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Catalogue description Yorkshire Insurance Company, manuscripts and printed records
This record is held by Aviva Group Archive
| Reference: | YIC |
|---|---|
| Title: | Yorkshire Insurance Company, manuscripts and printed records |
| Description: |
Board minutes 1826-1965 Local Board minutes for West End Branch 1912-1970; Scottish board 1903-1958 Cardiff branch 1924-1951 Deeds of settlement Annual Report and Accounts 1875-1970 General Ledgers 1824-1936 Auditors account books 1854-1922 Journals 1940-1966 Valuation books 1840-1895 Salary books 1887-1920 Staff magazines 1964-1968 Letter book 1824-1825 Copy letter book 1898-1900 Register of agents 1895-1901 Agents records 1825-1890 Shareholders minute books 1825-1882 Share registers 1850-1953 Life policy assignments registers 1897-1954; description books 1836-1895; endorsements and assignments 1827-1914; endorsements and cancelments 1825-1893 Register of wills, 1850-1968 Dundee branch life policy registers 1885-1948 London branch life policy registers 1898-1857 Leeds branch life policy register 1860-1906 Life policies 1824-1851 Life proposals 1824-1861 Fire policies 1824-1904 Fire proposals 1838-1860 Fire policy endorsements and cancelments 1825-1890 Branch fire surveyors reports, Glasgow 1904-1956 Circulars and receipts concerning the establishment of fire services in York and elsewhere 1824-1870 Accident Insurance register 1905-1907 Livestock insurance files 1899-1970 Specimen policies 1824-1970 Advertising and promotional material 1824-1970 Photographs of staff, officials, branches and events. 1890-1970 |
| Date: | 1824-1970 |
| Held by: | Aviva Group Archive, not available at The National Archives |
| Language: | English |
| Creator: |
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| Physical description: | 983 items, primarily volumes |
| Access conditions: |
By appointment only but all access to material even if outside the 30 year rule is at the discretion of the company i.e. life policies which may refer to living people. |
| Subjects: |
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| Administrative / biographical background: |
Records relating to the running of the Yorkshire Insurance Company. Although based in York the company became, over its 143 years of independent existence, a national and international organisation and this is reflected in the records which include details of overseas branch business and local board minutes for Scotland, Wales and London. The collection also includes references and correspondence files relating to the many acquisitions made of more specialist insurance companies in the UK and Ireland. The company was established in 1824 as The Yorkshire Fire and Life Insurance Company. In May 1908 the company name was changed to The Yorkshire Insurance Company and in June 1908 it was incorporated under the Companies Act as The Yorkshire Insurance Company Ltd. The company carried out the business of fire, life and general accident insurance and became a subsidiary of General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation in 1967. In 1998 General Accident merged with Commercial Union to form CGU and in 2002 CGU merged with Norwich Union to form CGNU operating in the UK under the brand Norwich Union. CGNU changed its name in July 2002 to Aviva Plc in whose archives the Yorkshire Insurance company's records are held. The company commenced business on the 1st September 1824 in offices in Coney Street York and by 1826 had chosen York Minster as the design to appear on its policies, notepaper and fire marks. In 1826 a site on the corner of Brearys Court and St. Helen's Square was acquired which was to be the company head office until 1965 when a new building was completed in Rougier Street which is still occupied by Aviva Group Staff today. The first company secretary and actuary was William Lewin Newman who was succeeded as actuary by his son and later his grandson. Another family with long-standing links to the company was the Gray family of York; Jonathan Gray was one of the founding directors and was succeeded by his son William, by the time his grandson, Edwin, resigned as chairman in 1929 the family had served the company for over 100 years. In the early half of the 19th century there were no organised local fire brigades and The Yorkshire, like other insurance companies, maintained its own engine and fire brigade in York. The 'Yorkshire' engine and brigade tackled fires, including that at York Minster in 1840, for over 50 years until the city of York Corporation assumed responsibility for all fire-fighting. The number of staff employed by the company grew slowly. In 1874 a staff of 15 were working in St Helen's Square, but gradually branches were opened in major cities, Hull in 1878 London in 1881. By 1903 there were 70 staff in York and branches in Birmingham, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester. The acquisition in 1902 of the Anglo-French fire company. The Lion gave The Yorkshire entry into foreign and colonial fields, although by this date they already had agencies in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Christiania. Following the 1967 merger with General Accident the archives of the group were transferred to the General Accident Archive in Perth. In 2001 this material was moved to the new group archive in Norwich. |
| Link to NRA Record: |
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