Early Years
Whilst fire insurance developed in the seventeenth century (Nicholas Barbon’s famous Fire Office was founded in 1681, much boosted by the recent Fire of London), and marine insurance became a large and lucrative business in the years between the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and 1720 when Royal Exchange Assurance and London Assurance were granted Royal Charters and given a monopoly on chartered insurance business, life insurance for much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries remained a poor relation because it was seen as a form of gambling, and as irreligious because tending to reduce the spiritual value of a life to a mere financial matter. Indeed, in France life insurance remained illegal until 1850, albeit a partial exemption was secured by the Compagnie Royale
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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Rise of Insurance Business, 1696-1815". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 September 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=13874, accessed 19 April 2024.]
