Jul 15Insuring Georgian WimbledonThe Wimbledon Championships finish week so I thought I’d have a look at properties we insured in Wimbledon, — or Wimbleton, as the Hand in Hand clerks referred to it. The first reference to Wimbledon I noticed as I digitized the registers came from April 1723 when Benjamin Foxley took…Insurance8 min readInsurance8 min read
May 24Insuring Georgian ChelseaIt is Chelsea Flower Show this week, so I’ve used it as an excuse to look at some of the references to Chelsea I’ve found while scanning the Hand in Hand policy registers. Although I’ve not found the company insuring the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where the show is held, it…Insurance7 min readInsurance7 min read
May 4Tales of coronations pastThe coronation of King Charles III will be the 12th coronation since Aviva’s oldest ancestor company, Hand in Hand, was established in 1696. I’ve been looking back through the archives to see how our companies have marked coronations over the centuries. The first coronation staff at our companies would have…Coronation9 min readCoronation9 min read
Feb 6Looking back to 1723This weekend I’ve been having a look in the Hand in Hand policy registers to see what our customers of 300 years ago listed as their occupations. I’ve made a note of each occupation mentioned in the registers in the first 3 months of 1723 and how many times it…Occupation6 min readOccupation6 min read
Nov 10, 2022Forgotten facesSome of the saddest items in archive collections are photographs of unidentified people. I often find myself gazing into the faces of colleagues who worked for Aviva’s ancestor companies and wishing I knew their names. That is how I felt last week when I carefully scanned the photograph above and…War12 min readWar12 min read
May 31, 2022What was life like in 1952?As the jubilee approaches, I’ve been delving into the staff magazines to see what life was like for people on the staff of our ancestor companies when the queen came to the throne in 1952. In 1952 most large insurance companies produced staff magazines to keep their employees up to…1950s9 min read1950s9 min read
Apr 20, 2022Aviva and BridgertonThe focus of our current activities to mark Aviva’s 325th anniversary is the project to digitize the policy registers of our oldest ancestor company Hand in Hand. The 150 registers contain policies taken out with the company between 1697 and 1865 and primarily record insurance of property in London as…Hand In Hand5 min readHand In Hand5 min read
Mar 30, 2022Mr Miller’s plans and a fire at Clumber HouseMy new favourite person in the Archive is Robert Leist Miller who worked for Norwich Union. According to his obituary, written in 1848, he had held “situations of great trust and responsibility” at the company for 36 years before his death, at the age of 59. By 1818 he was…Norwich Union5 min readNorwich Union5 min read
Feb 13, 2022A romantic mystery from the ArchiveFor Valentine’s Day I set myself the task of trying to identify the lucky couple who received good wishes on their wedding in 1880 from the staff of the Norwich Union Fire Society. The wedding congratulation note is particularly important because it was signed by so many members of staff…Insurance4 min readInsurance4 min read
Nov 4, 2021Hand in Hand — 325th anniversaryOn 12 November 1696 a group of 12 men met in Tom’s Coffee House in St Martin’s Lane London to sign the deed of settlement for a new insurance company. …Insurance13 min readInsurance13 min read
