Economic Fire Office Ltd
The Economic Fire Office was established in 1886 as a fire insurer. The company went out of business in 1894 by which time it had established a particularly good business in the tea estates of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon).
Company History
Economic Fire Office magazine advertisement, 1890
The company went into liquidation in 1894. Its fire business was transferred to the Commercial Union Assurance Company Ltd while its accident and fidelity business was acquired by the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation Ltd, which became part of Commercial Union in 1910.
Key dates
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1886 | The company is established |
| 1894 | The company goes in to liquidation |
Subsidiaries and constituents*
| Year | Company name |
|---|---|
| 1883 – 1889 | Clydesdale Fire |
| 1881 – 1890 | Glasgow and London Insurance Company Ltd |
* Please note the first date given is the date of the establishment of the company and the second date is the date the company was acquired or became a subsidiary. Where only one date is given the company was established as a subsidiary of the parent company. Where one date is preceded by a hyphen the date of the establishment of the company is not known.
Head office premises
| Year | Address |
|---|---|
| by 1887 | George Yard, Lombard Street, London (temporary office) |
| by 1890 | 26 Old Broad Street, London |
Staff and officials
Manager
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 1886 – 1891 at least | Mr Carswell (formerly of Commercial Union) |
Directors (1888)
- Sampson S Lloyd
- David Ainsworth
- W Armine Bevan
- E Rider Cook
- Smith Feather
- Thomas Nelson Foster
- Charles Alfred Fox
- Thomas Lea
- Walter Low
- George F Mewburn
- Henry Seton-Karr
- William Dale Shaw
- W H Shepherd
- Stephen White
Home branches and agencies
- Belfast (by 1888)
- Birmingham (by 1888)
- Bradford (by 1888)
- Glasgow (by 1888)
- Gloucester (by 1888)
- Liverpool (by 1888)
- Manchester (by 1888)
Overseas
- Ceylon (Sri Lanka) (by 1894)
