
Heselton
COULSONS practised as such from
October 1995. Prior to that the firm was known as COULSON
& CO and had practised under that name since 1July
1967, on which date three firms amalgamated: Bryden
& Co; Robinson, Coulson & Co and Pulleyn, Heselton
& Co. The partners in this new amalgamated firm
were John Bryden, Brian Collison, Denis Stagg, Kenneth
Snow, Thomas Hudson, Laurence Bradshaw, Geoffrey Heselton
and Ethel Gregory.
On the 31 March 2012 Coulsons merged with Ashby Berry to
form Ashby Berry Coulsons.
Bryden & Co
John Bryden came to Scarborough in 1946 on leaving the RAF
after the Second World War, joining Clare Catley & Co,
which was originally founded about 1920. John Bryden
succeeded to the whole practice in 1962 and he moved from
Smiths Chambers in Westborough to Coulsons’ present
offices, 2 Belgrave Crescent, in 1963. This
beautiful Victorian building was at one time the home of
Henry Vandyke Carter, the artist who illustrated the
famous Gray’s Anatomy medical book published in 1858, and
was the son of Henry Barlow Carter, the eminent 19 century
landscape artist. Brian Collison and Denis Stagg
joined Bryden and Co as senior assistants in August 1962
and November 1964 respectively and became partners in
1965.
Robinson Coulson & Co
The founder of this firm was Charles E Bradley, who was
admitted as a member of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants on 4 February 1885, less than five years after
the Institute was incorporated by Royal Charter. He
practised at Bar Chambers, Scarborough, and it may be
interesting to note that the chair he used is still in
existence in the Board Room. In 1895 Charles Bradley took
into partnership Mr E W Davis, who had been articled to
him. The office at that time was in Huntriss
Chambers, but the partnership only lasted six years, Davis
being bought out by Charles Bradley for £250.
William S Robinson was articled to Charles Bradley,
qualified in 1898 and became a partner in 1905. From 1908
William Robinson practised alone and in 1919 he took into
partnership Edward T Coulson, the firm’s name becoming W S
Robinson & Coulson. In 1924 Vernon W Kirkby was
admitted into partnership, to be followed in 1930 by
Thomas H Jackson and around that time the offices were
transferred to Alma Chambers in Alma Square. William
Robinson retired about 1945 and Vernon Kirkby in 1947.
Robinson Coulson Kirkby & Co are listed in legal text
books in a Practical Auditing case regarding the Liability
of the Auditors. In the case of Scarborough Harbour
Commissioners v Robinson Coulson Kirkby & Co 1934 the
Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the lower Court
which had found the auditors guilty of negligence in
failing to report to the Harbour Commissions that a debt
due to them appeared to be bad. It was shown that
the auditors had reason to believe that the state of the
debt in question was known to the Commissioners and that
their policy was not to press immediately for
payment. The Master of the Rolls in the course of
his judgement laid emphasis on the fact that all the
circumstances of the case must be considered and said “it
is difficult to reconstruct the circumstances but having
regard to all the facts of the case it appears to me that
the charge has not been made out.
Ken Snow was articled to Edward Coulson in 1933, qualified
in 1938 and became a partner in 1947 together with Tom
Hudson, who had joined the firm as senior clerk during
World War II. The partnership was dissolved in 1951 when
Thomas Jackson set up a separate practice: Edward Coulson,
Tom Hudson and Ken Snow remaining in partnership under the
name of Robinson, Coulson & Co. In the late
1940s branches of the practice were opened in Filey and
Whitby. In 1955 Lionel Walter became a partner;
Edward Coulson retired in 1956 and in 1960 Tom Hudson and
Ken Snow bought out Lionel Walter’s interest in the
firm. Laurence Bradshaw became a partner in 1965.
Pulleyn Heselton & Co
Geoff Heselton and Ethel Gregory.
Pulleyn Heselton & Herbert W Pulleyn commenced to
practice in York in February 1898 and took into
partnership Hugh L Creer in 1909, the firm then becoming
Pulleyn, Creer & Co. Jack Pulleyn, the son of
the founder, became a partner in 1931 and Herbert W
Pulleyn died in 1934. A small office was opened in
Scarborough in the late thirties but closed during the
Second World War, during which time two further partners
were taken into the York practice. Geoff Heselton
re-opened a Scarborough office at 10 York Place in 1948:
Ethel Gregory was the first member of staff and in 1952
the firm divided into two separate practices: Creer, Etty,
Rank & Co and Pulleyn, Heselton & Co. Jack
Pulleyn moved to Torquay and played a decreasing part in
the firm over the next few years, while Geoff Heselton ran
the York and Scarborough offices, and Bridlington from
1957, and was joined in partnership by Ethel Gregory in
1961. Upon the amalgamation in 1967 Geoff Heselton
continued also to be a partner in Pulleyn, Heselton &
Co in York.
Coulson & Co
Alan Thraves, who had been articled to Tom Hudson in 1956,
rejoined the firm in 1969 and became a partner in Coulson
& Co on 1 November 1974. Tom Hudson retired
after 48 years as an accountant on 31 October 1975 with an
article in the Scarborough Evening News mentioning how
when he began his career in accountancy it was the norm to
pay a premium to the firm taking on the articled clerk,
who would work for no pay for the following five years.
Coulson & Co were auditors to Scarborough Borough
Council until local government reorganisation in 1975.
John Bryden and Ken Snow retired on 30 April 1979.
Denis Stagg said “John Bryden was a modest man who did not
often speak about his war service, but I do remember a
certificate on his office wall recording the fact that he
was mentioned in dispatches for services beyond the call
of duty. I was very proud to take over his office
when he retired.”
David Bryden, son of John Bryden, who had earlier been
articled to Denis Stagg rejoined the firm in 1973 after
gaining two and a half years’ experience working with
international accountants, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell &
Co, and became a partner on 1 November 1979. Whilst
David has been a partner he has also been Chairman and
Secretary of the Scarborough Chartered Accountants and the
Scarborough representative on the Executive Committee of
the Humberside and District Chartered Accountants.
He has also been Chairman and President of Scarborough
Chamber of Trade and sat on the Executive Committee of
Scarborough Civic Society for approximately 15 years.
Geoff Heselton retired on 31 October 1985. He had been
President of the Hull, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
Society of Chartered Accountants (as it was then called)
in 1963/64. Shortly before Geoff retired he took on
the Secretaryship of the Society for three years.
Geoff was also a Magistrate for 25 years, Chairman of the
Scarborough Bench for five years and Vice Chairman of the
North Yorkshire Magistrates Committee. Just to
ensure there was never an empty slot in his diary, Geoff
was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for North Yorkshire
in 1988 and was a Director of Scarborough Theatre Trust
(Stephen Joseph Theatre) for many years.
Ethel Gregory retired as a partner on 30 April 1988 and
became a part-time employee, finally retiring on 31
December 1988. As you can see from Ethel’s
retirement gift, she had a passion for horses and spent 33
years as treasurer of the Derwent Hunt.
Adrian K Allen joined the firm as a Senior in September
1984 having qualified in Birmingham and was admitted to
partnership on 1 November 1989.
Both Brian Collison and Denis Stagg retired on 5 April
1995. Brian worked for the firm for 33 years.
He transferred his articles from a Birmingham firm in 1962
to work for Bryden & Co where he completed his
Articles. John Bryden gave Brian the responsibility
of reorganising the company’s systems and redesigning the
layout of accounts etc to make them more in line with
modern national accountancy firms’ practises. Brian
spent some time as a committee member of the local branch
of Chartered Accountants with a year as Chairman. Denis
Stagg had worked for Coulsons for 31 years. He was
President of Scarborough Junior Chamber of Commerce
1969/70. He was Scarborough’s representative on the
Hull and District Chartered Accountants Committee for 12
years. Denis was also the Chamber of Trade’s
spokesperson for the introduction of decimalisation in
1971 and value added tax in 1973.
Paul
Adrian
Alan and David
On Alan's retirement
Paul
Adrian
David
David Tim
Graeme
Paul
Paul Boyd Hodgson was admitted into partnership in April
1995, having qualified with the firm and managed the Audit
Department. Laurence Bradshaw retired from Coulsons on 31
March 1998. Laurence was elected President of the
Humberside and District Society of Chartered Accountants
in 1981 having previously been Chairman and Secretary of
the Scarborough Group of Chartered Accountants. Alan
Thraves retired from the firm on 30 September 2003.
Adrian Allen left the Partnership on 31 March 2008 to begin
a new life in the Birmingham area.The photograph to the left
shows Paul Hodgson (left) and David Bryden(right) presenting
Adrian Allen with his leaving gift of a crystal whisky
decanter and glasses suitably engraved with the Coulsons
logo to remind him of his enjoyable 18.5 years as a partner
of the firm.
Coulsons and Ashby Berry merged on 31 March 2012 bringing
together David Bryden Tim Jones Graeme Hay and Paul
Hodgson