Page 11 - Life Assurance

The registers were summaries of all policies
issued by a company's offices and agents and
were normally compiled at head office or branch
level.

The address, age, occupation and health of
each insured person were described in the
register. In many cases, the register was
combined with a simple record of premiums
received on each policy. Claims records,
summarizing the age and cause of death of
policyholders, were normally a separate class of
head office's records.

Each policy register contains biographical
details of many hundreds of assured lives. In the
eighteenth century, entries in policy register
were fully descriptive. An entry in the London
"Assurance book on Lives" for 16 July 1733 is
representative .

In many cases the policy registers are
supported by records of deaths and claims,
summarizing the age, occupation, cause of
death, and insured sum for each policyholder.
The combination of sources is useful for
investigating the social and population trends.
The distribution of wealth and savings is also
illuminated by the routine records of life
business.

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