About Us

History of Ramsay Brown and Partners

Ramsay Brown and Partners has been looking after clients and specialising in the medical profession for more than 80 years.

The firm was started by Mr Harold Stephenson Ramsay Brown in the 1930s from a small office in The Strand opposite Charing Cross Hospital (when it was in Charing Cross!). Mr Ramsay Brown had good contacts with the consultants at the hospital and they recommended their newly qualified doctors to see Mr Ramsay Brown to act as their accountant. This is where the seeds of our firm were first sown.

The firm continued a steady growth and in the late 1950s, Mr Stanley Slavin (the late father of Laurence) was admitted as a partner. The office was still based in The Strand. In fact, Laurence can remember watching Winston Churchill’s funeral from the office window in 1965 (aged 4!). Mr Ramsay Brown died shortly afterwards and the firm continued under the stewardship of Mr Stanley Slavin.

In the early 1970s, the firm moved out of Central London to Whetstone in North London and in the mid 1970s, Mr David Newman joined Mr Stanley Slavin as a partner.

By the mid 1980s, both Laurence Slavin and Stuart Singer (who did not know each other at this stage) had qualified and in December 1985, Laurence left the tax department of BDO Stoy Hayward to join his father and David Newman as a partner at Ramsay Brown and Partners.

Mr Stanley Slavin had been developing the medical side of the accountancy practice and had written articles for Medeconomics. Sadly, in June 1987, Mr Stanley Slavin was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and by December 1987, had passed away, leaving Ramsay Brown and Partners under the control of David Newman and Laurence Slavin.

During this time, both Laurence Slavin and Stuart Singer had daughters, Gemma and Katie respectively, both born within six months of each other in December 1986 and June 1987. It so happened that the two daughters and their mothers (who had never met), were sitting together in the local GP surgery waiting room and got chatting. Laurence’s wife introduced herself and brought up in conversation that her husband was a Chartered Accountant and was looking for help in his practice following his father’s death. Stuart’s wife mentioned that her husband was also a Chartered Accountant and was looking to set up his own practice. A date for afternoon tea was arranged a few weeks later and Laurence and Stuart chatted and came to an agreement: Laurence would offer Stuart the use of his office and facilities in Whetstone to help him start his own practice and in return, Stuart would help Laurence look after the clients of Ramsay Brown and Partners.

Meanwhile, Laurence and David had decided to part company and pursue their own professional objectives and David left to form his own practice.

Laurence and Stuart both instinctively knew that they could and should work together, with complimentary skills and hunger for success. Within a year, in 1988, they took over the helm at Ramsay Brown and Partners as equal partners with a vision to be the best firm of Chartered Accountants looking after the medical profession.

They both quickly forged strong contacts and relationships with the medical journals and the Department of Health, which continue today.

In 1990, they acquired the offices in North Finchley and moved into what was, at the time, spacious accommodation.

In 1991, Kate Perry transferred her training contract to Ramsay Brown and Partners and passed her professional examinations qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with the firm. She left Ramsay Brown and Partners to get more experience working with an accountancy firm in London before Laurence and Stuart approached her in 1997 and invited her to come back to the firm and become their third partner.

Meanwhile, in 1996, Jenny Stone had joined Ramsay Brown and Partners as a trainee Chartered Accountant and she too soon passed her professional examinations and was also offered and accepted a partnership with Ramsay Brown and Partners in 2003.

The spacious accommodation of North Finchley had become cramped and in May 1999, the present office in Grange Park, with almost three times the office space, was acquired.

The current partnership of Laurence, Stuart, Kate and Jenny is just as goal focused and ambitious now as it ever was. Fiercely independent (the firm has consistently refused to join the marketing group AISMA) and hungry for continued success, the present partnership is an effective and professional organisation striving for further growth and success.

What of the future? Katie (Stuart’s daughter) is now training to be a Chartered Accountant with a London firm and Matthew (Laurence’s son who, with Katie, have spent some of their holidays working at Ramsay Brown and Partners) have expressed an interest in being part of the future of the firm. In addition, some of our competitors have expressed a wish to come under our umbrella. Whatever happens in the future, it will be complimentary to the ideals and principles that have facilitated the growth to our successful firm of today.

Laurence Slavin.