Catalogue description Material relating to West of England Fire and Life Insurance Company Ltd.

West of England Fire and Life Insurance Company Ltd.

West of England Fire and Life Insurance Company was established in 1807 as West of England Fire Insurance Company under a deed of settlement signed on 24 December that year. On 4 August 1808 the company changed its name to West of England Fire and Life Insurance Company. A further deed of settlement was signed on 14 December 1808 and the company was en-powered by an act of parliament on 17 December 1813. The company was acquired by Commercial Union Assurance Company Ltd. in 1894.

Business
The company was established by Samuel Francis Milford in response to a fire at Chudleigh in May 1807. The name initially proposed at a meeting in the Old London Inn Exeter on 1 October 1807 was Devon & Cornwall Fire Insurance Company but it was changed by 12th of that month to West of England Fire Insurance Company (including Devonshire, Somersetshire, Cornwall and Dorsetshire). The company's first fire policy was issued in November 1807 on the property of Joseph Woolmer at 1 - 3 Hills Row, which included the company's office.

Initially, as the name suggests, business was limited to fire insurance in the west country. From February 1808 the company extended its operations to the rest of the United Kingdom and in August began offering life assurance and changed its name to West of England Fire and Life Insurance Company. In 1809 the company extended its powers again to cover the purchase and granting of annuities.

The company purchased its first fire engine in 1807 known as 'little west' also had engines in Plymouth Bath, Bristol, Newton Abbot, Crediton, Moretonhampstead, and Barnstaple. By 1829 the objects of the company were "insurances of buildings, furniture, merchandize, farming stock, shipping and other property situate in any part of the United Kingdom, and in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Also insurances on lives and survivorships and the grant and purchase of annuities." By 1850 West of England was the 6th largest insurer in the UK and in 1876 it added a loan department.

Staff/ officials-
Directors (1807)
Sir John Kennaway
John Burridge Cholwich
Samuel Frederick Milford
Jonathan Elford
John Phillipps Carpenter
Arthur Kelly
Jonas Morgan
Robert Kennaway
John William Williams
Ralph Barnes
Richard Eales
James Manning
Joseph Hunt
Samuel Kingdon
John Holman

Secretary -
John Gliddon (1807 - 1810)
Charles Lewis (1810 - 1854)
William Cann (1854 - 1868)
Charles Lewis junior (1868 - 1880)
George S Crisford (1880 - 1884)
Robert John Gray (1884 - 1888)
Edward Henry Smithett (1888 - 1894)

Head office premises - Exeter
3 Hills Row (1807 - 1809)
Corner of High Street and North Street (1809 - 1821)
240 - 242 High Street (1821 - 1894) (new front portion completed 1833)

Head office premises - London
20 Bridge Street Blackfriars (by 1829 - 1890 at least )

Home branches and agencies -
According to company adverts by 1810 it had opened agencies throughout England Wales Scotland and Ireland.
Crediton (1808)
Kingsbridge, South Devon (by 1818)
Manchester (by 1822)
Glasgow (by 1829)
Liverpool (by 1829)
Edinburgh (by 1829)
Okehampton (by 1835)
Jersey (by 1836)
Bury, Lancashire (by 1846)
Bath (by 1860)
Wokington, Cumberland (by 1872)

Overseas branches and agencies -
Dublin, Ireland (by 1821)
Cork, Ireland (by 1826)
Paris, France (by 1829)

Material held -
Fire marks, instructions to agents, company seal, photographs, prospectus and rate books, policies, agreements, reports, fire brigade memorabilia, receipts, fire brigade notebook.
Majority of older records destroyed in the Exeter blitz of 4 May 1942 when the former company head office, then West of England branch of Commercial Union, was destroyed.