INSURANCE

Lloyds's of London

Lloyds's of London was founded in 1771. Three years later it took a number of rooms in the Royal Exchange.

From 1793 to 1815 Lloyd's experienced a period of extended prosperity. This stemmed from Britain's wars with France. The era saw the underwriter John Julius Angerstein emerge as the foremost figure within the organisation.¹

The new types of goods that were being made were largely transported on British merchant ships and those ships needed insurance. The 1850s and 1860s saw Lloyd's double its size. The Lloyds Act of 1871 turned it into a corporation - the Society of Lloyd s. In the final years of the 19^thC, the market's non-marine insurance activities began to develop. In large part, this was due to the efforts of the innovative underwriter C.E. Heath.

In 1965 Hurricane Betsy plunged Lloyd's in two years of losses. For the first time in a century its membership fell. The 1928 Lloyd's of London Building was demolished in 1979. The Richard Rogers-designed building was opened in 1986. During the period 1987-96 Lloyd's failed to make a profit. The market was hit by a string of disasters: Piper Alpha, Exxon Valdez, and the hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Iniki.

Location: 12 Leadenhall Street, EC3V 1LP (purple, turquoise)

Website: www.lloyds.com https://mycenaehouse.co.uk

¹. Angerstein was a Russian who had arrived in London at the age of fifteen.

Brillante Virtuoso

In 2011 Lloyd's of London employed David Mockett, a maritime surveyor, to investigate what had happened on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso in the Gulf of Aden. His inquiry raised a series of questions. Subsequently, he was murdered in Yemen by means of a car bomb. In 2019, in a case brought against Talbot Underwriting in the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Teare stated that The constructive total loss of Brillante Virtuoso was caused by the wilful misconduct of the owner Mr [Marios] Iliopoulos .

The Lutine Bell

In 1793 the Royal Navy captured the French frigate La Lutine off Toulon. Six years later, the now H.M.S. Lutine sank off the Dutch coast while transporting a cargo of bullion from Britain to Germany. In 1859 her bell was recovered from the wreckage. This is struck once whenever a vessel that has been insured by Lloyd's is lost.

See Also: BELLS

Website: www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/catastophes-and-claims/hms-lutine

Ian Posgate

Ian Posgate (1932-2017) made a fortune through insuring shipping that was sailing through the Mekong Delta. He secured a high proportion of it by being flexible in the premiums that he charged. These were determined by the pay-outs that he was having to make. During the wet season they were low and during the dry high. It was only in retrospect that he appreciated the reason. In the latter period the delta's channels became very narrow and the Viet Cong were able to use bazookas to attack craft. In the former the channel was three-miles-wide and the vessels were able to sail beyond the weapons range.

At one point, Posgate controlled a fifth of Lloyd's marine insurance market. He was disliked by the Lloyd's establishment and found that his innovative or aggressive conduct led to his being frequently called into the market's Committee Room. He learned to tell how he was going to be treated by whether or not there were tea cups on the table. If they were there, he would receive a mild ticking off, if there were not he was in for a scolding.

In 1986 a court ruled that Posgate had shown negligence and disregard towards hundreds of Lloyd's names for whom he had acted.

Robertson Taylor

Willie Robertson became an insurance broker in the City of London. In 1969, he was contacted by David Enthoven and John Gaydon, with whom he had attended Harrow School. The pair were running a rock management business. They needed coverage for a tour that the band King Crimson was about to undertake. Robertson was able to secure a policy for them. Subsequently, with Robert Taylor, he set up the Robertson Taylor brokerage business. The firm developed expertise in furnishing members of the music industry with insurance.

Upon one occasion Robertson was trying to acquire The Who's custom. He and the band's drummer Keith Moon spent an evening carousing together in Tramp, a nightclub. The latter challenged the former to walk along the length of a table from which people were dining. The broker removed his shoes and socks and then did so. He was banned from the establishment but secured the contract that he had been seeking.

It was Robertson Taylor that found insurance for the 1976 Pink Floyd photo-shoot in Battersea Power Station during which a giant inflatable pig floated away. An aircraft pilot who was descending towards Heathrow Airport is reputed to have informed the air traffic controllers that he could see a flying pig. Ultimately, the dirigible was shot down by a farmer while it was passing over the Kent countryside.

With time, Robertson's work extended out into other branches of the entertainment industry. He was invited to provide life insurance cover for Tommy Cooper. He turned up at the comedian-magician's home one morning to discuss the matter. Cooper was already drinking. The broker asked him what his daily intake of alcohol was. Write down a bottle , came the reply. The issue of frequency was then raised. Before breakfast , came the answer.

Location: America House, 2 America Square, EC2N 2LU (red, red)

51 Barrowgate Road, Chiswick, W4 4QT. Cooper's home.

Battersea Power Station, 188 Kirtling Street, SW8 5BP

Tramp, 40 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6DN (blue, red)

Website: www.tysers.com/robertson-taylor

David Backhouse 2024