Lawrence & Wightman was established in 1896 and has had a constant presence in the West Midlands. We currently have five partners working in all sectors of Commercial property.
John Lawrence commenced practice at the age of 21 in 1896 from offices in Temple Street, and was joined shortly afterwards by Elliott Wightman. The partnership prospered until the middle of World War I when Elliott Wightman was called up for army service. At the end of the war John Lawrence retired from the partnership and took over a pork butcher's business in the Aston area and Elliott Wightman continued as sole principal.
The firm moved to Aitken Chambers at No. 1 Cannon Street in the late 1920's and Fred Perry joined as an articled pupil in 1930. The firm was well known at the time as a leading Dairy Men's Agent for the sale of goodwill milk rounds as well as auctioneers of real property and chattels and management.
Fred Perry rejoined the firm as a junior partner following service in the Royal Air Force between 1939 and 1945, at which time the firm practised from Newton Chambers, 43 Cannon Street.
Elliott Wightman passed away in 1950, and Fred Perry continued as sole principal until 1979, practising from Estate House, No. 29 Waterloo Street and then in the last few years from Britannia House, Great Charles Street.
Edward Rutledge took over upon Fred Perry's retirement in 1979 and was joined in 1986 by Richard Pee, with the partnership being based at 125 Edmund Street.
Keith Chew joined the practice and became a partner in 1988, followed shortly after by Michael Mitchell merging with Lawrence & Wightman in 1989.
The partnership moved to The Swan Office Centre late in 1994, and Philip Foster became a consultant, and non-equity partner, to the practice in 1997.
More recently, the partnership has moved to Swan Courtyard, built on the site of the old Swan Public House and continues to steadily grow. Lawrence and Wightman merged with Sutton Mortimer in mid 2004, adding Stephen Sutton to the partnership. Lawrence and Wightman , incorporating Sutton Mortimer, is now one of the few remaining broadly based traditional general practice partnerships incorporating Chartered Valuation and Buildings Surveyors, in the area.
