Buckmaster & Moore

Buckmaster & Moore

Company type	Private
Industry	Stockbrokerage, Financial services
Founded	1895
Founder	Charles Armytage-Moore, Walter Selby Buckmaster
Defunct	1987
Fate	Acquired by Credit Suisse Group
Headquarters	London , United Kingdom
Products	Stockbroking, Investment management

Buckmaster & Moore (commonly abbreviated as B&M) was a London-based stockbroker firm founded in 1895 and later incorporated into the Credit Suisse Group in 1987.

History

The establishment of Buckmaster and Moore was a joint effort by Charles Armytage-Moore and Walter Selby Buckmaster. Buckmaster became a member of the Stock Exchange in 1895, initially trading alongside partners such as Douglas Lyon Holms and Harry Walter Franklin. Armytage Moore joined the partnership in 1903. The collaboration between Buckmaster and Moore formally commenced around 1905, while Holms and Franklin ended their partnership in 1908.

Both founders were alumni of Repton School and distinguished themselves in athletic pursuits. Buckmaster, who studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, was an accomplished polo player, earning silver medals at the Olympic Games in 1900 and 1908, as well as winning the International Polo Cup in 1902. He was also related to the mathematician Alfred North Whitehead. Moore, meanwhile, played cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and had familial ties to British politician Hugh Annesley, 5th Earl Annesley.

The firm developed a robust clientele focused on private investors, operating from offices initially located at 64 Cornhill before moving to 52 Bishopsgate in London. Their distinctive Perfined Contract Revenue Stamp bore the initials B&M.

One notable partner was Oswald Toynbee Falk (1879–1972), educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford, who joined after a tenure at the Treasury and contributed pioneering economic theories. Another early partner, Francis James Rennell Rodd, served in World War I, pursued diplomacy and banking careers before joining B&M until 1929; he subsequently became managing director of Morgan, Grenfell & Co.. Additionally, partner Maurice Bonham-Carter was an English Liberal politician and civil servant who acted as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and also played first-class cricket.

Among the firm's clients was John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), who served as Bursar of King's College, Cambridge. Keynes collaborated with Falk on currency speculation but suffered financial losses in 1920. Falk rose to senior partner status and authored influential financial works that remain studied in business education. Bonham-Carter was likewise a Balliol alumnus and prominent Liberal Party figure.

During the late 1920s, B&M employed future distinguished personalities such as Francis Pakenham (later the 7th Earl of Longford) and mathematician J. H. C. Whitehead.

Buckmaster resided at Moreton Manor in Warwickshire and held the position of Master of Warwickshire Foxhounds until his death in 1942. Moore lived at Winterfold House in Surrey, married Celine Marie Pappa, and passed away in 1960.

In 1987, the firm was acquired by Credit Suisse Group and subsequently restructured into separate broking and fund management divisions before ultimately dissolving in November 1996.

List of partners in February 1932

OSWALD T. FALK, WALTER S. BUCKMASTER, C. J. E. ARMYTAGE MOORE, IAN MACPHERSON, ARTHUR J. BEAMISH, MAURICE BONHAM-CARTER, J. R. RALLI, R. N. M. MURRAY.

Recollections of B&M in the 1970s

James Michael (Mike) Anson Shemilt (1939-2015)
During the 1970s, I became a partner at Buckmaster & Moore, then considered a medium-sized firm with approximately fifty partners and possibly the largest discretionary fund manager within the City of London. At that time, discretionary management remained a relatively new concept; under senior partner Ian Macpherson’s leadership, B&M extended this service to institutional clients alongside private investors—managing portfolios for institutions such as Cambridge colleges, the Church in Wales, and Provincial Insurance Company—thereby securing a strong foothold in investment management.
Soon after my arrival, leadership changes marginalized Macpherson as younger partners assumed control with ambitions to grow by marketing research ideas to major institutions alongside expanding investment management services. The evolving City environment embraced more complex financial instruments and meritocratic advancement rather than traditional class distinctions. B&M adapted by integrating a more diverse group of new partners like myself.

Memories of B&M during the 1980s

Marcus Padley (born 1961), a British stockbroker and author residing in Melbourne.
In 1982, while employed at Buckmaster & Moore's Bishopsgate branch—originating around 1900 through the efforts of Cambridge polo captain Walter Buckmaster and an Irish associate—we began our days with hearty cooked breakfasts before the 9:30am gathering. Partners were attended by butlers; other staff members served themselves.
During meetings, only partners were permitted to enjoy cigars or spirits; cigarette smoking was widespread among all, with ashtrays integrated into the desks. Alcohol consumption was routine—Pimm's was a favored choice at lunchtime. Share quotations displayed on a solitary 28-inch television near the senior partner’s desk rarely changed; a four-point fluctuation on the FT All-Share Index stood out as significant market movement.
Price information depended on stock exchange 'orange buttons' who liaised with jobbers—market makers who frequently simulated trades to generate activity. The majority of prices remained unchanged following the lunch break.

Additional Sources

John Howard-Smith, FT Adviser Multi-asset, April 28, 2014
Buckmaster and Moore 'ordinary account' records from 1920-1945, Cambridge University: Kings College Archive Centre
STOCKBROKERS REMINISCE ABOUT PRE-BANG ERA, City AM, October 26, 2011
Profile of wealth manager John Bellamy at Waverton, Portfolio Adviser, October 24, 2016

Bibliography

• Cricket Archive (C Armytage Moore) MCC: [1]
• R F Harrod, The Life of John Maynard Keynes, London, Macmillan, 1951
• O.T. Falk: (Keynes’s model economist?), Alex Millmow, School of Business, Ballarat, Australia (Working Paper Series:001 – 2011) [2]
• London Gazette partnership announcements for Buckmaster & Moore (1926, 1929, 1932)
• The Foreign Exchange Market of London: Development Since 1900, John Atkin, Routledge, 2005

External Links

• Companycheck.co.uk: Buckmaster & Moore