HISTORY
Alexander Francis McKenzie Downie practised in the Alton
area in the 1880s and during this time and before Downie &
Gadban was created his Managing Clerk was Herbert Cooper who
worked at Downie & Gadban until he died in 1948.
Miss Edith Emily Cooper (Herbert Cooper’s daughter) was
employed as Mr. Downie’s secretary in 1916. She worked in
the attic at 46 High Street, Alton from where the
solicitor’s practice was run, by candlelight, six days a
week 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. When Mr.
Downie was in a bad mood he used to throw inkwells at her.
On one occasion Mr. Downie kicked one of the office boys
downstairs and then gave him 2s. 6d. to keep him quiet.
Mr. Downie died in 1926 and is buried in Holybourne
Churchyard where Victor John Gadban is also buried.
Victor John Gadban, who is believed to be the son of an
Ottoman diplomat, joined the firm in 1905/1906 and that was
when the firm Downie & Gadban was formed and at that time
they were at 46 High Street, Alton.
After Mr. Downie’s death, aged 82, Paul Gadban, Mr. Gadban’s
son, joined the firm for a while but, when he left, Mr. Gadban was on his own until the 1950s. Whilst Mr. Gadban
was with Downie & Gadban, he was Clerk to the Whitehill
Magistrates, Clerk to the Commissioners for Taxes for Alton
North, Returning Officer for Elections for the Alton area,
Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Clerk to the
Council and Clerk to the Licensing Authorities.
The firm stayed at 46 High Street, Alton until Mr.Gadban
died in 1962.
Towards the end of his practice Victor John Gadban was
joined by John Robert Ambrose as a Partner.
In February 1963 Peter John Roper Bathurst joined the firm
as a Partner and in 1962 the firm moved from 46 High Street
to 100 High Street (which is at the lower end of the High
Street). Mr. Ambrose died in about 1973. In 1972 Jeremy
George Orsborn joined the firm as a Partner and upon Mr.
Bathurst’s retirement in about 1992 he headed the firm
with Mr. Simon Hugh Arden Acworth who had joined as a
Partner.
Mr. Orsborn continues to
actively practise at the firm (now headed by Mr Simon
Acworth) as a consultant following his retirement as a
partner in June 2008.
