LONDON AND LANCASH IRE FIRE INSU RANCE COM PANY . In tr oducto r y. IFTY ea r s ! y ago The phrase arrests us . Fifty year s as a period of time is but a fragment . But how much of develop ment and change in the world’ s moulding and evolution does it r epr e sent ! It takes us back to the early sixties — the glorious days of Lord Russell and of Lord Palmerston— the al V . centr period of the august ictorian era At home , l fol owing upon the disastrous war in the Crimea , and the stormy days of the Indian Mutiny , a period of welcome peace had supervened . On the Continent , a war was r il raging between France and Aust ia , wh st across the Atlantic our kinsmen in America , with whom the interests al of Lancashire , and Liverpool in particular, have ways been so closely associated , were pitted against each other n in a deplorable campaign , now dubbed, in mellowi g ! magnanimity , the recent unpleasantness . These days— the early si! ties - hold their full l measure of memorab e incident , both at home and abroad . These were the days when the Great Eastern made fi her rst trip from Liverpool across the Atlantic , occupying eleven days to accomplish the voyage . - These were the days of blockade running , when time after time privateers in the service of the Confederate Army , laden with arms and ammunition , eluded the vigilance of the Northern warships , and deposited their in valuable freights Chesapeake Bay, returning to this c ountry , most frequently to Liverpool , with cargoes of cotton for the Lancashire spinners . It was at this time that the Alabama , commanded ’ by Captain Semmes , and built , by the bye , at Laird s yard, in Birkenhead, was , after a desperate chase across off al v the Atlantic , sunk Cherbourg by the Feder Na y . ! Stirring times, indeed l l Many of our readers wi l reca l , moreover , the distress a n d misery which visited thousands of our own people especially those in Lancashire— during the subsequent Cotton famine . fi As soon as peace had been rmly established at home , England settled down to a term of prosperity , and this was speedily reflected in the development of the industrial and agricultural resources of the country . Trade grew enormously, both in the Metropolis and elsewhere , and the commerce of London , Liverpool and other centres increased by leaps and bounds . Property appreciated in value , whilst business and residential houses sprang up with remarkable rapidity ! in short , the prospects of success which awaited commercial enterpr ise appeared at this period brighter than they had been for many years . It was in these days and under these conditions , that W a company of merchants , ith commendable foresight and business acumen , recognised the opportunity pre sented for the development of Fire Insurance , restricted ffi at that time to comparatively few O ces . ! Fifty years yes, a short space of time , but long enough to enable men to make history ! and , with pardonable pride , the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company may claim , as the outcome of its ’ fi — in fty years work, to stand to day the front rank of ’ the world s commercial organisations . His tor ica l. ROM a study of the earliest records of the Company, we learn that the idea of forming the London and Lancashire ! was first 1 861 conceived in the month of August , . The proj ector of the scheme was a London . l merchant , Mr Alexander Hami ton Gunn , who appears to have had some little experience in Company promoting . Mr . Gunn was assisted in the W completion of his work by a Mr . Henry E . arren , an agreement being made between these two gentlemen Wa under which Mr . rren was to assume the Secretar yship of the Company as soon as it had been floated . The Company was provisionally registered on S a 1 2 th 1 861 aturd y, the October , , the original Deed of Settlement stating that the registration was made in the name of The London and Lancashire Fire and Life 8 Assurance Company, and that such name had since been changed to The London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company . The first public announcements respecting the Com n pany bear the dates of Wed esday and Thursday, the 2 r d a n d 2 th 1 861 3 4 October, , on which days a prospectus of The London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Com pany appeared in the Liverpool newspapers and a lso in ! e the London Times , which referred to the matt r in the following terms A prospectus has been issued of a new Fire ll Insurance Company, to be ca ed the London ’ wi l 1 000 000 and Lancashire, th a Capita of J5 , , in Shares of £2 5 each . The Board of Directors c e is very respectably constituted, and in lud s several Liverpool merchants . As the Company do not propose any novelties of management , it is to be presumed they rely for business in a r great degree on thei Lancashire connexions . At the same time , they are said to have a prospect of valuable support in the City of London . We learn that the Company was launched with a ll ! Capital of One Mi ion Pounds , with power to increase , wa s div and that the Capital ided into shares , of 2 l 76 5 each , of which it was proposed to cal up on 1 1 1 05 0d . the basis of a deposit of £ per share , £ . on 1 5 0d . 2 0 . allotment , and a further sum of £ at three ’ months notice . The London establishment was at EC No . 7 9 , Lombard Street , , and the business of what was then the Liverpool Branch was initially transacted from three rooms on the first floor of Middleton Buildings , Water Street . ’ The Company s first Solicitors were Messrs . Paine and Layton , in London , and Messrs . Fletcher and Hull , in Liverpool . But perhaps the most engaging feature of the pros pectus is the survey taken by the Company ’ s proj ectors fi of the nancial conditions obtaining at that date . It is clear that the motif in the minds of the promoters was to afford the commercial community of Liverpool the same facilities for protection against fir e as were available for the Metropolis . On referring to the London and Lancashire ’ s first fin d ill Minute Book, we therein a handsomely uminated title page , intimating that the book was presented to the Company by the promoter , Mr . Gunn . The first Meeting of the Directors was held on the I st 1 861 ffi 3 October , , at the London O ce of the Company , 1 0 in Lombard Street , and was presided over by Mr . Francis l l - M. P Wil iam Russel , . On that occasion , the all important question of securing a capable Manager was discussed ! in fact , whilst the Meeting was in progress , Mr . William Palin Clir ehugh (then Manager of the Queen In surance Company, Liverpool) , who happened to be up in London at the time , was summoned before the Board, and preliminary pou rpa r ler s for the transfer of his services to the London and Lancashire were opened up . The Meeting was noteworthy in another respect , for fi the Board considered , at this , their rst sitting , the advisability of entering into an agreement with the “ Queen to take over the business of that Company . The Queen ! had been established three years previously, and had held its third Annual Meeting , in ’ Liverpool , a week before the London and Lancashire s fi ’ rst Board Meeting . The Queen s Fire premiums were close upon and the acquisition of this ! portfolio by the newly-formed London and Lancashire was regarded as an end much to be desired . In i a little wh le, the negotiations reached an advanced l stage ! indeed, such was the probabi ity of the deal becoming an accomplished fact that announcements were made in the public press of the impending amalgamation ! of the Queen with the London and Lancashire , whilst a provisional agreement between the two Com 6 a nies 1 8 2 . p was actually signed in February, I I Before the month had drawn to a close , however , the “ ’ ! die was cast , at a Meeting of the Queen s share n holders , against the proposed absorption . The decisio z was succinctly recorded by the Post Maga ine , on the I st 1 862 March , , in a paragraph reading as follows The arrangement for the amalgamation of the Queen with the London and Lancashire is off w , against the ishes of a maj ority of the shareholders . The Queen Deed required that three-fourths of the votes would only carr y the question , and on going to the ballot , the num ll — 1 bers po ed were For the amalgamation , 44 2 1 1 . against it , The union was therefore ! lost . Thus fate decreed that the transaction should not be carried through , and the Queen was left to be wooed and won nearly thirty years later by another suitor . fi Nevertheless , it is signi cant that , so early in its career , the London a n d Lancashire should have displayed that spirit of enterprise which has characterised its policy r throughout its histo y . At a Meeting of the London Board on the 2 3 r d October 1 861 fi , a date was xed for the closing of the Share List , and, accordingly, the following announcement appeared ! in the London Times of the z ud November I Z Notice is hereby given that the Share List of this on 1 2 th Company will close Tuesday , the November , after which the allotment will take place .