Catalogue description Material relating to Amicable Society

Amicable Society

The Amicable Society was established on 25 July 1706 under a charter of Queen Anne as the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, it lays claim to being the first mutual life assurance society established in the world. In 1866 the society was acquired by Norwich Union Life Insurance Society.

Constituents/subsidiaries
Brotherly Society of Annuitants (1721 – 1745)

Business
The Society’s scheme was devised by John Hartley, a bookseller, of Fleet Street near St Dunstan’s church. Among the initial supporters was Reverend William Talbot, the then Bishop of Oxford. The scheme was for each of a maximum of 2000 society members to pay a set annual contribution of £6 4s 0d. Anyone between the ages of 12 and 45 was eligible to join and at the end of the year the contributions, less running costs, were to be divided between representatives of members who had died during the year. Contemporary papers encouraged prospective members to “enquire at the Cheshire Cheeze, in Flower de Luce Court Fleet Street”. While primarily designed to ensure widows and children of members were provided for in the event of their deaths the company was also eligible to provide members with annuities.

By 1716, when the company moved offices for the third time, the symbol of the Society the “serpent and dove” was in use and was carved above the doors of the new offices so that, at a time when many would not be able to read, members could still find the office.

In 1807 the society obtained a new Charter to broaden its aims and adopt the improved methods used by rival offices. From this date premiums were no longer a set price but varied depending on the age and circumstances of the member, the society was allowed to grant annuities and the number of members allowed was increased to 8,000, having been raised to 4,000 in 1790. By 1823 the Society was applying to change its charter again to allow for 16,000 members and in 1836 to 32,000 members. In 1864 the directors feeling that progress was hampered by the proscriptions of the charters began to look around for a more progressive company to take over its funds and liabilities. Two years later, in 1866, an act of parliament was obtained allowing the amalgamation with Norwich Union Life Insurance Society. This act describes the Amicable as “the first experiment in life assurance” two years earlier the society had been described as “a venerable monument of the permanence and perpetuity of the system”.

Staff/Officials
Register (equivalent of general manager and secretary)
Mr Hartley (1706 – 1730)
Mr Michael (1730 – 1748)
Mr Pye ( 1748 - 1768)
Mr Baldwin (1768 – 1800) (acting from 1764)
John Pensam (1800 – 1833)
Thomas Galloway (1833 – c 1852)
Henry Thomas Thomson (by 1852 - 1866)

Chief Clerk
Peter Cunningham (-1870)

Original clerks (1706)
Thomas Hodgson
Luke Meriton

Directors (1849)
The Hon. Frederick Byng, John Ebenezer Davies, Cobbet Derby, Welbore Ellis, William Everett, Richard Henry Goolden M.D., John Hodgson, Sir William Magnay, Mr Serjeant Merewether, John Round, The Right Hon. Sir E Ryan, Theophilius Thompson M.D.

Head Office Premises - London
Fleet Street near St Dunstan’s church (1706 – December 1709)
Between the two gates of Temple, Fleet Street (December 1709 – 1711)
Corner of Dean Street and Fetter Lane (1711 - 1716) (insured by Hand In Hand )
“A very proper and convenient House 12 doors below the Globe Tavern in Hatton Garden.” (1716 –1737)
Hall and chapel in Sergents Inn Fleet Street (1737 – 1852)(£44 rent per annum, new offices built on site 1792)
50 Fleet Street (1852 – 1866)