Jackson-Stops was founded by Herbert Jackson-Stops who was born in 1884 near Towcester in Northamptonshire. Herbert received a good local education and went on to become articled to Messrs Woods and Company, a firm of auctioneers and valuers in Northampton and Towcester. By the age of 23 he had qualified as an Associate of the Surveyors Institute and the Auctioneers Institute.

In 1908, at the age of 24, he opened an office practicing
as an Estate Agent from the Town Hall in Towcester. He took a Lease of Towcester Town Square and held
weekly livestock auctions. At the same time he demonstrated his understanding of civil engineering, becoming closely concerned with the installation of the main sewer in the town.

In 1918 he moved the business from Towcester to Northampton and became friendly with the Master of Kinloss who occupied Stowe House, just at the point the Trustees of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos decided to sell the property. Aged 37 and with a relatively small staff, Herbert Jackson-Stops was entrusted with the 18 day sale of the house and contents. This had subsequently been regarded by Country Life as one of
the two great sales of the 20th century, the other being
the sale of Mentmore, which took place some 60 years Later. The quality and detail of the Stowe catalogue goes some way to explain the ability of Herbert Jackson-Stops and his staff.

The sale of Stowe, later to become Stowe School was to be the forerunner of the disposal of many historic houses, which has continued to the present day. Whilst the sale clearly established the business, it is worth noting Jackson-Stop's opening lines of the Stowe sale catalogue.