Private company

Securicor

British security consulting company

Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1935Founded1
  • HeadquartersLondon1

Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.2

Corporate structure

Securicor sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 2 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

The company was founded by Edward Shortt, a former Liberal Cabinet Minister, in 1935 as Nightwatch Services: its guards rode bicycles and wore old police uniforms. In 1939 it was taken over by Lord Willingdon and Henry Tiarks who developed it into a leading security business. It changed its name to Security Corps in 1951, which was shortened to Securicor in 1953.

In 1960, it was acquired by Associated Hotels which itself dated back to 1923.

In 1984, one of its security guards, John James McWilliams, was murdered while working in London.

Securicor, along with co-founder British Telecom, was involved with the creation of mobile phone operator Cellnet in 1985. Securicor sold its share in the company to British Telecom in 1999, resulting in the formation of BT Cellnet, which was later spun off as O2.

In 2004, Securicor merged with Group 4 Falck to become Group 4 Securicor.

From Wikipedia’s article on Securicor, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 2004Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1935Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3