Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office

Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street, London, 1801

Amicable Society coat of arms

Fire insurance contract of 1796

Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office (a.k.a.Amicable Society) is considered the first life insurance company in the world. ^{[1] [2] [3]} It was acquired by Norwich Union Life Insurance Society in 1866, this required an act of Parliament. ^{[4] [5]}

References

1. Anzovin, p. 121. "The first life insurance company known of record was founded in 1706 by the Bishop of Oxford and the financier Thomas Allen in London, England. The company, called the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, collected annual premiums from policyholders and paid the nominees of deceased members from a common fund."
2. Amicable Society company history Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine "The Amicable Society was established on July 25, 1706 as the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office under a charter of Queen Anne and lays claim to being the first mutual life assurance society established in the world."
3. Baynes, p.180
4. "Material relating to Amicable Society". The National Archives. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
5. "Amicable and Norwich Union Societies Act 1866". vLex. Retrieved 19 August 2025.

Sources

• Amicable Society, The charters, acts of Parliament, and by-laws of the corporation of the Amicable Society for a perpetual assurance office, Gilbert and Rivington, 1854
• Anzovin, Steven, Famous First Facts 2000, item # 2422, H. W. Wilson Company, ISBN   0-8242-0958-3
• Baynes, Thomas Spencer, The Encyclopædia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature, Volume 13, H.G. Allen, 1888
• Price, Richard, Observations on reversionary payments: on schemes for providing annuities for widows, and for persons in old age; on the method of calculating the values of assurances on lives; and on the national debt, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1812