Financial History | A Table of the Insurance Office, 1682

History of Finance

A Table of the Insurance Office at the Back-side of the Royal-Exchange, Shewing the Premium, or Rate of Insurance for Brick-House (the same to be reckoned double to timber) from one pound per annum rent to an hundred. London: T. Milbourn for the Gentlemen of the Insurance Office, 1682

broadsheet folio (350 x 205mm), neat repairs, small hole not affecting text, nicks at edges, browning

A RARE RECORD OF THE FIRST MODERN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. The "Insurance Office for houses" was established in May 1680 at the Royal Exchange by the property developer and economist Nicholas Barbon. It established the concept of fire insurance for houses during the redevelopment of London following the disaster of the Great Fire of 1666. The scheme was a rapid success: by 1684 4000 houses had been insured for an aggregate premium of £18,000, whilst £7000 had been paid out in claims.

LITERATURE:

Philip S. James, 'Nicholas Barbon: Founder of Modern Fire Insurance', The Review of Insurance Studies, 1 (1954), 44-47; Wing T81 (5 copies)

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1994, lot 327