Nature of Source
Details of policy holders who insured their property against fire and recorded in the policy registers. Records also include maps commissioned by the fire insurance companies. Most companies were established soon after the Great Fire in 1666. The first modern fire insurance company began as the Sun Fire Office in 1710.
Also consult the maps and plans drawn up by the fire insurance companies such as the Phoenix Fire Office and the Sun Fire office. The most notably plans were drawn up by Charles E. Goad from the mid-1880s and include separate indexes covering street names, buildings and businesses. The plans were updated more regularly than town plans as accurate information was vital for the fire insurance companies. However the plans mostly deal with business and retail premises avoiding residential areas.
The registers and plans mainly deal with London, but by end of the 18th century the industry had spread to the provinces. Fire marks were attached to the walls of insured buildings which occasionally can still be seen today. Unfortunately few records survive.
‘A Place in the Sun’ is a long-running and continuing project to index the early 19th century Sun Insurance Office fire policy registers transcribed by volunteers from The National Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives. There are around 179 registers indexed online, representing more than 310,000 policies covering the years from 1787 to 1840. The indexes can be accessed online at TNA Discovery Catalogue or at the London Metropolitan Archives Online Catalogue. To search the catalogues type in the name or other keyword followed by the word ‘insured’. Each entry contains the name of the insured person or business, the address of the property which is the subject of the policy, the date of the policy and details of any other persons, occupations or addresses mentioned in the policy as it appears in the register. For more guidance on searching and accessing the records see www.history.ac.uk/gh/sun.htm.
Where Found
London Metropolitan Archives (Sun Fire Office policy registers and other Company policy records including card indexes and insurance maps, 1710-1863. The collection was previously housed at the Guildhall Library up to 2009)
British Library (The Map Library. The British Library holds hundreds of sets of fire insurance plans by Charles E. Goad Ltd, large-scale maps of urban centres in the United Kingdom and Canada published between 1885 and 1930)
Aviva Archive (The archive documents over 300 years of history and holds records for more than 750 companies that have contributed to our heritage. The collection includes statutory and other records of historical value including board papers, company minutes, old advertising, photographs and staff records. The ‘Timeline’ traces the complex history of Aviva over three centuries and the section ‘Legacy companies’ details hundreds of companies that have come together to make Aviva including Hand-in-Hand Fire and Life Insurance Society and Norwich Union Insurance. The group archivist blog can be found here)
Company archives
Period Covered
1690 – 1883
Genealogical Value
- Name, status, address and occupation of policy holder.
- Type of property and land held. Names, addresses and occupations of occupiers & tenants.
- Occasionally a list of the owner’s possessions and their value.
- Useful for house history research.
Further References
- Hawkings, David, Fire Insurance Records for Family & Local Historians 1696-1920: Francis Boutle, 2004
- Herber, Mark. Ancestral Trails: Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History: Sutton Publishing, 2004
- Munby, Lionel M. & Thompson, Kathryn (eds). Short Guides to Records: First Series-Guides 1-24: The Historical Association, 1994
- Wallis, Helen & McConnell, Anita. Historian’s Guide to Early British Maps: A Guide to the Location of Pre-1900 Maps of the British Isles Preserved in the United Kingdom and Ireland: Cambridge University Press, 1995 (Preview available from Google Books)
- West, John. Town Records: Phillimore & Co, 1983
Websites
www.bl.uk/collection-guides/fire-insurance (British Library Collection Guides: Fire insurance and shopping centre plans. The Map Library holds a comprehensive collection of fire insurance plans produced by the London-based firm Charles E. Goad Ltd. dating back to 1885. Visit the Online Gallery to see a comprehensive collection of fire insurance plans)
www.history.ac.uk/gh/fire.htm (Fire Insurance Records at Guildhall Library)
https://businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/materials/nlwinter2010.pdf (A Place in the Sun: 300 Years of Sun Insurance Office 1710-2010, by Richard Wiltshire)
https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=refd%20CLC/B/192 (London Metropolitan Archives: Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group catalogue description including a history of the company and whereabouts of company records)
https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w60q44vf (Social Networks and Archival Context: Phoenix Assurance Company)
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/london-metropolitan-archives/collections/insurance-market-records (London Metropolitan Archives Guide: Records of some financial organisations held at London Metropolitan Archives. The archives holds the largest single collection of business archives representing businesses mainly based in the ‘Square Mile’ of the City of London as well as in the wider Greater London region. The holdings are especially strong in merchant banking and insurance)
www.londonlives.org/static/AHDSFIR.jsp (Fire Insurance Policy Registers, 1777- 1786)
www.firemarkcircle.com (The Fire Mark Circle. For those with an interest in memorabilia of Insurance Companies including their brigades and fire marks)
www.vintagecoach.com/fmc/history.htm (The Fire Mark Circle: A brief history of Fire Insurance)
www.vintagecoach.com/fmc/history.htm (The Fire Mark Circle: A brief history of Fire Insurance)
www.pinterest.co.uk/tomcassisa/firemarks (Pinterest: A collection of Firemarks by Thomas Cassisa)
https://historyhouse.co.uk/articles/fire_marks.html (History House: A look at the History of Fire Marks)
www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fire-mark-collectible-insurance-crest (Atlas Obscura. A Short History of Fire Marks, The World’s Hottest Insurance-Related Antiques)
www.behindthesedoors.co.uk/blog/firemarks-and-insurance (Behind These Doors: Fire marks and Insurance)
Online Databases
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk (TNA Discovery Catalogue: Place in the Sun Index. See above for more details)
www.kypwest.org.uk (Know Your Place: West of England. Explore historic maps collections of Bristol and the six surrounding counties of Bath & North East Somerset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Map collections include: Tithe maps c.1840s; Enclosure maps c.18th-19th century, excluding Wiltshire and Devon; OS maps 25” 1st, 2nd, 3rd / revised editions c.1880s-1930s; OS Town Plans 1:500, c.1890s); Goad Fire Insurance plans for Bristol, Bath & Gloucester, Exeter & Plymouth late 19th century); National Grid sheets c.postwar-1965)
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery (The British Library Online Gallery: Search for digitised maps from across the UK including fire insurance maps and plans many produced by Charles E. Goad. The collection of digitised maps representing all of the major centres of population ranging from 1886 to 1930 can be browsed at the Online Gallery)
https://search.lma.gov.uk (London Metropolitan Archives Online Catalogue: Place in the Sun Index. See ‘Nature of Source’ for more details and guidance on how to search)
www.londonlives.org (London Lives: Fire Insurance Policy Registers, 1777- 1786)
Contact local history societies for indexes compiled at a local level.
CD Roms
Digital Archives Association (Goad Maps of Manchester. This CD contains over 100 maps at a scale of 1 inch to 40 feet of the city centres of Manchester and Salford and of the industrial district of Ancoats. The maps are from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century)
