The Royal Exchange Assurance, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London.
The Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterprise known as Onslow's insurance or Onslow's Bubble. This had been begun as the Mercer's Hall Marine Company, or Undertaking kept at the Royal Exchange for insuring ships and merchandise at sea. A similar enterprise sought incorporation in 1718, but the Attorney-General reported against this. Lord Onslow then sought a means of avoiding the difficulty by his company acquiring the charters of Society of Mines Royal and Company of Mineral and Battery Works, which declared itself open for assuring ships and merchandise in March 1719. Their opponents petitioned against this and the Attorney-General reported in May 1719 that the use made of the charters was "unwarrantable".[1] The directors admitted this mistake but requested their own charter in January 1720. They and another insurance enterprise each offered £300,000 towards the King's Civil List debts. The King then encouraged the House of Commons to permit their incorporation. This was done in the Bubble Act. The new chartered company then accepted subscriptions paid on shares in the old company in payment for those on its own shares.[2]
royal, exchange, assurance, corporation, royal, exchange, assurance, founded, 1720, british, insurance, company, took, name, from, location, offices, royal, exchange, london, royal, exchange, assurancecoat, arms, granted, 1721, liverpoolcompany, typepublicindu. The Royal Exchange Assurance founded in 1720 was a British insurance company It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange London The Royal Exchange AssuranceCoat of Arms granted 1721 in LiverpoolCompany typePublicIndustryInsuranceFounded1720Defunct1968FateMerged with Guardian Assurance CompanySuccessorAxaHeadquartersLondon EnglandKey peopleLord Kindersley Governor Contents 1 Origins 2 Chartered company 3 Amalgamation 3 1 Governors 4 References 5 Further readingOrigins editThe Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterprise known as Onslow s insurance or Onslow s Bubble This had been begun as the Mercer s Hall Marine Company or Undertaking kept at the Royal Exchange for insuring ships and merchandise at sea A similar enterprise sought incorporation in 1718 but the Attorney General reported against this Lord Onslow then sought a means of avoiding the difficulty by his company acquiring the charters of Society of Mines Royal and Company of Mineral and Battery Works which declared itself open for assuring ships and merchandise in March 1719 Their opponents petitioned against this and the Attorney General reported in May 1719 that the use made of the charters was unwarrantable 1 The directors admitted this mistake but requested their own charter in January 1720 They and another insurance enterprise each offered 300 000 towards the King s Civil List debts The King then encouraged the House of Commons to permit their incorporation This was done in the Bubble Act The new chartered company then accepted subscriptions paid on shares in the old company in payment for those on its own shares 2 Chartered company editThe company received its royal charter under the Royal Exchange and London Assurance Corporation Act 1719 6 Geo 1 c 18 popularly known as the Bubble Act Under the terms of this legislation the Royal Exchange and the London Assurance Company were the only incorporated bodies chartered to write marine insurance Although this eliminated competition from other corporations private underwriters such as those at Lloyd s of London would remain in business This arrangement continued until the repeal of the act in 1825 3 Amalgamation editThe Royal Exchange Assurance survived as an independent company for over two centuries until merging with the Guardian Assurance Company in 1968 4 Governors edit Notable governors of The Royal Exchange Assurance included Nicholas Magens 1741 1750 Pascoe Grenfell 1829 1838 Thomas Tooke 1840 1852 Octavius Wigram 1852 1878 Vivian Smith 1st Baron Bicester 1914 1956 Hugh Kindersley 2nd Baron Kindersley 1955 1968 References edit Raven James 2014 Publishing Business in Eighteenth century England Boydell Press p 175 ISBN 978 1843839101 W R Scott The Constitution and Finance of Joint Stock Companies to 1720 Cambridge University Press 1911 III 396 409 1825 6 George 4 c 91 Repeal of the Bubble Act The Statutes Project Retrieved 7 July 2023 Guardian Financial Services About us Archived 2009 02 07 at the Wayback MachineFurther reading editBarry Supple The Royal Exchange Assurance A History of British Insurance 1720 1970 Cambridge 1970 nbsp This article about a financial services company in the United Kingdom is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation amp oldid 1201445514, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
