Insurance against Fire began the year following the Great Fire of London (1666), and the first Company for Assurance against Fire was the Phœnix, established about 1682, first at the Rainbow Coffee House, in Fleet Street, and, afterwards, near the Royal Exchange. Their system was to pay 30s. down, and insure £100 for seven years. The second was The Friendly Society, in Palsgrave Court, without Temple Bar, which was the first (in 1684) that insured by mutual contribution, where you could insure £100 for seven years by paying 6s. 8d. down and an annual subscription of 1s. 4d. And, thirdly, The Amicable Contributors, at Tom’s Coffee House in St Martin’s Lane (commenced about 1695), where a payment of 12s. would insure £100 for seven years, at the expiration of which time 10s. would be returned to the assured. This Society seems to have changed its name to the Hand in Hand Fire Office, who gave up their two establishments, at Tom’s Coffee House, and the Crown Coffee House, behind the Exchange, to more suitable premises in Angel Court, Snow Hill, and notified the change in the _Gazette_ of 1st Jan. 1714. This Insurance Company (The Amicable) is generally considered to be the first institution for the Insurance of Lives, although Life Annuities had been in practice for a long time, but a writer in _Chambers’ Encyclopædia_ (Vol. vi., p. 175, ed. 1895) says that it did not begin life business until 1836. The same writer continues: “The earliest known Life Assurance Company was established in 1699, and called the ‘Society of Assurance for Widows and Orphans.’ This was what, now, would be called an _Assessment_ Company. It did not guarantee a definite sum assured, in consideration of a fixed periodical premium; but, by its constitution it was to consist, when full, of 2000 members, who were to contribute 5s. each towards every death that occurred amongst the members. “The earliest life assurance policy, of which particulars have been preserved, was made on 15th June 1583, at the ‘Office of Insurance within the Royal Exchange,’ in London. Full details of this Policy have been preserved, because it gave rise to the first authentic disputed claim. The policy was for £383, 6s. 8d., to be paid to Richard Martin, in the event of William Gybbons dying within twelve months, and the policy was underwritten by thirteen different persons who guaranteed sums of from £25 to £50 each. The premium was at the rate of 8 per cent. William Gybbons died on the 28th May 1584, and the underwriters refused to pay because he had survived twelve months of twenty-eight days each. The Commissioners appointed to determine such cases, held that the twelve months mentioned in the policy meant one full year, and they ordered the underwriters to pay. These appealed to the Court of Admiralty, which had jurisdiction in such cases, and where, in 1587, two judges upheld the decision of the Commissioners, so that, eventually, the underwriters had to pay.”