Check back soon for an interactive history timeline!  In the meantime, the following is a brief overview of our 200+ year history.

Brown Brothers Harriman has its roots with an Irish immigrant and linen auctioneering family headed by Alexander Brown at the beginning of the 19th century. Brown Brothers & Co. was founded in Philadelphia in 1818 by the four sons of Alexander Brown.

In its early days, the merchant bank had representative offices in Baltimore and Liverpool and acted as a financier to cotton traders and other merchants. In 1825, the firm established a presence on Wall Street, which was rapidly emerging as the commerce capital of the United States. In the latter half of the century, Brown Brothers increasingly focused on banking operations and ultimately dropped the direct importing and exporting of goods and commodities.

The firm’s experience in import/export trade had created a network of contacts with foreign financial institutions that contributed to Brown Brothers’ prominence as a leading provider of letters of credit all around the world. In the pre-traveler’s check era, Brown Brothers’ letters of credit were accepted worldwide and fueled international commerce and travel. In addition, Brown Brothers’ rate of exchange for Sterling was accepted as the official rate carried at 10 a.m. daily on the New York Stock Exchange ticker at the end of the 19th century. In fact, foreign exchange rates in New York at the time were commonly known as “Brown’s Rates.”

In 1931, Brown Brothers & Co. merged with both Harriman Brothers & Co. and W. A. Harriman & Co. to form Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. The new firm shifted its emphasis from investment banking to commercial banking, investment advisory services, and custody. BBH was one of the first U.S. banks to become involved in the global custody business in 1963, when the firm's major American clients began to acquire non-U.S. securities.

Following the merger, the firm was guided in its early years by, among others, Prescott S. Bush, the father of U.S. President, George H.W. Bush and grandfather of recent U.S. President George W. Bush. Prescott Bush was a U.S. Senator (CT) in the 1950s as well as a BBH Partner.

Although privately-owned, BBH has a long history of public service in the United States. The firm itself has provided financial counsel to the government over the past 190 years and many of BBH’s partners and employees have played active roles in their local and national governments.

Several of the BBH partners have figured prominently in the U.S. government:

• W. Averell Harriman served as Governor of NY, as well as a U.S. ambassador to Russia, Cabinet member, international negotiator and key contributor to U.S. politics in the post-World War II era.

• Robert V. Roosa, another BBH partner, served as Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Regarded as the leading architect of American monetary policies, he remained a respected voice in fiscal affairs even after he became a full-time partner of BBH in 1965.