Lloyd's Register

“ It is the headquarters of Lloyds — the immense association of underwriters, brokers, and shipping-men, which, beginning with the customers at Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse in the latter part of the seventeenth century, has, retaining his name for a title, developed into a corporation so well equipped, so splendidly organized and powerful, that kings and ministers of state appeal to it at times for foreign news.
Not a master or mate sails under the English flag but whose record, even to forecastle fights, is tabulated at Lloyds for the inspection of prospective employers. ”

“ Most people know that Lloyd's originated from the marine underwriters who used to meet for both business and entertainment at Lloyd's coffee-house in the seventeenth century. But comparatively few seem to know that Lloyd's, like most of its imitators, is not a gigantic insurance company, but an association of carefully selected members, who agree to carry on their completely independent business affairs in daily touch with each other. ”

“ It is desired that all persons that have subscribed the Politie would come into the Insurance Office, and subscribe the new Politie, that it may be known who the Insurers are; and if any one has found the old Politie, they are desired to bring it to Mr Tho. Astley, at the Insurance Office on the Royal Exchange, and they shall be well rewarded.”
The origin of the present Corporation of Lloyd’s was in the Coffee House of Edward Lloyd, who, in 1688, lived in the very busy commercial thoroughfare of Tower Street, as appears from an advertisement in the London Gazette of 18/21 Feb. ”

“ Kippis in 1795 Gregory was appointed edit or of the ‘Biographia Britannica,’ but he made little progress with the work, and the sixth volume, to which he had contributed a preface, was burnt in the warehouse of Nichols & Son on 8 Feb. 1808. He was also for some years editor of the ‘New Annual Register,’ a publication started by Kippis in opposition to the ‘Annual Register’ in 1780, probably as successor to Kippis. Gregory changed its politics from whig to tory during the premiership of Addington.
[Gent. Mag. 1808, lxxviii. pt. i. pp. 277. 386; Brit. Mus. Cat.] ”

“ The earliest plan of insurance which was successful as a business was that practised at Lloyd’s Coffee-house (see Lloyd’s) in London, and there applied almost exclusively to marine risks. Although the association known as Lloyd’s has been for generations a strong financial institution, Lloyd’s. with every modern safeguard, and since 1871 has been a chartered corporation with large funds, yet its name has become accepted as the symbol of the primitive practice of combined underwriting by individuals, each upon his own credit, for a share of the risk and without common liability. ”

“ The mode employed in effecting an insurance at Lloyd’s is simple. The business is done entirely by brokers, who write upon a slip of paper the name of the ship and shipmaster, the nature of the voyage, the subject to be insured, and the amount at which it is valued. If the risk is accepted, each underwriter subscribes his name and the amount he agrees to take or underwrite, the insurance being effected as soon as the total value is made up. ”

“ The business of the British insurance offices is world-wide, mainly as far as fire, marine and workmen's compensation insurance are concerned. London is a great school for insurance, and credit for much of the development of the business belongs to the underwriters of Lloyd's. Underwriters acting for themselves, or for a few friends, represented in a syndicate, doubtless feel freer to act than the managers of companies who have to report to boards of directors. ”

“ Underwriting members are also required to deposit securities to the value of £5000 to £10,000, according to circumstances, as a guarantee for their 834 engagements. The management of the establishment is delegated by the members to certain of their number selected as a “committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd’s.” With this body lies the appointment of all the officials and agents of the institution, the daily routine of duty being entrusted to a secretary and a large staff of clerks and other assistants. The mode employed in effecting an insurance at Lloyd’s is simple. ”

“ While the work falling on underwriters and insurance companies was steadily increased, the staffs of the offices were also steadily reduced as more and more men were required for the fighting forces. The difficulties of carrying on business at Lloyd's became immense, and a scheme was introduced which provided for the establishment of a Signing Bureau. An ordinary marine-insurance policy may be underwritten by a large number of syndicates of names, and the signing by hand of the policies by the representatives of all the syndicates was a slow undertaking. ”

“ By the system upon which business is conducted in Lloyd's, information is given to the insurers and the insured; there are registers of almost every ship which floats upon the ocean, the places where they were built, the materials and description of timber used in their construction, their age, state of repair, and general character. An index is kept, showing the voyages in which they have been and are engaged, so that merchants may know the vessel in which they entrust their property, and assurers may ascertain the nature and value of the risk they undertake. ”

“ Since those almost idyllic days, Lloyd's has played a notable part in the life of the nation. At its headquarters in the Royal Exchange building are preserved many interesting relics of the history of the institution. From a simple coffee-house open to all and sundry, it has developed into the shipping-exchange of the world, employing 1,500 agents in all parts of the globe. ”

“ The story is a romance of maritime insurance, and the end has not yet been written, for with modern equipment and ingenuity those gold and silver bars, Spanish pistoles, and Louis d'or may some day be carried up the staircase of Lloyd's to enrich a corporation of the twentieth century.
[1] "The particulars concerning the Lutine which you have obtained from Martin's 'History of Lloyd's,' can, I think, be considered as accurate, as I believe Mr. Martin had full means of access to any documents which were available at Lloyd's or elsewhere in connection with this matter." ”

“ Marine insurance of the regular kind was, of course, a very different thing. It was already of immemorial age, going back certainly to medieval and probably to very ancient times. All forms of insurance on land are mere mushrooms by comparison. Lloyd's had not been heard of. But there were plenty of smart Elizabethan underwriters already practising the general principles which were to be formally adopted two hundred years later, in 1779, at Lloyd's Coffee House. A policy taken out on the Tiger immortalized by Shakespeare would serve as a model still. ”

“ He is a mild man with a reserved manner.
Sir Charles and Lady Henry invited us to luncheon at [351] their beautiful town house in Carlton Gardens, to meet Lloyd George, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer. The other guests were: Sir Alexander Ure, solicitor-general for Scotland; Dr. Thomas J. MacNamara, parliamentary secretary to the Admiralty; Robert Donald, editor of the "Daily Chronicle," a leading labor daily.
Lloyd George explained the important Liberal measures to me, particularly the National Insurance Act of 1911, amendments to which were then being considered in the House. ”

“ These data might materially assist a person dealing with the company in determining, whether he would give it credit or not; in any case they are matters which the public had a right to know. The legislature, recognizing this, has exacted as a condition of the privilege of trading with limited liability that the company shall keep a register with those particulars in it, which shall be accessible to the public at all reasonable times. ”

“ Oxf., B.A. 1822, M.A. 1824; fellow of Brasenose coll. 1823–6; barrister I.T. 6 May 1826; M.P. Stockport 1832–4; chief authority on legal matters connected with railways, devised the securities known as Lloyd’s Bonds before 1864, without which many railways could not have been constructed; by his advice the new company for laying the Atlantic cable was formed 1860; retired from practice 1876 ”

“ On January 26, 1921, decedent transferred to Marshall B. Lloyd, as trustee for the benefit of his wife and five children, 3,713 shares of the stock of the Lloyd Manufacturing Company with authority to exchange these shares for shares of the stock of the new corporation, on the issue of which the trustee was to assign the shares to decedent's wife and children, respectively, in designated amounts, or, in the event that the exchange was not consummated before December 1, 1921, to distribute to them the shares of the Lloyd company. ”

“ The Merchants' Room is superintended by a master, who can speak several languages: here are duplicate copies of the books in the underwriters' room, and files of English and foreign newspapers.
The Captains' Room is a kind of coffee-room, where merchants and ship-owners meet captains, and sales of ships, etc. take place.
The members of Lloyd's have ever been distinguished by their loyalty and benevolent spirit. In 1802, they voted 2000l. to the Life-boat subscription. On July 20, 1803, at the invasion panic, they commenced the Patriotic Fund with 20,000l. 3-per-cent. ”

“ Purves, stated: I am a surveyor for Lloyd’s Registry of Shipping. The British Lloyd’s is an institution that has grown during the last sixty years. It is the biggest thing in the world. A vessel that is “A1” at Lloyd’s has a character that any man, who is interested in running risks, takes as a standard. The document now shown me is a certificate stating that the Alert was classed when first built “ninety A1,” fit to carry dry and perishable cargo to all parts of the world. ”

“ Registration is always half-way towards regulation. The charter did not, however, dispense, even for the members of the Company, with the requirement of a licence; nor did it give the Company any specific functions in connexion with the issue of licences, and although Elizabeth confirmed her sister’s grant on 10 November 1559, she had already, in the course of the ecclesiastical settlement earlier in the year, taken steps to provide for the continuance of the old system, and specifically laid it down that the administration of the Company was to be subordinate thereto. ”

“ Royal Exchange Assurance Office, for assuring houses and other buildings, goods, wares and merchandize from fire. This corporation was established by act of Parliament, at the same time with that of the London Assurance, when it was enacted, that such as should be admitted 282members of these corporations, should be each a distinct and separate body politic, for the assurance of goods, ships and merchandize at sea, or for lending money upon bottomry.
That no other society should insure ships, or lend money on bottomry for the future; though any private person might do it as usual. ”

“ On the 20th of July the merchants, underwriters, and subscribers of Lloyd’s, held a meeting for the purpose of “setting on foot a general subscription, on an extended scale, for the encouragement and relief of those who may be engaged in the defence of their country, and who may suffer in the common cause ”

“ The permanent members of the rates tribunal may be appointed by His Majesty at any time after the passing of this Act, and from time to time as vacancies occur, and shall be so appointed on the joint recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, the President of the Board of Trade, and the Minister.
(4) Of the permanent members of the rates tribunal one shall be a person of experience in commercial affairs, one a person of experience in railway business, and one, who shall be the president, shall be an experienced lawyer. ”

“ The constitution and government of the Company are as follows:—At the head comes the Court, consisting of the Master, four Wardens (known respectively as First or Upper Warden, Second Warden, Third Warden, and Renter Warden, of whom the Renter Warden, though possessing the privileges of a member of the Court, is not one technically until elected to membership at the end of his year of office) , and Assistants, all of whom but one (the last-preceding Renter Warden) are usually Past-Masters. The above form the governing body of the Company. ”

“ The transaction of business by the corporation in the state, general or special, appearing, a certificate of service by the proper officer on a person who is its agent there would, in our opinion, be sufficient prima facie evidence that the agent represented the company in the business. It would then be open, when the record is offered as evidence in another state, to show that the agent stood in no representative character to the company, that his duties were limited to those of a subordinate employe, or to a particular transaction, or that his agency had ceased when the matter in suit arose. ”

“ We having of late had several new subscriptions set on foot, for raising great sums of money for erecting Offices of Insurance, &c.; at length, some gentlemen, to convince the world how easy it was for projectors to impose upon mankind, set up a pretended office in Exchange-alley, for the receiving subscriptions for raising a million of money to establish an effectual Company of Insurers as they called it. ”

“ The Stock Exchange has its official list of members; the Law List is the register of counsel and solicitors, and when we come to medicine and surgery we find in the Medical Register and the General Medical Council the complete exemplar of a register and tribunal which, as Sir John Paget has argued very reasonably, might well be the pattern to be followed by the bankers. ”