Sun Alliance (company)

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Sun Alliance Group plc
TypePublic
IndustryInsurance
Founded1710
Defunct1996
FateMerged with Royal Insurance
SuccessorRSA Insurance Group
HeadquartersLondon

Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It underwent many expansions by merger following its 1710 roots as the Sun Fire Office or Sun Fire. It merged with Royal Insurance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.

History[]

The company began as Sun Fire Office trading as Sun Fire, the oldest documented insurance company in the world. This was founded in London in 1710.[1] Its insurance products developed greatly serving the existing market of customers and to the extent they served new markets diversified, leading to many subsidiaries and departments of Sun Insurance.[2]

The business merged with Alliance Assurance – founded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore in 1824 – to form Sun Alliance Insurance in 1959.[3]

In the mid-1960s the resultant firm established its administrative centre in a large office block, spanning an A-road through the town centre of Horsham, a railway town 31 miles (50 km) south of London's centre.[4][5] and its head office at 1 Bartholomew Lane in London.[6] The Horsham building, St Marks Court is earmarked as developable.[7] In an external recess, to the market place (Carfax) side, is the tall spired tower of the church.[8] Its nave was demolished in about 1985.[8] The spire was part of the original church of 1841 constructed from sandstone. The tower's base has become a florist and volunteers’ centre.[8]

Sun Alliance went on to acquire London Assurance in 1965 (becoming Sun Alliance & London)[9] and Phoenix Assurance in 1984.[9]

The company thus added suffix "Group" in 1989. It consolidated most UK-based operations into the Horsham office in 1990,[10] yet kept its London head office.[11]

The company merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group in 1996.[12]

Summary of all notable mergers to 1996 and company inception dates:[13]
    • Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc (1996)
      • Sun Alliance & London (1965)[a 1]
        • Sun Alliance Insurance Limited (1959)
          • The Sun Fire Office (1710)
          • The Alliance Assurance Company (1824)
        • London Assurance Corporation (1720)
      • Royal Insurance (1845)
  1. ^ acquired Phoenix Assurance in 1984

  • Sun Alliance offices in Horsham, behind the spire that sits in one of its recesses

  • A Sun Fire Office insurance mark

References[]

  1. ^ "The World's First Insurance Company". International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMI). Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. ^ Dickson, P. M. G. (1962). "The Sun Insurance Office 1710-1960. The History of Two and a Half Centuries of British Insurance". The Economic History Review. Wiley. 14: 567–569. doi:10.2307/2591902.
  3. ^ "Records of Sun Fire Office". National Archives. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  4. ^ Baggs, A P; Currie, C R J; Elrington, C R; Keeling, S M; Rowland, A M (1986). "'Horsham: General history of the town', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham". London: British History Online. pp. 131–156. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Horsham: Historic Character Assessment Report" (PDF). Sussex Extensive Urban Survey. 1 October 2004. p. 19. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  6. ^ "No. 44336". The London Gazette. 6 June 1967. p. 6378.
  7. ^ St Marks Court Planning legal status of building. Horsham Council.
  8. ^ a b c Horsham Town Local List Horsham Council
  9. ^ a b Trebilcock, Clive (1999). Phoenix Assurance and the Development of British Insurance: Volume 2, The Era of the Insurance Giants 1870–1984. Cambridge University Press. p. 1021. ISBN 978-0521254151.
  10. ^ "Bridges Memorial Spire". Public Sculptures of Sussex. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  11. ^ Forsyth, J. (1991). Major Companies of Europe 1991/92: Volume 2 Major Companies of the United Kingdom. Vol. 2. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-011-3018-9.
  12. ^ "RSA chief uncans insurance giant's mega IT infrastructure review". The Register. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  13. ^ "History - RSA Group". rsagroup.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
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