H. P. & Co. (Heseltine Powell & Co.)

Heseltine Powell & Co. was a London stockbroking company. The business was begun when Charles W. Marten and Edward Heseltine began trading together as stockbrokers under the name Marten & Heseltine in 1848 at 9 Finch Lane, Cornhill. In 1852, Thomas W. Powell joined the company and its name was listed in the London Directories from that year as Marten & Powell (1852 only) and Heseltine, Powell (1852 – 1866). In 1867 the name of the firm was changed to Heseltine Powell & Co. and remained as such for the next 110 years.

Edward Heseltine and Thomas Powell were particularly interested in the shares and bonds of the developing railroads and, in letters to the Stock Exchange in 1908, they claimed that it was their encouragement of investors that had stimulated interest in the American market and helped to create the arbitrage business.

In 1977 the name of the company changed to Heseltine, Moss & Co. and in 1987 the business became part of Brown Shipley Ltd.

I have not seen the H.P. & Co. overprint used beyond the Victorian period.

by Mark Matlach