History

T C Smith Solicitors was founded in April 1887 by Thomas Cleghorn Smith at the firm’s current address at 9 Church Street, Berwick-upon-Tweed. He took his son Edmund Smith into partnership in 1926 after he returned from the Great War having served in the Royal Artillery. T C’s youngest son Ivor Smith was admitted to the Partnership in about 1929. They practised as ‘TC Smith & Sons’.

During the Second World War Ivor Smith served in the Royal Navy and Edmund Smith kept the Firm going with the assistance of only one clerk. After the war and Ivor’s return the two continued in practice in partnership as TC Smith & Sons..

John Reay, a local farmer’s son joined the Firm in 1963 after leaving Cambridge. He retired in 1996. John Marshall, another local farmer’s son, came on board in the early 1970s – and retired as a partner in 2015.

All three Smiths, John Reay and John Marshall have been Sheriffs of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed at one time or another.

Mark Butson became a partner in 1990 and has been Under-Sheriff for the Bailiwick of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Frances Cowan joined the firm as a partner in 2014.

The firm moved to become an ‘LLP’ in 2018 under the style of ‘T C Smith Solicitors LLP’ and continues to practice from the same premises in Church Street to this day.