History of Paxton Founders
Jack Ratcliffe (John Brotherton-Ratcliffe) 1919-2009
In 1939, at the age of 20, after his first year studying Physics & Chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford, Jack joined the RAF. He spent five years in active service as a Squadron Leader in Bomber Command, remarkably surviving three full operational tours (a path with an overall survival rate of roughly 5%) and receiving the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
In 1946, following the war, he partnered with his neighbour, Oliver Croudace, in a housebuilding venture. Jack later bought out his partner and spent the following decades growing Croudace into a substantial housebuilding and property group. Upon his retirement in 2001, Jack handed over the Chairmanship of the Housebuilding and Property groups to his son Tony. Jack’s obituary can be seen here.
Tony Ratcliffe (Anthony Brotherton-Ratcliffe) 1950-
In 1970, Tony joined the family business, working across various operational departments and sites before becoming a Systems Analyst and programmer. In 1975, he departed to establish his own housebuilding firm, Paxton Homes Ltd – named in admiration of the Victorian architect and engineer Sir Joseph Paxton. The company proved profitable, building roughly 50 homes a year.
By the early 1980s, anticipating a downturn in the housing market, Tony recognized that a small housebuilder would face severe headwinds. In 1984, after an intruder walked through an unlocked door at his home and stole his credit cards, he saw firsthand the vast potential of the security market. He decided to pivot the business from residential construction to electronic access control & security manufacturing. In 1985, capitalising on ten years of housebuilding profits and retaining most of the original workforce, Paxton Homes Ltd became Paxton Automation Ltd (later renamed Paxton Access Group Ltd). In 2001, following Jack’s retirement, Tony was appointed Chairman of Croudace Homes and Croudace Properties.
In 2011, Adam Stroud was appointed CEO of Paxton Access Group Ltd, setting the business on a trajectory of rapid expansion to become one of the UK’s leading technology success stories. In 2020, Tony handed over the non-executive Chairmanship to his son, Sholto, while remaining an active director, Founder and consultant to Paxton Access Group Ltd.