Our history

Maclntyre Hudson was founded in 1880 and is today a mid-tier independent accountancy firm, ranked 20th in the Accountancy Age Top 50. When the firm was founded it was one of 587 firms that joined together to form the original ‘lnstitute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ – and one of only a handful still in practice.

As is common in business, the firm has merged and demerged many times as dictated by market forces and circumstances. Today we practice as a Limited Liability Partnership, have 10 offices serving the whole of the UK and we are the UK member of Morison lnternational lnc, a global association of independent accountants, auditors, tax advisers, business consultants and lawyers.

The name Malntyre Hudson appeared for the first time in 1924, after Robert Hamilton Maclntyre and John Farrer Hudson became partners in the firm. The firm was then known as Maclntyre Hudson Gouldie Wilson & Co, which was shortened to Maclntyre Hudson in 1928.

We opened a Paris office the same year which remained until the sixties, when legislation made it no longer viable. Apart from our office in Paris, the first office to be opened outside of London was the Bedford office in 1959. In 1968 we merged with Norman & Whitehead of London and opened an office in Wellingborough two years later.

Through a number of mergers during the following two decades we grew our existing practice in Bedford and gained offices in Richmond, High Wycombe, North London, Leicester and Peterborough. We also opened new offices in Milton Keynes and Northampton.

In 1991 we demerged from the Central London office which continued to practice as Maclntyre & Co. Our Northampton office acquired the business of Messrs Ford and Moser and a presence in Daventry in 1994 and a year later we re-opened an office in Wellingborough due to merger with Phillips and Halliday located in the town. This was later closed again in 2001 when staff and clients transferred to our new Northampton office premises. We had done the same with our office in Richmond which had closed the year before when staff and clients were transferred to the larger London City office.

Our most recent mergers were in 1999 with the nine partner practice, Hughes Allen Chartered Accountants, which re-established the name of Maclntyre Hudson in the City of London and brought us an office in Chelmsford. In 2007 our Leicester office merged with Moore Stephens Leicester, doubling the firm’s business in the area. In 2008, our London City office merged with the London office of MGl Midgley Snelling and acquired a block of fees from Websters. In late 2009, the London City office merged with the West End office of Haines Watts and we opened an office in Rochester.

Since 2004, we have achieved a 54.5% growth in fee income and now have 50 Principals and 400 staff across our 10 offices.

Key dates

1880   Practice established and carried on as Barnes and Attree in London
1893   Name changed to Attree Wilson and Attree
1898   Practice continued by H Gouldie Wilson in his own name
1900   Practice included in the formation of Dixon Wilson Tubbs & Co
1913   H Gouldie Wilson separated from Dixon Wilson Tubbs to continue his practice independently
1922   R H Maclntyre commenced practicing in his own name
1924   Amalgamation of the practices under the name of Maclntyre Hudson Gouldie Wilson & Co
1928   Practice shortened name to Maclntyre Hudson & Co. Opened an office in Paris
1959   Bedford office opened
1966   Paris office closed
1968   Amalgamation with Norman & Whitehead of London
1970   Wellingborough office opened
1971   Amalgamation with Sprague Nicholson Morgan & Co of London bringing in their offices in Richmond and High Wycombe
Amalgamation of Bedford office with the practice there, of Howard Jolly Rowe & Co
1973   Amalgamation with Townsend Watson & Stone bringing in their office at Whetstone
1975   Opened office in Bletchley, Milton Keynes
1976   Office opened in Northampton
1977   Amalgamation of Northampton office with that of Greshams
Amalgamation of Bedford office with that of Mold Reffin & Winter and bringing in their offices in Leicester and Peterborough
1978   lntroduction to the Richmond office of the practice of D M Cohen at Wimbledon
1980   Amalgamation of Whetstone office with that of Tubbs Clarke and Co.; Bletchley office relocated to Central Milton Keynes
1988   Merged with Meeson Makinson Smith in Richmond
1989   Closed Wellingborough office and merged it with Northampton
Formed a separate company for the provision of independent financial advice to clients
1991   Demerged from Central London office which continued to practice as Maclntyre & Co
1994   Northampton office acquired the business of Messrs Ford and Moser and a presence in Daventry
1995   Re-opened an office in Wellingborough due to merger with Phillips and Halliday located in the town
1996   Joined Kreston an international association of Accountants
1999     Merged with Hughes Allen Chartered Accountants and acquired offices in the City of London and Chelmsford
2000   Richmond office closed. Staff and clients transferred to City office
2001   Wellingborough office closed. Staff and clients transferred to new Northampton office premises
2007   Merged with the Leicester office of Moore Stephens
2008   Merged with the London office of Midgley Snelling and acquired block of fees from London based firm Websters
2009   Merged with the London West End office of Haines Watts
Opened an office in Rochester
2010   Joined Morison International a global association of independent accountants, auditors, tax advisers, business consultants and lawyers