Phoenix Assurance or Phoenix Fire Office was a fire insurance company founded in

1680 in England Events from the year 1680 in England. Incumbents * Monarch – Charles II * Parliament – Exclusion Bill (starting 21 October) Events * 24 January – William Harris, one of the four English Puritans who established the Plymouth Colony and then ...

.The Times, 27 June 1785

Classified Advertising Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...

The history of the company includes the nostalgia of red-coated attendants clattering to the fires of London on

horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

tenders.Clive Aslet, The Times, 10 September 1983, ''Picturing the past frame by frame'' The Phoenix figured in

Case Law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...

. In 1796, the company refused to pay damages awarded of £3,000 (''2011: £'') following a 1792 fire at a house in

Tavistock Street Tavistock Street is a street in the Covent Garden area of London which runs parallel to the Strand, London, Strand between Drury Lane and Southampton Street just south of the market piazza. History Initially, the street was a passageway between ...

, London. Phoenix claimed that the owners had failed to obtain a Certificate from the ministers and

churchwardens A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

of the parish affirming the good character of the victims. Phoenix issued a

Writ of Error In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

to appeal against the original decision.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

, 8 June 1796; Law Report.

Court Of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

, June 7., Phoenix Fire Office Phoenix diversified into

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

, establishing the Pelican Life Office in 1797. In 1907 Phoenix reabsorbed Pelican Life Assurance, at that time known as the Pelican and British Empire Life Office, becoming a composite insurer. Sun Alliance & London acquired Phoenix Assurance in 1984.

References

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External links

Phoenix Assurance Company: Records and Papers
a
Cambridge University Library
Financial services companies established in 1680 Financial services companies established in the 17th century Defunct fire and rescue services of England Insurance companies of the United Kingdom Organizations established in the 1680s 1680 establishments in England