The Northern Assurance Company Ltd

The Northern Assurance Company was established in Aberdeen in 1836 as the North of Scotland Fire and Life Assurance Company. It was incorporated under the Joint Stock Companies Registration Act and renamed the Northern Assurance Company under an act of parliament dated June 30 1848.

Company History

Northern Assurance Company Ltd prospectus cover

Northern Assurance Company Ltd extract of grants of arms

Northern Assurance Company Ltd calendar

Northern Assurance Company Ltd branded bookmarks

James Valentine (joint general manager until 1882)

Thomas Best, Chairman of Directors, 1837

Northern Assurance Glasgow branch

Northern Assurance Company Ltd branded bookmarks

The company's first prospectus was issued on April 23 1836 and its first meeting was held at the Royal Hotel Aberdeen on May 20 1836. The company initially had two departments, fire insurance and life assurance, which was divided into an assurance and an annuity branch.

In January 1837, a new prospectus stated that

"the company insures houses, manufactories, furniture, goods, and merchandise, farming stock, shipping in Port and Dock, and while Building, Repairing, or used on Navigable Canals, and all other Property, from Loss or Damage by fire". The business also included "endowments of children, the purchase and sale of annuities, insurances on joint lives and survivorships, and every Transaction dependent on the Contingency of Life".

Progressive in nature, the company established a staff life assurance in 1881 while a staff pension fund was set up in 1886. Business went well and, in 1903, the company's fire premiums exceeded £1 million for the first time.

In 1907, the company acquired the Compensation and Guarantee Fund and established departments for accident, employers' liability and burglary insurance. In its first year of operation, the employers' liability department made a profit of £8. However, that gain was more than cancelled out by the loss of £66 suffered by the accident department.

On September 1 1908, the company was registered as a limited company, The Northern Assurance Company Ltd. The company was acquired by the Commercial Union Assurance Company in 1968 and was re-registered as a private company on December 31 1981. In 2004, the company's marine business was transferred to the Ocean Marine Insurance Company and its general business to CGU International Insurance plc.

Key dates

Year	Event
1836	The company is established
1848	Name changes to the Northern Assurance Company
1851	The company starts to operate overseas
1907	The company acquires the Compensation and Guarantee Fund
1908	The company is registered as a limited company, The Northern Assurance Company Ltd
1968	The company becomes a subsidiary of the Commercial Union Assurance Company
1981	The company is re-registered as a private company
2004	The company transfers its marine business the Ocean Marine Insurance Company and its general business to CGU International Insurance

Did you know...?

• The great fire of Yokohama, Japan, in 1866 cost the company £50,000 in claims, wiping out all but £5,000 of the previous 30 years' profit.
• The San Francisco earthquake in 1906 cost the company $2,420,000, which included the payment of the largest single loss paid by any insurance company in the wake of the disaster.
• The Northern's head office at 1 Moorgate Street contained several boundary marks showing the boundaries between the parishes of St Stephen's, Coleman Street and St Mary's Lothbury. Until as late as 1939, the choir boys from St. Stephen's went round the offices tapping the marks as part of their annual "beating the bounds" ceremony.
• In the early part of the 20th century, the so-called
  
  

  "curse of the Northern"

  was rumoured to affect architects who designed the company's buildings. The architect appointed to design the company's London office died during building work and his replacement was seized by an illness from which he never recovered. The architects of the company's buildings in Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle also died only a few years after the buildings were completed.

Subsidiaries and constituents

Year	Company name
1844 -1847	Western of Scotland Fire & Life Insurance Company
1844 - 1848	Scottish Masonic and General Life Assurance Association (known as Scottish Freemasons' Life Association)
1845 - 1849	Bon Accord Life and Fire Assurance Guarantee Reversionary and Annuity Company
1823 - 1856	Forfarshire and Perthshire Fire
1864 - 1866	Home and Colonial (Fire, Life and Marine) Insurance Company (fire and life business only)
1899 - 1900	Equitable Plate Glass (Cape Town)
c1840 - 1906	Equitable Fire Assurance and Trust Company of South Africa
1899 - 1907	Compensation and Guarantee Fund Ltd
1899 - 1909	Equitable Plate Glass of Birmingham
1907 - 1914	Royal Scottish Insurance Company
1863 - 1914	National Guarantee and Suretyship Association Ltd
1906 - 1914	White Cross Insurance Association Ltd
1824 - 1917	Indemnity Marine Assurance Company Ltd
1865 - 1917	Provident Accident and Guarantee Company Ltd
1914 - 1918	Tasmania Insurance Company Ltd
1908 - 1919	Medway Insurance Company
1894 - 1920	World Marine and General Insurance Company
- 1920	La Aconcagua Compania Nacional de Seguros, Chile
1861 - 1923	London and Scottish Assurance Corporation Ltd
1951	American Marine and General Insurance Company of New York
1958	Northern Life Assurance Company of Australia Ltd
1880 - 1960	Employers Liability Assurance Corporation Ltd
1965	United Nigeria Insurance Company Ltd

Head office premises

Aberdeen

Year	Address
1836 - 1836	11 Union Buildings
1836 - 1839	36 Union Street
1839 - 1879 at least	3 King Street
by 1881 - 1885	81 St Vincent Street
1885 - 1968	1 Union Terrace

London

Year	Address
by 1846 - 1968	1 Moorgate Street
1968 - 1969	24 Cornhill
1969 -	St Helen's 1 Undershaft

General Manager (based in London)

Year	Name
1865 - 1881	Alexander Pearson Fletcher
1881 - 1882	Edward Hill Mannering (joint general manager)
1881 - 1894	James Valentine (joint general manager until 1882)
1895 - 1916	H E Wilson
1917 - 1923	John Robertson (joint general manager)
1917 - 1923	Herbert Stannard Gayford (joint general manager)
1923 - 1928	William Æneas Mackay
1928 - 1942	Kenneth Keith Peters
1943 - 1952	Cyril Henry Leach
1952 - 1966	T W Haynes
1966 - 1967 at least	C E Keysell
Position not listed after 1967

Secretary - London

Year	Name
1839 - 1846	Alexander Edmond
1846 - 1881	Alexander Pearson Fletcher
1881 - 1895	H E Wilson
1895 - 1902	R W Lowe
1902 - 1906	H E Wilson
1906 - 1917	Herbert Stannard Gayford
1917 - 1928	Harold Edward William Lutt
1929 - 1942	Cyril Henry Leach
1943 - 1952	W A Brown
1952 - 1962	F B Joule
1962 - 1968	D A Mills
1968 - 1971	H T Frost
1971 - 1977	D R Cobden
1977 - 1987 at least	G T Spratt

Manager - Aberdeen

Year	Name
1836 - 1865	William Chalmers
1865 - 1866	James Rattray
1867 - 1871	David Christie
1872 - 1885	Samuel Anderson (also secretary)
1885 - 1909	Thomas Kyd
1909 - 1916	John Robertson
1917 - 1918	Position vacant
1918 - 1942	Robert Mackay (also secretary until 1930)
1942 - 1952	J L Williams (also secretary)
1952 - 1955	R Walker
1955 - 1966	W J Brown
Position not listed after 1966

Secretary - Aberdeen

Year	Name
1848 - 1865	H Ambrose Smith
1866 - 1885	Samuel Anderson
1885 - 1892	Francis Laing
1892 - 1899	William P Sherriff
1899 - 1905	Edward F Newlands
1905 - 1930	Robert Mackay (also manager from 1918)
1931 - 1952	J L Williams (also manager from 1942)
Position not listed after 1952

Directors - Extraordinary (1837)

• Marquis of Huntly (Governor)
• Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys
• Alexander Abercrombie
• John Adam
• George Glenny Anderson
• George Birnie
• James Buchan
• James Bruce
• David Blaikie
• William Davidson
• James Farquhar
• John Mair Gerard
• George Gordon
• Dr William Knight
• John Morice
• Reverend W R Pirie
• James Ramsey
• John Leith Ross
• James Brodie Spottiswood
• John Lumsden Shirrefs
• Dr James Smith

Directors - Ordinary (1837)

• Thomas Best (Chairman)
• William Adam
• John Angus
• Alexander Anderson
• Dr John Cruickshank
• Alexander W Chalmers
• Charles Downie
• Robert Duthie
• Alexander Gordon
• Robert Johnston
• James Boyn McCombie
• James Simpson
• John Young

Directors, Aberdeen (1850)

• Dr John Cruickshank
• John Angus
• Thomas Blaikie
• Francis Clerihew
• John Duncan
• William Leslie
• John Yeates

Directors, London (1851)

• John Abercrombie
• George G Anderson
• Thomas N Farquhar
• Charles R M’Grigor

Homes branches and agencies

• Glasgow (1836)
• Manchester (1836)
• Dundee (by 1839)
• Edinburgh (by 1839)
• London (1839)
• Liverpool (by 1867)
• Belfast (1868)
• Newcastle (1874)
• Bristol (1878)
• Birmingham (1883)
• Nottingham (1890)

Overseas branches

• Australia (1858)
• USA (1859)
• Melbourne (1862)
• Dublin (1869)
• New York (1876)
• Boston (by 1883)
• San Francisco (by 1883)
• Montreal (by 1883)
• Cincinnati (1887)
• Calcutta (1898)

Overseas agencies

• Lubeck, Germany (1851) also in Bremen, Hesse and Darmstadt, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Wiesbaden, Hanover, Darbistadt (Darmstadt), Stuttgardt, Munich, Nurnberg (Nuremberg), Bamberg, Leipzig, Dresden, Oldenburg, Augsberg (Augsburg), Frankforten Maine (Frankfurt-am-Main) in 1851
• Cassel, France (1851)
• Basel, Switzerland (1851) also in St Gallen and Schwsin (Schwyz)
• Copenhagen, Denmark (1852)
• Christiana (Oslo), Norway (1852)
• Gothenburg (Goteborg), Sweden (1852)
• Bautzen, Germany (1852)
• Gera, Germany (1852)
• Horsens and Schleswig, Denmark (1852)
• Haderisleven (Haderslev), Denmark (1852)
• Altona (Altenau), Germany (1852)
• Zurich, Switzerland (1853)
• Vienna, Austria (1853)
• Helsingfors (Helsinki), Finland (1853)
• Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (1853)
• Melbourne, Australia (1853)
• Strasbourg, France (1853)
• Paris, France (1853)
• Novikoping (Norrköping), Sweden (1853)
• Antwerp, Belgium (1853)
• Malmoe, Sweden (1853)
• Cassel (Kassel), Germany (1853)
• Otago, New Zealand (1853)
• Elberfeld, Germany (1853)
• Carlscrona, Sweden (1853)
• Sydney, Australia (1853)
• Antigua (1853)
• St Vincent (1853)
• Caracas, Venezuela (1853)
• Port of Spain, Trinidad (1853)
• Stockholm, Sweden (1853)
• Tromsoe (Tromso) and Bergen, Norway (1853)
• Rostock and Schwerin, Germany (1853)
• Le Havre, France (1853)
• Gefle (Gavle), Sweden (1853)
• Drontheim (Trondheim), Norway (1854)
• Christiansand, Norway (1854)
• Amsterdam, Netherlands (1854)
• Auckland, New Zealand (1854)
• Mannheim, Germany (1854)
• Florence, Italy (1854)
• Adelaide, Australia (1854)
• San Francisco, USA (1854)
• St Thomas (1854)
• Geneva, Switzerland (1854)
• Puerto Rico (1854)
• Danzic (Danzig), Poland (1854)
• Port au Prince, Haiti (pre 1854)
• St Helena (1855)
• Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) (1855)
• Kingston, Jamaica (1855)
• Calcutta, India (1855)
• Demerara, Guyana (1855)
• Madras, India (1855)
• Singapore (1855)
• Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) (1855)
• Bucharest, Romania (1855)
• Bahia, Brazil (1855)
• Pernabumco, Brazil (1855)
• Para, Brazil (1855)
• Havana, Cuba (1855)
• Barbados (1855)
• Bombay, (Mumbai), India (1855)
• Batavia, (Jakarta) Indonesia (1855)
• Shanghai and Canton, China (1855)
• Hong Kong (1855)
• Manila, Philippines (1855)
• Alexandria, Egypt (1855)
• Honolulu (1855)
• Mexico (1855)
• Wellington, New Zealand (1856)
• Canada (1856)
• Guadeloupe, West Indies (1856)
• Martinique, West Indies (1856)
• Buenos Aires, Argentina (1856)
• Lisbon, Portugal (1856)
• Oporto, Portugal (1856)
• St Petersburg, Russia (1856)
• Lima, Peru (1857)
• Tacna, Peru (1857)
• Valparaiso, Chile (1857)
• Hobart, Tasmania (1857)
• Surabaya (Surabaja), Indonesia (1857)
• Java (Jawa), Indonesia (1857)
• Montevideo, Uruguay (1857)
• Rosario, Uruguay (1857)
• Santa Fe, Colombia (1857)
• St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada (1857)
• Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (1858)
• Bordeaux, France (1858)
• Kurachee (Karachi), Pakistan, (pre-1859)
• Moulmein, Myanmar (Burma) (1859)
• Riga, Russia (1860)
• Grenada (1860)
• St Lucia (1860)
• St Kitts (1860)
• Nevis (1860)
• Warsaw, Poland (1860)
• Rangoon, Myanmar (1860)
• Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (1860)
• St Louis, United States (1861)
• Antwerp, Belgium (1862)
• Berlin, Germany (1862)
• Tettuang via Wurttemberg, Germany (1862)
• Porto Rico, Africa (1862)
• Porto Planta (1862)
• Hamburg, Germany (1862)
• Guayaquil, Ecuador (1862)
• Bangkok, Siam (Thailand) (1863)
• Mauritius (1863)
• Nassau, Bahamas (1863)
• Brussels, Belgium (1863)
• Penang (Pinang), Malaysia (1863)
• Canary Islands (1863)
• Tientsin (Tianjin), China (1863)
• Yokahoma, Japan (1863)
• Berbice, Guyana (1863)
• Xiamen and Amoy, China (1864)
• Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey (1864)
• Caera, Brazil (1865)
• Cadiz, Spain (1865)
• Malta (1865)
• Galatz, (Galati), Ibraila (Braila) and Wallachia (Valahia), Romania (1865)
• Moldova (1865)
• Beyrout (Beirut), Lebanon (1865)
• Smyrna, Turkey (1865)
• Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada (1866)
• Port Louis (1866)
• Guernsey, Channel Islands (1866)
• New Brunswick, Canada (1866)
• Montreal, Canada (1867)
• Monserrat (1867)
• Prussia (1867)
• Porto Alegre, Brazil (1868)
• Maranham, Brazil (1868)
• Parahiba (Paraiba), Brazil (1868)
• Dublin, Ireland (1868)
• La Guajara, Brazil (1868)
• Londonderry, Ireland (1868)
• Nicosia, Cyprus (by 1885)
• Formosa (Taiwan) (by 1907)

In the archives

The Aviva archive contains records relating to the running of the Northern Assurance Company between 1836 and 2004. The collection includes board and committee minutes, acts of parliament, contracts of co-partnery, annual reports and accounts, balance papers, policies, policy registers, deed books, annuity registers, mortality registers, correspondence, letter books, proposals, prospectuses, staff magazines, ledgers, photographs, branded promotional items and advertising.

Other resources

Visit the Guildhall Library and the Dundee City Archives for more material relating to the Northern Assurance Company.

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