LLOYDS OF LONDON


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hen talking about Lloyds of London, it is important to


ask, what Lloyds is and where and how it started.


loyds is not a company, but a Corporation, and is governed


by a committee made up of members of Lloyds elected to the committee by their fellow members of Lloyds.


t is a market place, made up of different traders selling their


wares i.e. Insurance, Insurance of all kinds covering every type of hazard from Shipping, Aviation, Motor, Household, Personal and virtually anything you can think of.


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loyds, like other long standing institutions i.e. Stock


Exchange and Baltic Exchange started in the coffee houses of the 1700‟s, but unlike the other institutions Lloyds has retained the original name of its Coffee House, that being the one of Edward Lloyds, who owned and controlled it for more than twenty years and was situated in Tower Street in the east end of the city.


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he early records of Lloyds is very sparse, but the first


indication of Lloyds being involved in insurance, albeit in a loose way, appeared in the London Gazette dated February 1688/89, and appears in the form of an advertisement. The Advertiser was a Mr. Edward Bransby of Derby, who had been robbed, and was offering a reward of one guinea for the return of his goods, that being 5 watches, and any information was to be forwarded to his own address or to Mr. Edward Lloyds Coffee House in Tower Street, and this appears to be the first appearance in the History of Lloyds, and it would seem appropriate that some two hundred years later, an insurance policy covering Jewellery against All Risks would come into being.


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he reputation of Lloyds came about through the Marine


(Shipping) Market, and although Edward Lloyd took no part in Underwriting, he set up a newspa- per in 1696, called Lloyds List, which is still in operation today, and is published daily, giving shipping information throughout the world, and from that small coffee house in 1688 Lloyds grew and grew through the centuries to become the Largest Insurance Organisation in the world, producing a premium income in excess of £700,000,000 a year.


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ntil the middle of the 18th. Century Lloyds had just been


a Marine Market, and the feeling was that non-marine business would be unprofitable, but one or two enterprising underwriters decided to venture out and started to write a Non-Marine Account, mainly burglary and loss of profits through fire. At this moment Non- Marine business accounts for over half of the Premium income to Lloyds.


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ver the years Lloyds has gained a reputation for always


being able to pay out its claims.


he job of the Broker is to get the best possible terms with the


widest possible cover for his client. The Assured will go to a broker, tell him his insurance needs, and the Broker will tell him as to the best type of insurance to take out. Details of the Insurance will be put on a slip, then the Broker will go into the Market, and approach his market, he will obtain the best rates, terms and conditions for his client, and it is very rare that a broker would be unsuccessful in placing any type of risk.


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s the Business has increased so Lloyds has had to find


larger premises. In 1810 Lloyds Page No. 25


moved away from the Coffee House into various premises. As I have already said 1810 saw Lloyds in the Royal Exchange, then in 1926 they moved to Leadenhall Street where they stayed until 1956, when they moved into new premises built purposely to accommodate the expansion of the Market. This was built in Lime Street right opposite their old building. Soon even this was not considered big enough so they knocked down the 1926 building in Leadenhall Street and replaced it with present monstrosity on the same site, and is generally referred to as the „Oil Rig‟ with all the pipes and lifts on the outside of the building. They paid millions for this building and moved into it in 1986. In the following years they SOLD the Building and then LEASED it back.


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he one thing these three buildings have in common is


the Lutine Bell.


he Lutine Bell was originally on the Frigate „La Lutine‟,


which was captured by the British in 1793. Six years later in 1799 the ship was carrying Gold Bullion worth £1,400,000, as payment to our troops in Holland, when she was caught in a gale off the Dutch coast and sunk. Lloyds paid the claim immediately and represented the first loss over £1,000,000 to Lloyds.


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he bell of The Lutine was salvaged in 1859 and has hung


in the Underwriting Room ever since. The bell was used when important announcements were to be made. Two strokes for good news and one stroke for bad. Originally the bell was rung to announce an overdue vessel, but now it is only rung for ceremonial occasions. The Bell weighs 106 lbs. and is 17 ½ inches in diameter.


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