Aviva and Bridgerton
The 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 it grew to become the largest city in the world. Digitization of these fragile volumes is a slow process with each volume taking between 4 and 12 hours to scan. This Saturday I scanned the volume from 1812–1815 which covers property insured in the period when the hit Netflix series Bridgerton is set. I thought I would take the opportunity to look out for the real-life neighbours of Julia Quinn’s fictional characters, the Bridgertons and Featheringtons, who lived on Grosvenor Square in London in 1813.
It is hard to skim read the policies while digitizing the books, but I did spot an entry for Ebenezer Fuller Maitland who insured goods worth £1,500 in his Grosvenor Square house in April 1813.
Another near neighbour was Elizabeth Sophia Lawrence who lived at 26 Lower Brook Street Grosvenor Square and insured her home contents, valued at £2,000, in 1815. The register notes that the property covered included, jewels, liquor for private use, mathematical and musical instruments, a carriage, and fodder and harnesses for horses.
Also in 1815, the Right Honourable Lady Headley insured her house at 43 Lower Brook Street Grosvenor Square for £3,000. The description of the property says it included 4 lofty stories with a kitchen, washhouse, laundry, stable, and coach house.
While the Viscount Bridgerton and his brother-in-law the Duke of Hastings are entirely fictional characters, the policy register for the period includes property held by 10 real knights, three lords, three ladies (including Lady Headley), two earls, and a duke (the Duke of Norfolk who insured his home and stables on St James’s Square for £8,000).
The only ‘real’ historical characters in Bridgerton are the King, George III, and his Queen, Charlotte. The Hand in Hand policy registers are littered with people linked to the royal couple including the king’s official doctor, hatter, watchmaker, musician, gun maker, and glass cutter. During the period in which the Bridgerton novels are set, Kew Palace and Hayes Palace were insured on behalf of the king by Hugh Rowland of Scotland Yard who was George III’s clerk of the privy purse and held the role of secretary’s clerk to the queen. Queen Charlotte died at Kew Palace in 1818 having been transported there after she was taken ill on a journey between London and Windsor.
The policy registers cover so many Georgian and Regency properties that it is not surprising to find the Hand in Hand insuring some of the film locations used in Bridgerton. In 1752, Sir Charles Palmer insured Dorney Court in Buckinghamshire for £500. The manor house, which is still owned by the Palmer family, was used as the location of the coaching inn where Daphne Bridgerton stayed with her husband the Duke of Hastings on their wedding night. According to the policy register, in 1752 the property boasted seven rooms with wainscoting, two marble and six portland stone chimney pieces, a wood house, coach house, and stables. Although it was owned and insured by Sir Charles Palmer it was occupied by the Right Honourable Lord Ossulstone.
Another Bridgerton film location is Hatfield House which was used for some of the interior scenes in the Featherington’s house and for a ball thrown by Lady Trowbridge. The house was first insured with Hand in Hand in 1781 by the Earl of Salisbury, James Cecil [created Marquis of Salisbury in 1789], and continued to be insured with the company up to 1830.
The Hand in Hand also insured the locations used for both the Bridgerton family’s London home and their country estate, Aubrey Hall. The location used for the Bridgerton’s ancestral home, Aubrey Hall, was Wrotham Park near Barnet which was originally insured with Hand in Hand in June 1755 when it was newly built. The £5,000 insurance cover was taken out by its then owner, Admiral John Byng. The admiral was court-martialled and executed by firing squad two years later for his failure to relieve the British garrison at Menorca which was being besieged by the French during the Seven Years’ War.
The Bridgerton’s London base was filmed on location at Ranger’s House in Blackheath which was insured for £4,000 with Hand in Hand in December 1740. The house was then owned by the Honourable John Stanhope who, according to the policy register, also lived in Grosvenor Square. It is funny to think that nearly 300 years later his ‘country’ house is being used as a location for a property on the same street as his real London home. The property was insured for £4,000 and featured a great staircase, kitchen, brewhouse, granary, and stables.
Later in the year we will begin sharing the contents of the Hand in Hand policy registers online for the first time. It will be possible to see who else was living on Grosvenor Square over the years (we already know we insured one of the youngest of the square’s original residents, the Earl of Rockingham, and one of the oldest, Lord Carpenter). We might find other properties which are now used as period film locations, come across long lost London streets, or try to ‘collect’ London pubs or monopoly board properties (the register for 1812 certainly includes Mayfair, Park Lane and Vine Street). There will be opportunities for volunteers to get involved in plotting the properties on to maps and helping transcribe the names and details of those who owned and lived in them. If you would like to help us with the project please e-mail archive@aviva.com.
