Aviva International Insurance Ltd
Aviva International Insurance was established under a deed of settlement on 28 September 1861 as the Commercial Union Assurance Company. It was registered under the same name on 28 October 1862 and was incorporated on 8 August 1885. The company became Aviva International Insurance Ltd on 1 September 2006.
Company History
Commercial Union Assurance Company San Francisco policy header, 1880
Titanic slip
Commercial Union Assurance Company poster, 1864
Commercial Union Assurance Company road and rail accident proposal
Commercial Union Assurance Company advertisement, 1985
Commercial Union Assurance Company advertisement for nerve-centre in Exeter
Computer at Exeter nerve-centre, 1960s
Construction of Head Office at St. Helen's, London, 1964
Commercial Union Assurance Company Head Office, St. Helen's, London, 1973
Commercial Union Assurance Company staff magazine showing Head Office at St. Helen's
Commercial Union Assurance Company poster
The company was established in response to premium increases following the great Tooley Street fire of June 1861. Provisionally called the Commercial Union Fire Insurance Company, the company established temporary offices at 34 Gracechurch Street in London and experienced its first major loss under a policy taken out by George Dowlers, a Birmingham brass founder, in 1862.
Although established to transact fire business, the company added life assurance in 1862 (when it also began to offer fire insurance overseas) and marine in 1863. In 1900, the company expanded its business to include burglary and accident insurance followed by plate glass insurance in 1901 and trustee and executor business by 1905.
Over the last quarter of a century the company has undergone a number of changes. On 4 January 1982, it was renamed the Commercial Union Assurance Company plc and its holding company, Commercial Union plc announced a merger with the General Accident plc on 25 February 1998.
On 1 October 1999, the company's name changed to CGU International Insurance plc, a subsidiary of the new holding company CGU plc. On February 21 2000, CGU announced a merger with Norwich Union plc to form CGNU plc, which was re-branded in July 2002 as Aviva plc. Finally, on September 1 2006, CGU International Insurance changed its name to Aviva International Insurance.
Key dates
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1861 | The company is established |
| 1885 | The company is incorporated |
| 1998 | Holding companies Commercial Union plc and General Accident plc merge |
| 1999 | Name changes to CGU International Insurance |
| 2000 | CGU announces a merger with Norwich Union to form CGNU |
| 2002 | CGNU is re-branded as Aviva |
| 2006 | Name changes to Aviva International Insurance |
Did you know...?
- In 1862, the company allowed its clerks time off to visit the Great London Exposition.
- The company was underwriting the SS Peterhoff when it was seized in 1863 during the American Civil War by the SS Vanderbilt, under the express orders of the Unionist Admiral Charles Wilkes.
- In June 1893, the board approved expenditure of £100 to illuminate both its head office and West End offices for the royal wedding of George Duke of York (later George V) to Mary of Teck.
- Following the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, the first cable message to the company from its assistant manager Mr Neibling, received on 20 April, read,
"Heavy earthquake. Office intact. Now fires. General brigade crippled. Report later".
A second received two days later continued,
"Fire still raging. Everything except extreme western addition doomed. Will cable liability earliest moment".
The company paid out $434,432 (roughly £800,000), a figure equal to 34% of the fire premium income for the year. - On 15 April 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York and sank with the loss of 825 passengers and 673 crew. The owners had retained so much confidence in the ship's design and its "indestructible" watertight bulk heads that they had not insured the ship for her full value, an estimated £1,750,000. Even so, insurance companies incurred a collective loss of around £1,000,000 -
"the heaviest individual loss that has ever befallen underwriters",
according to the Times. Commercial Union's share of the claim amounted to £145,723 of which £60,723 was for losses to registered mail posted from London, Hamburg and Paris. - In 1914, the company paid out on share certificates and silver lost in the Empress of Ireland disaster of 29 August. Having left Quebec along the St Laurence seaway, the vessel collided with the 6,000-ton Norwegian collier Storstad in heavy fog and sank in less than 15 minutes with the loss of 1,012 lives.
- In 1929, company manager at Harbin, China, Mr I H C Godfrey, was captured by bandits while on a tour of inspection and was only released after a ransom of $150,000 was paid.
- On 14 October 1946, the board authorised expenditure of £6,000 to install fluorescent lighting at the company's head office.
- In the early 1950s, actors Leonard Rossiter and Michael Williams both worked for Commercial Union.
- In 1956, the company was involved in the loss of the Andrea Doria, an Italian passenger vessel that collided with the Stockholm, a Swedish carrier, 60 miles outside Nantucket. The ship sustained a gash on her starboard side twenty metres wide penetrating to one-third the width of the vessel. She sank within ten hours in 225 meters of water with the loss of 47 of her 1,334 passengers.
- On 7 August 1963, a mail train from Glasgow was stopped by a signal between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington in Buckinghamshire and £2,595,291 in used notes was stolen from the train. The heist became known as the Great Train Robbery and cost the company a total of £1,091,340 10s 0d.
- At the 1960 Rome Olympics, company employee Don Thompson won gold and set a new Olympic record in the marathon walk. Thompson, who was described as
"a frail bespectacled insurance clerk"
, was dubbed El Topolino, or Mighty Mouse, and reportedly prepared for his Olympic exploits by walking up and down in his bathroom. - The company became involved in the tennis grand prix in 1972, sponsoring the CU Masters. It was also the first company to have a hospitality marquee on the lawn at Wimbledon.
- In 1977, the company insured the life of Elton Hercules John, composer, entertainer and recording artist.
- During the 1970s, the company insured the Sydney Opera House, the Welsh Ruby Union, Concorde, the Queen Elizabeth II and the CN Tower in Toronto while it was under construction.
- The company's head office at St Helen's, London, currently the Aviva head office, was badly damaged by an IRA bomb on April 10 1992. This was not the first time the company had been forced to move staff out and repair a building. In 1927, its head offices in Cornhill collapsed as a result of building work carried out by its neighbour, Lloyds Bank.
Subsidiaries (to 1985) and constituents
Head office premises
| Year | Address |
|---|---|
| 1861 - 1897 | 19-20 Cornhill, London (no. 20 purchased in 1864) |
| 1865 - 1866 | 30 Gracechurch Street, London (temporary premises during rebuilding) |
| 1897 - 1969 | 24-26 Cornhill, London (nos. 25, 26 and 27 purchased in 1893) |
| 1927 - 1929 | Adelaide House, London (temporary premises following collapse of Cornhill offices) |
| 1969 - | St Helen's, 1 Undershaft, London |
Staff and officials
Secretary
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1861 - 1862 | Mr Thomson |
| 1862 - 1867 | Henry Ghinn |
| 1867 - 1874 | Alexander Sutherland |
| 1974 - 1881 | Samuel Stanley Brown |
| 1881 - 1888 | George Lyon Bennett |
| 1889 - 1921 | Henry Mann |
| 1921 - 1934 | John Dewhirst |
| 1934 - 1936 | G Munro Kerr |
| 1936 - 1959 | R K Lochhead |
| 1959 - 1967 | Leonard Stanley Cooper |
| 1968 - 1970 | H T Frost |
| 1970 - 1973 | J Linbourne |
| 1973 - 1978 | C R Harris |
| 1978 - 1990 at least | G T Spratt |
General manager
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1901 - 1920 | E Roger Owen |
| 1920 - 1922 | T M E Armstrong |
| 1922 - 1929 | Joseph Powell (as joint manager from 1927) |
| 1927 - 1938 | Herbert Lewis (joint manager until 1929; "working chairman" with John Makins in tutelage from 1935) |
| 1935 - 1958 | Alfred John Makins (Sir John Makins from 1950) |
| 1958 - 1972 | Francis Edward Prescott Sandilands (title changed to chief general manager in 1962) |
| 1972 - 1977 | Norman Gordon Edward Dunlop |
| 1977 - 1982 | J F G Emms |
| 1982 - 1985 | C R Harris |
| 1985 - 1990 at least | A L Brend |
Fire manager
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1861 - 1865 | Henry Thomson |
| 1865 - 1873 | E Cozens Smith |
| 1873 - 1877 | David Christie |
| 1877 - 1884 | D Marshall Lang |
| 1844 | Philip Winsor |
| 1885 - 1901 | Evan Roger Owen |
| 1901 - 1907 | George C Morant |
| 1908 - 1923 | Position vacant |
| 1923 - 1926 | Herbert Lewis |
| 1928 - 1930 | Position vacant |
| 1931 - 1935 | Alfred John Makins |
Life manager/Actuary
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1862 - 1877 | William Pollard Pattison (actuary only) |
| 1872 - 1901 | Thomas Emley Young (manager only from 1872 to 1877) |
| 1901 - 1903 | A D L Turnbull |
| 1904 - 1933 | A G Allen (joint manager and actuary, 1906 to 1913 and 1928 to 1933) |
| 1906 - 1913 | H C Thiselton (joint manger and actuary) |
| 1928 - 1938 | H Brown (joint actuary until 1933) |
| 1938 - 1943 | George Green (joint manager and actuary from 1942) |
| 1942 - 1965 | N R Gatenby |
| 1965 - 1977 | K H Allen |
| 1977 - 1990 at least | J H Webb |
Accident manager
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1901 - 1906 | J N Lane |
| 1906 - 1927 | J Corbet McBride |
| 1927 - 1930 | H M Gates |
| 1931 - 1938 | William F Todd |
| 1938 - 1941 at least | Samuel Townsend |
| 1945 - 1952 | S J Davis |
Marine underwriter
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1862 - 1898 | James Carr Saunders |
| 1898 - 1918 | Richard T Jones |
| 1918 - 1931 | Augustus Leopold Page |
| 1932 - 1933 | A W Mudford |
| 1933 - 1941 | A L Kennedy |
| 1941 - 1954 | A Glanvill Smith |
| 1954 - 1967 | G W Hogsflesh |
| 1968 | E D Rainbow |
| 1968 - 1972 | L A Locke |
| 1972 | E D Rain |
Directors (1861)
- H W Peek
- H Ghinn
- E Hicks
- M Joshua
- W Leask
- A Lusk
- J R Thomson Jr
- J K Welch
- Henry Trower
- J Humphrey Jr
- E Fox
- N Griffiths
- J Hodgeson
- C Curling
- Jeremiah Coleman
- W Lee
- Samuel Hanson
- G Harker
- F W Harris
- S Harrison
- F W Hains
Home agencies
- Manchester (1861)
- Bodmin (1861)
- Rochester (1861)
- Oxford (1861)
- Derby (1861)
- Stoney Stratford (1861)
- Dover (1861)
- Reading (1861)
- Woolwich (1861)
- Liverpool (1861)
- Glasgow (1861)
- Maidstone (1861)
- Greenock (1861)
- Islington (1861)
- Bolton (1861)
- Aberdeen (1862)
- Exeter (1862)
- South Shields (1862)
- Stamford (1862)
- Belfast Bridgend (1862)
- Ashford (1862)
- Sunderland (1862)
- Edinburgh (1862)
- Stockton on tees (1862)
- Cardiff (1862)
- Helingsburgh (1862)
- Brampton (1862)
- Plymouth (1862)
- Dalmellington (1862)
- Witney Oxon (1862)
- Bletchingley (1862)
- Bilston (1862)
- Canterbury (1862)
- Hastings (1862)
- Inverness (1862)
- Dundee (1862)
- Perth (1862)
- Fakenham (1862)
- Alnwick (1862)
- Rothesay (1862)
- Hull (1862)
- Topsham (1862)
- Barnet (1862)
- Workington (1862)
- Chard (1862)
- Devises (1862)
- Newark (1862)
- Stowmarket (1862)
- Truro (1862)
- Dartford (1862)
- Fordingbridge (1862)
- Dorking (1862)
- Norwich (1863)
- Leeds (1863)
- Kettering (1863)
- Winchester (1863)
- Dewsbury (1863)
- Bedale (1863)
- Barnsley (1863)
- Folkestone (1863)
- Holbeach (1863)
- Feltham (1863)
- Louth (1863)
- Spalding (1863)
- Grantham (1863)
- Alford (1863)
- Gainsborough (1863)
- Wandsworth (1863)
- Staines (1863)
Home branches
- Edinburgh (1864)
- Manchester (by 1865)
- Glasgow (1865)
- Liverpool (1865)
- West End, London (1868)
- Belfast (by 1873)
- Birmingham (by 1873)
- Newcastle-on-Tyne (by 1873)
- Leeds (by 1887)
- Nottingham (by 1887)
- Norwich (by 1887)
- Bristol (by 1887)
- Plymouth (1895)
Overseas agencies
- Hamburg, Germany (1862)
- Dublin, Ireland (1862)
- Colombo, Sri Lanka (1862)
- Cape Town, South Africa (1862)
- Barbados (1862)
- Bombay, India (1862)
- Valparaiso, Chile (1862)
- Netherlands (by 1863)
- Singapore (1863)
- Limerick, Skibbereen and Clonakilty, Ireland (1863)
- Gothenburg, Sweden (1863)
- Rangoon, Myanmar (Burma) (1863)
- Calcutta, Madras and Calicut, India (1863)
- Kingston, Jamaica (1863)
- Manila, Philippines (1863)
- Hong Kong (1863)
- Montreal, Canada (1863)
- Lima, Peru (1863)
- Bremen, Germany (1863)
- Japan (1863)
- Pernambuco, Brazil (1863)
- Melbourne and Sydney, Australia (1863)
- Batavia, Indonesia (1863)
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa (1863)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina (1863)
- Karachi, Pakistan (1863)
- Shanghai, China (1863)
- San Francisco, United States (1863)
- Trinidad (1863)
- St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada (1863)
- Smyrna, Turkey (1863)
- Demerara (1864)
- St Croix (1864)
- Natal, South Africa (1864)
- St Thomas (1864)
- New Zealand (1864)
- Moulmein, Myanmar (1864)
- Switzerland (1864)
- Malaga, Spain (1864)
- St Petersburg, Russia (1864)
- Bahia, Brazil (by 1865)
- Montevideo, Uruguay (1865)
- Prussia (1865)
- St Lucia (1865)
- Quebec, Canada (1865)
- Copenhagen, Denmark (by 1865)
- Antwerp, Belgium (1865)
- Adelaide, Australia (by 1865)
- Yokohama, Japan (1866)
- Hankow (Wuhan), China (1868)
- Bordeaux, France (1868)
- Nagasaki, Japan (1868)
- New York, United States (by 1873)
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (1874)
- Winnipeg, Canada (1879)
- Brisbane, Australia (by 1879)
- Barcelona, Spain (1881)
- Penang, Malaysia (1882)
- Berlin, Germany (1884)
- Prussia including Poland (1885)
- Toronto, Canada (by 1887)
- Bulgaria (1889)
- Romania (by 1890)
- Paris, France (1890)
- Cape Town, South Africa (1890)
- Formosa (Taiwan) (by 1891)
- Wellington, New Zealand (by 1892)
- Perth, Australia (by 1892)
- Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa (1910)
Published history
A Century of Insurance - The Commercial Union Assurance Group, 1861 - 1961 by Edward Living. H F & G Witherby Ltd. London, 1961.
In the archives
The Aviva archive contains records relating to the running of Aviva International Insurance between 1861 and 2003. The collection includes annual reports and accounts, board of trade returns, board minutes, committee minutes, general minutes, deeds of settlement, acts of parliament, articles of association, acquisition agreements, letter books, policy registers, journals, ledgers, registers of securities, specimen policies, proposals, prospectuses, salary books, registers of agents, staff magazines, photographs, calendars and branded promotional material.
Other resources
Visit the Guildhall library for further resources relating to Aviva International Insurance.