Bitofapilchard
Insurance plaque
On a house in the town centre in Castle Cary, Somerset.
On the walls of a number of old houses may sometimes still be seen the metal plaques or badges erected by insurance companies to signify that the property was insured. Each respective insuring company was identified by its own particular emblem embossed upon the plaque.
The plaques fall, broadly speaking, into two types. The earlier ones were mostly cast in lead and generally had a number corresponding to the number of the insurance policy engraved or painted on a panel beneath them. They are usually referred to as fire marks. The later plaques, known as fire-plates, are chiefly pressed out of thin copper-plate, or tinned sheet-iron. Some were made from cast-iron. These were often highly-coloured, for the fire-plate was employed more by way of advertisement than anything else.
The houses on which these fire-plaques are seen cover a wide range from mansions to lowly cottages. The majority are indeed to be found on unpretentious houses, probably because humbler people had a greater need to shelter under the protection of insurance.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century the sugar bakers and refiners of London, because of the special fire risks of their business, found difficulty in obtaining insurance cover at moderate premiums from existing offices. They decided, therefore, in 1782, to promote a company themselves to cater mainly for their own particular risk. This company was called the New Fire Office, and, like the old Fire Office before it, adopted as a badge "a Phoenix Rising from the Flames". This was depicted on their fire mark together with the word "Protection". The company quickly flourished and the Phoenix is one of the most widely met of all fire marks.
Unfortunately the old records of the Phoenix were destroyed by enemy action. It is, therefore, impossible to tell exactly when the policy was issued, but as it is a lead plaque, rather than copper-plate, it is an early example.
Insurance plaque
On a house in the town centre in Castle Cary, Somerset.
On the walls of a number of old houses may sometimes still be seen the metal plaques or badges erected by insurance companies to signify that the property was insured. Each respective insuring company was identified by its own particular emblem embossed upon the plaque.
The plaques fall, broadly speaking, into two types. The earlier ones were mostly cast in lead and generally had a number corresponding to the number of the insurance policy engraved or painted on a panel beneath them. They are usually referred to as fire marks. The later plaques, known as fire-plates, are chiefly pressed out of thin copper-plate, or tinned sheet-iron. Some were made from cast-iron. These were often highly-coloured, for the fire-plate was employed more by way of advertisement than anything else.
The houses on which these fire-plaques are seen cover a wide range from mansions to lowly cottages. The majority are indeed to be found on unpretentious houses, probably because humbler people had a greater need to shelter under the protection of insurance.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century the sugar bakers and refiners of London, because of the special fire risks of their business, found difficulty in obtaining insurance cover at moderate premiums from existing offices. They decided, therefore, in 1782, to promote a company themselves to cater mainly for their own particular risk. This company was called the New Fire Office, and, like the old Fire Office before it, adopted as a badge "a Phoenix Rising from the Flames". This was depicted on their fire mark together with the word "Protection". The company quickly flourished and the Phoenix is one of the most widely met of all fire marks.
Unfortunately the old records of the Phoenix were destroyed by enemy action. It is, therefore, impossible to tell exactly when the policy was issued, but as it is a lead plaque, rather than copper-plate, it is an early example.