The insurance industry can trace its history back to China in the third millennium BC. Merchants who transported goods by river distributed their wares across the boats of fellow traders to mitigate the losses to any single person should a vessel capsize or flounder on the Yangtze’s treacherous rapids.
The Greeks and Romans introduced life insurance in AD600 but it wasn’t until 1683 that the astronomer Edmond Halley, of comet fame, published the first actuarial tables. These allowed brokers to estimate life expectancy for a person of any age and thus price life insurance and annuities with a fair degree of accuracy.
The Great Fire of London of 1666 was the catalyst for the British insurance industry’s creation. The fire destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 churches, including St Paul’s Cathedral, and many commercial premises. Needless to say, fire insurance became a cause célèbre. Nicholas Barbon, an economist, established the first of many fire insurance companies, the Fire Office, in 1680. However, each company operated its own fire brigade, which would attend only those fires in buildings displaying their “fire mark” — a plaque that indicated which company insured the property. The insurers soon realised the folly of this practice and began to work co-operatively, but it was another 200 years before the publicly-owned London Fire Brigade came into being.
By 1688, Lloyd’s Coffee House in Tower Street was known as the meeting place for shipowners and merchants who wished to insure their ships and cargoes, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. This continued until 1771, when a group of Lloyd’s customers formed their own association of underwriters, Lloyd’s of London, and took rooms at the Royal Exchange. A century later the company was incorporated by Parliament to promote marine insurance. It is now Britain’s largest insurance market.
The age of steam arrived with the first run of Locomotion (pictured) on the Stockton to Darlington railway, but the rapid expansion of the network also raised awareness of the risks of mechanised travel. The Railway Passengers Assurance Company was formed in 1849 to offer the first travel insurance. The company sold single-journey insurance for a few extra pennies on the cost of tickets.
H. C. Clanahan of Cornwall was the first person to buy air-travel insurance. Having boarded a flight from Manchester to London on October 23, 1922, without insurance, he had a change of heart at 1,500ft and purchased £500 of life cover for 15 shillings from an insurance broker, A. L. Linott, who was also on board.
Today, the UK insurance industry is the largest in Europe and the third-largest in the world. The sector employs 330,000 people and accounts for almost one tenth of the UK’s GDP.
Insurers manage £1,085 billion on behalf of their clients in the life and pensions business; this includes 17 per cent of the stock market.
The Greeks and Romans introduced life insurance in AD600 but it wasn’t until 1683 that the astronomer Edmond Halley, of comet fame, published the first actuarial tables. These allowed brokers to estimate life expectancy for a person of any age and thus price life insurance and annuities with a fair degree of accuracy.
The Great Fire of London of 1666 was the catalyst for the British insurance industry’s creation. The fire destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 churches, including St Paul’s Cathedral, and many commercial premises. Needless to say, fire insurance became a cause célèbre. Nicholas Barbon, an economist, established the first of many fire insurance companies, the Fire Office, in 1680. However, each company operated its own fire brigade, which would attend only those fires in buildings displaying their “fire mark” — a plaque that indicated which company insured the property. The insurers soon realised the folly of this practice and began to work co-operatively, but it was another 200 years before the publicly-owned London Fire Brigade came into being.
By 1688, Lloyd’s Coffee House in Tower Street was known as the meeting place for shipowners and merchants who wished to insure their ships and cargoes, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. This continued until 1771, when a group of Lloyd’s customers formed their own association of underwriters, Lloyd’s of London, and took rooms at the Royal Exchange. A century later the company was incorporated by Parliament to promote marine insurance. It is now Britain’s largest insurance market.
The age of steam arrived with the first run of Locomotion (pictured) on the Stockton to Darlington railway, but the rapid expansion of the network also raised awareness of the risks of mechanised travel. The Railway Passengers Assurance Company was formed in 1849 to offer the first travel insurance. The company sold single-journey insurance for a few extra pennies on the cost of tickets.
H. C. Clanahan of Cornwall was the first person to buy air-travel insurance. Having boarded a flight from Manchester to London on October 23, 1922, without insurance, he had a change of heart at 1,500ft and purchased £500 of life cover for 15 shillings from an insurance broker, A. L. Linott, who was also on board.
Today, the UK insurance industry is the largest in Europe and the third-largest in the world. The sector employs 330,000 people and accounts for almost one tenth of the UK’s GDP.
Insurers manage £1,085 billion on behalf of their clients in the life and pensions business; this includes 17 per cent of the stock market.
source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk
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