Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It underwent many expansions by merger following its 1710 roots as the Sun Fire Office or Sun Fire. It merged with Royal Insurance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.
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.jpg) 1 Bartholomew Lane in London (the stone building straight ahead) | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Insurance |
| Founded | 1710 |
| Defunct | 1996 |
| Fate | Merged with Royal Insurance |
| Successor | RSA Insurance Group |
| Headquarters | London |
History
The Eighteenth Century
The Sun Fire Office was formed in 1710 when a group of 25 businessmen acquired an insurance company formed by one of them, Charles Povey in 1708. Povey had been a pamphleteer and unsuccessful businessman. He had established a fire insurance company in 1708, the Exchange House Fire Office but after the 1710 takeover he immediately fell out with his fellow directors and was forced to handover control. For the first decade the level of business was small and erratic until in 1720 a takeover bid brought in a new board of directors; they raised fresh capital in order to finance an increased level of business. The first county agent was appointed in Nottingham in 1721. By 1740 there were 51 agents and, in 1786, 123 ranging throughout England and Scotland. By the 1790s Sun Fire was dominant among the fire offices with premium income of over £100,000. [1][2][3]
The Nineteenth Century
The early 1800s saw a slowdown in the rate of growth due to rising loss rates. In 1810, the directors decided to expand into life assurance but the original deeds only allowed for the acceptance of fire insurance. A separate company, the Sun Life Assurance Company, was formed and although it was legally distinct from the Fire Office, the two companies had identical boards of management. Before 1830, fire business was split equally between London and the provinces but by the 1880s more than 70 per cent was in the provinces. This was achieved via a huge increase in agencies, totalling over 800 by 1860 and over 1200 by 1880. By then, Sun Fire was turning its attention to all forms of general insurance but, as was the case with life assurance, it was limited by the terms of its original deeds. This was overcome by a special Act of Parliament in 1891 which also saw a change in name to the Sun Insurance Office.[1]
International Expansion
In 1836 the Sun made the decision to go overseas, its first target market being Germany, though the Great fire of Hamburg in 1842 "nearly strangled the infant overseas business at birth". In broad terms the development of overseas business before 1914 was primarily through agencies, although some policies were written from London. In the 1850, agencies were opened in the West Indies, South America, South Africa and the Far East. In the 1860s the emphasis was on France, Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Japan and the Philippines. Australia and New Zealand came in the 1870s followed by North America in the 1880s. The Sun was one of the last British companies to enter the USA on any scale but the region soon became the Sun’s largest overseas market. This was effected by the 1885 acquisition of the Watertown Company, which operated in 30 states and through around 1,400 agencies. By the end of the 19th century, revenue from the USA equalled that of the home market. Canada was strengthened by the purchase of the Imperial Insurance Company in 1911.[1]
The Twentieth Century
The 20th century saw an increase in the range of cover. In 1907 the Sun set up an accident department, reflecting the growth of mass transport and machines. Sun Insurance had been absent from one of the oldest markets, marine insurance and in 1921 it formed a marine department. This was enlarged by its 1931 acquisition of the Elder’s Insurance Company of Liverpool and its 1938 agreement with the Royal Exchange Assurance to operate a joint marine underwriting account. Organisationally, Sun Insurance became a public limited company in 1926 and for the first time shareholders' liability was limited by law.[1][4]
Amalgamations
The business merged with Alliance Assurance – founded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore in 1824 – to form Sun Alliance Insurance in 1959.[5] In the mid-1960s the resultant firm established its administrative centre in a large office block, spanning an A-road through the town centre of Horsham, a railway town 31 miles (50 km) south of London's centre.[6][7] and its head office at 1 Bartholomew Lane in London.[8] The Horsham building, St Marks Court is earmarked as developable.[9] In an external recess, to the market place (Carfax) side, is the tall spired tower of the church.[10] Its nave was demolished in about 1985.[10] The spire was part of the original church of 1841 constructed from sandstone. The tower's base has become a florist and volunteers’ centre.[10]
Sun Alliance went on to acquire London Assurance in 1965 (becoming Sun Alliance & London)[11] and Phoenix Assurance in 1984.[11] The company thus added suffix "Group" in 1989, consolidated most UK-based operations into the Horsham office in 1990,[12] and yet kept its London head office.[13] The company merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group in 1996.[14]
Summary of all notable mergers to 1996 and company inception dates:[15]
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Sun Alliance offices in Horsham, behind the spire that sits in one of its recesses -
A Sun Fire Office insurance mark
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References
- ^ a b c d PGM Dickson, The Sun Insurance Office 1710-1960, Oxford, 1960
- ^ "The World's First Insurance Company". International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI). Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Dickson, P. M. G. (1962). "The Sun Insurance Office 1710-1960. The History of Two and a Half Centuries of British Insurance". The Economic History Review. 14. Wiley: 567–569. doi:10.2307/2591902.
- ^ "Sun Alliance Group plc". Encyclopaedia.com:. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Records of Sun Fire Office". National Archives. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ Baggs, A P; Currie, C R J; Elrington, C R; Keeling, S M; Rowland, A M (1986). "'Horsham: General history of the town', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham". London: British History Online. pp. 131–156. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ "Horsham: Historic Character Assessment Report" (PDF). Sussex Extensive Urban Survey. 1 October 2004. p. 19. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ "No. 44336". The London Gazette. 6 June 1967. p. 6378.
- ^ St Marks Court Planning legal status of building. Horsham Council.
- ^ a b c Horsham Town Local List Horsham Council
- ^ a b Trebilcock, Clive (1999). Phoenix Assurance and the Development of British Insurance: Volume 2, The Era of the Insurance Giants 1870–1984. Cambridge University Press. p. 1021. ISBN 978-0521254151.
- ^ "Bridges Memorial Spire". Public Sculptures of Sussex. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ Forsyth, J. (1991). Major Companies of Europe 1991/92: Volume 2 Major Companies of the United Kingdom. Vol. 2. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-011-3018-9.
- ^ "RSA chief uncans insurance giant's mega IT infrastructure review". The Register. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- ^ "History - RSA Group". rsagroup.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.