The History of British and American Fire Marks

Abstract

Although no longer important to today's fire insurance operations, fire marks, the plaques which were attached by the fire insurers to buildings when the whole or part of the buildings or contents were insured by them, played a very important role in the earliest days of modern fire insurance. The use of fire marks originated in England immediately following the of London in 1666 and spread all over the world. This article covers the original purposes of fire marks, their design, construction, and numbering. Since it was in Great Britain that fire marks originated, the major portion of the article is devoted to the development and evolution away from the use of fire marks in that country. The last portion of the article examines the role of the fire mark in American fire insurance history and some of the differences between fire marks in the United States and Great Britain. An interesting facet of property insurance history is the role played by fire marks. A fire mark is a plaque which was attached by a fire insurer to a building when the building, or its contents, was insured by the insurance company. Fire marks are believed to be as old as fire insurance itself: they originated in England in the period immediately following the of London in 1666. Altogether, more than 150 different British fire insurance companies are known to Harry M. Johnson, Ph.D., CLU, CPCU, is Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Johnson was formerly Assistant Dean of the School of Business at Connecticut. The research for this paper was conducted while the author was on sabbatical leave in London, England. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Catherine H. W. Bickle, Librarian, and her staff at the Chartered Insurance Institute, London, for their generous assistance. Much of the material drawn on for this article is not available in the United States, and the kind cooperation and helpfulness of the Institute staff during the author's many visits to their library in great measure contributed to his enjoyment in conducting this research. This paper was submitted in September, 1971. have issued fire marks with at least 470 variants, while in the United States, over 64 insurance companies issued 117 vari-