Commercial Union plc was a large insurance business based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It merged with General Accident in 1998 to form CGU plc.

History

Commercial Union was established following a conflagration near London Bridge in 1861, known as the Great Tooley Street Fire, which destroyed a number of warehouses and wharves along the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

as a result of which the fire insurance companies were hit by a series of massive claims. Consequently, they increased their fire insurance rates so dramatically that a group of local merchants and brokers decided to form their own company. This became known as the Commercial Union Assurance Company.Liveing, Edward. '' A Century of Insurance: The Commercial Union Assurance Group 1861 - 1961''. London: H F & G Witherby, 1961 The company established its head office at 24-26 Cornhill in London in 1897. It purchased the

Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society The Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society was one of the oldest British insurance companies. History The company was founded in 1696 at Tom's Coffee House in St Martin's Lane in London. It was one of three fire insurance companies started ...

, the world's oldest fire insurance company, in 1905 and The Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation in 1910 and it continued to grow by further acquisitions. The acquisition of the British General Insurance Company followed in 1926. Then, after completing the acquisition of North British and Mercantile Insurance, which had significant operations in the United States, in 1959, Commercial Union moved to larger and more modern facilities at St. Helen's in London in 1969. With the intention of expanding its activities in continental Europe, it acquired the Dutch insurance business,

Delta Lloyd Group Delta Lloyd Group was a Dutch insurer with operations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It consisted of Delta Lloyd, OHRA, ABN AMRO Verzekeringen and a few minor banks. The company was the sixth-largest insurer in the Netherlands, with a ...

, in 1973 and the French insurance business, L'Epargne de France in 1984. The company merged with General Accident to form CGU plc in 1998.

References

{{Authority control Aviva Financial services companies established in 1861 Insurance companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 1861 establishments in the United Kingdom Financial services companies disestablished in 1998 1998 disestablishments in the United Kingdom