Fire Mark - 42 High Street, Sandwich, Kent, UK - CT13 9EG
Posted by: MeerRescue
N 51° 16.460 E 001° 20.492
31U E 384317 N 5681638
A Fire Mark on 42 High Street, Sandwich, Kent CT13 9EG.
Waymark Code: WMEAKK
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/28/2012
Views: 2
A Fire Mark affixed to the Grade II listed Serpentine
Cottage, 42 High Street, Sandwich, Kent. This particular
Fire Mark was issued by Royal Exchange Assurance (1720-1968) For reasons
unknown, this Fire Mark has been 'white washed', originally it would looked
something like
this,taken from the Firemarks website.
Before the advent of town or county Fire Brigades, a
number of Insurance companies identified properties covered by their policies by
way of a Fire Mark. This identified the property and listed an insurance policy
number to their voluntary fire brigade and representatives. By the early 19th
century, with more towns providing a public fire brigade service, Fire Marks
declined, although they were still used as an advertising feature, and many of
the later Fire Marks seen have no policy number shown.
Royal Exchange Assurance emerged out of a joint stock insurance enterprise known
as Onslow's
Insurance
or Onslow's
Bubble.
This had been begun as the Mercer's
Hall Marine Company,
or Undertaking
kept at the Royal Exchange for insuring ships and merchandise at sea.
A similar enterprise sought incorporation in 1718, but the Attorney
General reported
against this. Lord Onslow then sought
a means of avoiding the difficulty by his company acquiring the charters of Society
of Mines Royal and Company of Mineral and Battery Works,
which declared itself open for assuring ships and merchandise in March 1719.
Their opponents petitioned against this and the Attorney-General reported in May
1719 that the use made of the charters was "unwarrantable". The directors
admitted this mistake but requested their own charter in January 1720. They and
another insurance enterprise each offered £300,000 towards the
King's Civil List debts.
The king then encouraged the House
of Commons
to permit their incorporation. This was done in the Bubble
Act.
The new chartered company then accepted subscriptions paid on shares in the old
company in payment for those on its own shares.