Scrutton Bland a History in context
1908 Parliament approves old age pensions 1912 Titanic sinks
1876 Bell patents the telephone 1878 Invention of the lightbulb 1885 Invention of the automotive car
1903 Wright brothers fly first motorised airplane
1914 World War I begins
1919 Lady Astor becomes the
1919 Bland Fielden is founded in Colchester when CF Bland joins his father’s insurance agency
1919 Alfred Scrutton and Frances Goodchild establish Scrutton & Goodchild in Ipswich
first woman to take her seat in Parliament
1953 Four additional partners (John Davey, Gordon Goodchild, Cyril Smith & Frank Gower) join Scrutton & Goodchild
1968 Nankivell & Sanderson merges with Scrutton & Goodchild to form Scrutton Goodchild & Sanderson in Ipswich
1969 First man on the moon 1971 Decimalised
1990 Bland Fielden and Scrutton Goodchild & Sanderson merge to form Scrutton Bland
1992 Channel Tunnel opens linking
2004 Firm buys insurance
2006 Firm joins Nexia International network
London and Paris by rail 2001 9/11
broker S Merrick Hill Ltd based in Diss, Norfolk
currency replaces ‘pounds, shillings and pence’
W hen Alfred Scrutton and business would still exist today, let alone having offices in four counties and employing over 230 people. Scrutton Bland as the firm is now known, is the product of several historical mergers and acquisitions between local accountancy and insurance businesses. Of these unions, the most impactful was the joining together of Suffolk- based Scrutton & Goodchild and Colchester insurance brokers Bland Fielden, both of whom were established in 1919 meaning that Scrutton Bland celebrates a double centenary in 2019. Francis Goodchild opened their accountancy firm in Ipswich in 1919, it is unlikely that they would have imagined that the
Managing Partner, Jason Fayers is proud of the firm’s history: “Our founding firms were established at the end of WW1 by soldiers returning from the Great War. They recognised the need for financial advice and insurance that the years of war had created and started businesses to meet those needs. It is hard to imagine how life was back then, but one thing remains the same today, which is that people still need sound professional advice when it comes to their finances.” In 1990 the firm rebranded as the Scrutton Bland Group, and in 2004 expanded its operations into Norfolk with the acquisition of Merrick Hill Insurance Brokers in Diss. By the mid- 2000s, Scrutton Bland had outgrown both its Colchester and Ipswich offices, and in 2007 the firm expanded into a new building on Colchester Business Park and an impressive three-story office
100 Years in Business
Scrutton Bland marks its centenary
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