Insurance Policies

The CII’s Collection of Insurance Policies consists of more than 800 policies issued between 1669 and 1951 by various insurance companies. Most of the policies are British and date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Fire and life are the most common types of insurance represented but the collection extends to marine, burglary, aviation, accident, plate-glass and various other categories of cover. Its scope also extends beyond the UK, encompassing policies from many corners of Europe, as well as China, Singapore, Venezuela, the United States, Brazil, Kenya and Australia.

Three hundred of the oldest British insurance policies in the collection have been digitised and can be viewed here. The interactive map below pinpoints the location of the insurance companies in London that issued the policies in our collection. Click on a company’s red dot to see examples of their policies.

Please use the search form below to search the Policies Collection. For a more general search of all collections please return to the Online Collections landing page or use the search form in the header.