Fire insurance records

1. About this guide

This guide explains how to find a fire insurance policy in the records at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA).

LMA holds the records of many London-based insurance companies, most notably Sun Fire Office, the Royal Exchange Assurance and the Hand-in-Hand Fire Office. This guide focuses on these three companies.

2. What information will I find in policy registers?

Fire insurance policy registers generally give the following information:

• policy number
• date of policy
• name, occupation and address of policy holder
• brief description of the property being insured
• premium paid

Policy registers sometimes mention an endorsement. An endorsement describes a change to a policy, for example a change of name of policy holder, or a substantial change to the property or trade carried out at the property. 

3. Indexes to fire insurance policy registers

We have a large number of fire policy registers so it's advisable to begin with the available indexes.

Online indexes:

• Many Sun Fire Office policy registers have been indexed by name, occupation and address on the LMA Collections Catalogue. Search in the catalogue for the word 'insured' followed by the name, occupation or address that you are looking for.
• An index to policies issued by the Sun Fire Office and the Royal Exchange Assurance between 1777- 1786 can be searched on the London Lives website.
• An index to Jewish surnames in London-based insurance policies in the early eighteenth to mid nineteenth centuries can be searched on the JewishGen website.

Indexes at LMA:

• Index to Sun Fire Office policy registers, 1711-12 and 1714-15 (CLC/294/MS17816)
• Index to names in the Sun Fire Office policy registers, 1714-1731 (CLC/B/192/F/012/MS17817)
• Indexes to Sun Fire Office and the Royal Exchange policy registers, 1775-1787 (CLC/140/MS24172)
• Names indexes to Hand-in-Hand policy registers, 1805-1865 (CLC/B/055/MS08679, CLC/B/055/MS08679A, CLC/B/055/MS08680, CLC/B/055/MS08681)
• Topographical indexes to Hand-in-Hand policy registers, 1805-1859 (CLC/B/055/MS08682, CLC/B/055/MS08683, CLC/B/055/MS08684)

4. Fire insurance policy registers

Sun Fire Office

• Policy Registers, Old Series and Town Department, 1710-1863 (CLC/B/192/F/001)
• Policy Registers, Country Department, 1793-1863 (CLC/B/192/F/003)
• Policy Endorsement Books, 1728-1865 (CLC/B/192/F/004)
• New Policy Endorsement Books, 1819-1861 (CLC/B/192/F/005)
• Registers of country losses by fire, 1803-1864 (CLC/B/192/F/031)
• Register of town losses by fire, 1851-1866 (CLC/B/192/F/033/MS11934B)
• Claims against loss are also recorded in the minutes of the Committee of Management, 1725-1802 (CLC/B/192/B/009) and Committee of Town Insurance, 1730-1896 (CLC/B/192/B/017)

Royal Exchange Assurance

• Policy Registers, First Series, 1753 – 1759 (CLC/B/107/02/MS07252)
• Policy Registers, Second Series, 1773-1791 (CLC/B/107/02/MS07253)
• Policy Registers, First London Head Office Series, 1803 – 1854 (CLC/B/107/02/MS07254)
• Policy Registers, Supplementary Agents' Series, 1809 – 1863 (CLC/B/107/02/MS07255)
• Claims against loss are recorded in the minutes of the Special Fire Committee, 1825-1888 (CLC/B/107/02/MS16237)

Hand-in-Hand Fire and Life Insurance Society

• Policy Registers, 1701-1865 (CLC/B/055/MS08674)
• Policy Registers (Supplementary Sequence), 1805-1816 (CLC/B/055/MS08675)
• Policy Registers for Goods and Stock in Trade, 1806-1830 (CLC/B/055/MS08676)
• Policy Registers (Inscribed "Irregular Periods"), 1830-1866 (CLC/B/055/MS08677)

5. Further reading

• Fire Insurance Records for Family and Local Historians, 1696-1920 by David T Hawkings (LMA Shelfmark 61.2 HAW)
• The British insurance business : a guide to its history & records by H.A.L. Cockerell and Edwin Green (LMA Shelfmark 60.8 COC)
• Building History from Fire Insurance Records by MW Beresford, an article in the periodical Urban History Yearbook, 1974 (LMA Shelfmark 60.0 URB)