Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company

Last updated

Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company was a British life insurance company. It was established in 1797 by Phoenix Assurance as the Pelican Life Office, later the Pelican Life Assurance Company, before merging with British Empire Mutual Life Assurance in 1903 to become the Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company.

Contents

History

The offices of the company at 70 Lombard Street photographed before the demolition of the building in 1915 Pelican Insurance 70 Lombard Street.jpg
The offices of the company at 70 Lombard Street photographed before the demolition of the building in 1915

The Phoenix established the Pelican Life Office in 1797, [1] acquiring premises at 70 Lombard Street in the City of London to open its office.

The building had been commissioned in 1757 by merchant banker Sir Charles Asgill as the sole premises of his private bank, engaging the services of architect Sir Robert Taylor to design the building. However, a decade after Asgill's death and after the 1796 closure of his bank, [2] it became an ideal location for Pelican. To adorn its building, Pelican added an allegorical sculptural group to the previously plain facade; the group was designed by Lady Diana Beauclerk and sculpted by John de Veere of the Coade Stone factory. The building was demolished in 1915, but the sculptural group is in the Horniman Museum, London. [3]

To attract customers, the Pelican Insurance Company spent £375 annually on 1,500 railway posters. Life insurance for the London, although it had begun as far back as 1721, remained quiescent until the early decades of the 19th century, in contrast to the energetic efforts being made at the Pelican Life Assurance. [1]

In 1901, Pelican possessed £1,296,331 in life funds, attracted some £300,000 in new sums assured and earned a total premium income of £121,779. The Pelican was a proprietary company with share-owners. [4]

After 110 years of business, in 1907 Phoenix reabsorbed its own offspring, Pelican Life Assurance, at that time known as the Pelican and British Empire Life Office, and thus began its career as a composite insurer. [1] Sun Alliance & London acquired Phoenix Assurance in 1984. [5]

Archives for Pelican Life Assurance Company

The Phoenix archive collection includes nearly all the surviving company records, as well as papers of the Pelican Life Assurance Company, including the Pelican subsidiaries Star (ST), British Empire Mutual (BE) and Positive (PO). [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends Provident</span> British life insurance company

Friends' Provident Insurance was a banking institution founded in 1832 to serve the needs of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Based in Bradford, Yorkshire, it concentrated on sickness and annuity policies until its life fund acquired Century Insurance in 1918, expanding into general insurance. The restriction to Quaker membership was an increasing constraint but the ties were substantially reduced by the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1915. Although Century's branch network enabled FPI to expand, the periodic underwriting losses strained the life fund's capital base and Century was sold in 1975. In the year 2000, Friends Provident demutualised and listed on the FT100 Index. After abortive takeover negotiations, Friends accepted a takeover bid from Resolution Limited in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axa</span> French multinational insurance firm

Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance company headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich Union</span> Defunct British branch of Aviva

Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuda Brothers</span>

Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate.

Standard Life is a life assurance, pensions and long-terms savings company in the UK which is owned by Phoenix Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resolution plc</span> UK insurance company

Resolution plc was a UK insurance company headquartered in the City of London. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by the Pearl Group in May 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Insurance</span>

Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet</span> British soldier (1762–1823)

General Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet, was a career soldier in the British Army. At the end of the American Revolutionary War he became the principal of the so-called Asgill Affair of 1782, in which his retaliatory death sentence while a prisoner of war was commuted by the American forces who held him, due to the direct intervention of the government of France. Later in his career, he was involved in the Flanders campaign, the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and was Commander of the Eastern Division of Ireland during the Irish rebellion of 1803.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet</span>

Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet merchant banker, was the third son of Henry Asgill, silkman, of St Clement Danes, Middlesex and was educated at Westminster School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Diana Beauclerk</span> English noblewoman and artist

Lady Diana Beauclerk was an English noblewoman and celebrated artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MLC Limited</span> Australian financial services company that was acquired by National Australia Bank in June 2000

MLC was an Australian business that provides investments, insurance and superannuation solutions to corporate, institutional, and retail customers. Due to divestments in the early 21st century, there are now two businesses, with no ownership links, that both use "MLC" in their branding:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of insurance</span>

The history of insurance traces the development of the modern business of insurance against risks, especially regarding cargo, property, death, automobile accidents, and medical treatment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Group</span> British insurance company

Phoenix Group Holdings plc is a provider of insurance services based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Fire Office</span> English fire insurance company, founded 1680

Phoenix Assurance or Phoenix Fire Office was a fire insurance company founded in 1680 in England.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) is a UK-based investment management company. RLAM invests across a broad range of core asset classes including fixed income, equities, multi asset, cash and property. It also offers funds that adopt an ethical or sustainable approach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal London Group</span> British mutual insurance firm

The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, along with its subsidiaries, is the largest mutual insurer in the United Kingdom, with Group funds under management of over £150 billion. Group businesses provide around nine million policies and employ 4046 people, as of June 2019.

SunLife Ltd is a UK-based financial services company. Founded in 1810, the company is best known for its range of services for people aged 50 and over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sun Alliance (company)</span>

Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It was created in 1959 by the merger of Sun Insurance, founded in 1710, and Alliance Assurance founded in 1824. In 1996 Sun Alliance merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Amicable Life Assurance</span> 1823–1997 mutual life assurance institution in the UK

The Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society, commonly known as Scottish Amicable, was founded in Glasgow in 1826 and became the sixth largest mutual life assurance institution in the UK with 1.9 million policy holders in the mid-1990s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group Plc". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "Vere & Asgill". Nat West Group Heritage Hub. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Exterior view of 'The Pelican', the offices of Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company, at 70 Lombard Street". Historic England. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  4. ↑ Trebilcock 1985, pp. 310–313.
  5. ↑ Trebilcock 1985, p. 1021.
  6. ↑ "Phoenix Assurance Company: Records and Papers". JISC Archives Hub. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

Source

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.