First Insurance Company

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.irmi.com/expert/articles/klein002.asp


Another historical gem, this time from the "International Risk Management
Institute" again courtesy of Google.

This is the comment on the author of Marx's second footnote in Capital, and
links up with Michael's point about fire insurance:

> Cromwell's parliament had been nicknamed "the Barebone's Parliament," due
> to a particularly notorious member, Isaac Praise-God Barebone. Praise-God
> Barebone was a deeply religious preacher, and he named his son Hath Christ
> Not Died for Thee Thou Wouldst Be Damned Barebone. The son later changed
> his name to Nicholas Barbon.
>
> By the time of the Great Fire, Nicholas Barbon, M.D., was a successful
> doctor but was already starting to make a name for himself as a prolific
> writer and economist. He got involved in the reconstruction of London. .....
>
> In the year following the fire, 1667, Dr. Barbon was instrumental in
> forming the first actual insurance company. It was known as "The Insurance
> Office" and was located in a small office behind London's Royal Exchange
> (stock market).


Chris Burford