Ramsey Crookall is the Isle of Man’s longest established independent firm of stockbrokers and investment managers. Founded on the 3rd June 1946 by Ramsey Crookall, a Royal Air Force veteran, and Brian McMeekin, a member of the London stock exchange. Operating under the name McMeekin & Co the firm was originally based from 17 Athol Street, Douglas.

 

On the first day of trading, only four deals were completed: A purchase of War Stock, the sale of Daily Mirror shares, and a matched bargain in Douglas Holiday Camp preference shares. In these days, trades were sent by telegram to London, and contract notes were worked out by manual multiplication and long division. Transfers and ledgers were stored manually.

 

In 1959, Ramsey’s son, Neal Crookall, joined the firm. Shortly afterward, the firm was rebranded as Ramsey Crookall & Co in the early 1960s. It wasn’t until this time until a barrel peg calculator with a winding handle was brought back and used after Neal’s time working in London. Neal was elected to membership of the Provincial Brokers Stock Exchange on 1st April 1965. Still today Neal oversees the growth and success of the business as Chairman, ensuring the core principles committing to excellent services and treating every client like family are still at the heart of the firm.

 

In 1965, the firm relocated its offices to Victory House on Prospect Hill. Four years later, in 1969, Robert Comaish joined the firm. By the early 1970s, Ramsey Crookall moved back to Athol Street, number 14D. 1974 marked the year Neal became Senior Partner at the firm, a position which he held until 2009. The 70’s marked the time when staff numbers had increased to 12, including David Harding who joined us in 1972. News was relayed by Extel ‘ticker tape’, placed in long sheets in the reception area. Clients used to congregate, reading the latest company news and announcements – a sight more akin to a bookies’ premises.

 

The late 1970’s brought more milestones, the office once again moved, to 25 Athol Street. Robert Comaish became a Partner and Perry Downward joined in 1979. By then an Olivetti mechanical card system had replaced hand written ledgers. Stock exchange technology and regulation were also moving on. Communication terminals were installed to allow trading through London and monthly returns, capital adequacy and regular inspections introduced.

 

Ramsey Crookall himself died in 1982 and will long be remembered as the business founder, his sense of humour and an unflappable approach in times of stress.

 

David Harding became a partner in 1986, which also was the year of the ‘Big Bang’ which heralded considerable changes to the stockbroking community, essentially deregulating financial markets and bringing greater competition to the City of London. Ultimately, it was decided that the company would remain independent. In this turmoil, there was one significant advantage: it became possible to deal directly with ‘jobbers’ now called market makers, eliminating London agent charges and reducing costs for our clients. Fixed-rate commissions no longer applied, and more significant deals became negotiable.

 

The following year marked Joanna Crookall, the current CEO and Ramsey’s first grandchild, joined the firm. As a fresh-faced graduate, she was somewhat unprepared for ‘Black Monday’ in her second week, which saw billions wiped off stock markets worldwide. In just four days, the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 had lost 25% in value. Despite this, Joanna persevered before becoming a director in 1991.

 

The second of Ramsey’s grandchildren to join was the youngest, Patrick in 1996 and in 1999 was appointed the companies finance director. On the 14th of July 2022, Patrick very sadly passed away unexpectedly, and will be greatly missed by all of the team.

 

In 1997, the company moved to the current location at Securities House, 38/42 Athol Street. Housing the latest technology, trading now takes place daily in London, as well as overnight on the main US, Asian and Australian markets.

 

Micheal Deering and Stuart Cowen both joined Ramsey Crookall in 1998, followed by Tom Croft in 2000. Shortly after, in 2004 Micheal, Stuart, Tom and Perry Downward all made Associate of the firm, before 2007 where they were all appointed as Directors: Tom as Director, Micheal as Executive Director, Stuart as Investment Director and Perry as Operations Director. David Harding became Managing Director in 2010. As of January 2025, Stuart has now retired and Perry has stepped down as a Director, and Nicola Morrison took up his role in 2023.

 

The last of Ramsey’s grandchildren to join the firm was Simon Crookall in 2012 as a director. Simon brought with him a wealth of experience and became our Finance Director in 2022.

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The firm remains family owned and managed. We have also scooped a number of prestigious awards, including Regional Wealth Manager Of The Year for Northern England Award for, 2019 through to 2024 at the City of London Annual Awards, Stuart Cowen was announced as Wealth Manager of the Year at the London Wealth Management Awards, Neal Crookall was presented in 2013 with the City of London Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to the industry. Michael Deering was handed the inaugural ‘Best Compliance Professional’ title in 2014, Perry Downward was honored for his ‘Exceptional Performance in the Back Office’ and won the Mudlark Award at the 2015 City of London Wealth Management Awards.