Foster & Braithwaite

Foster & Braithwaite is a stockbroking and investment management firm, founded in London in 1825 as Foster & Janson by James Foster and Richard Janson. Janson died in 1830 and James Foster was joined by Issac Braithwaite; the company was renamed Foster & Braithwaite in 1833. James Foster retired in 1855 and died in 1861. Issac Braithwaite became head of the company and, in 1867, a new deed of partnership was established that required that all equity partners had to be blood relatives of the founder. This ensured the family dominance of the firm for the next century; only in 1968 was a partner nominated from outside the Braithwaite family.

In 1989, Foster & Braithwaite was taken over by the French bank, Credit Commercial de France. In 1996 the company was merged with another stockbroking firm called Quilter Goodison & Co., and is now part of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

by Mark Matlach