Founded in Coventry by Thomas Mason Daffern in 1896

Our first 100 years

Dafferns was founded in 1896 by Thomas Mason Daffern, an eminent local businessman, accountant and stockbroker and who in 1884 also became the founder of the Coventry Permanent Economic Building Society (today The Coventry Building Society).

In 1919 Mr Daffern handed the firm on to his son, Thomas Wells Daffern and in 1930 William Hale was admitted to partnership and the firm became Daffern & Co.

In 1935 Bob Heatley became a partner, followed in 1936 by Phil Mead. Bob Heatley and Phil Mead were the powerhouses who dramatically grew Daffern & Co to be Coventry’s leading firm of Chartered Accountants through the 1950s and 60s.

In Coventry, the firm operated from offices in the High Street (until the blitz in 1940), then Warwick Row through to 1975, when the firm moved across the ring road to Queens House in Queens Road.

In 1962 Kenneth Moss and Gerald Binks opened a second office on The Parade in Leamington Spa, moving to Warwick House in Clarendon Street in 1978.

The new millenium

In 2007 the Daffern & Co partnership was incorporated as Dafferns LLP, a limited liability partnership.

In the autumn of 2010 the firm relocated both its city centre Coventry and Leamington Spa offices, acquiring a single, large, modern, central office at One Eastwood, Binley Business Park in Coventry.

Today, history has gone full circle, with both of Thomas Mason Daffern’s legacy businesses, Dafferns LLP and the Coventry Building Society based at Binley Business Park.

In 2005 we joined the Mindshop network of strategic business advisers and today, Mindshop methodology and a problem solving mindset is embedded at all levels within the firm.

In 2015 we joined AGN International, a top 6 association of separate, independent accounting firms in over 100 countries around the world. We are highly active and prominent members of AGN at committee and board levels, both internationally and within the EMEA region.

Locally within Coventry and Warwickshire, we are active and visible in supporting local business life through Coventry and Warwickshire First, C&WChampions and C&W Chamber of Commerce