Phoenix Assurance or Phoenix Fire Office was a fire insurance company founded in 1680 in England.[1]
The history of the company includes the nostalgia of red-coated attendants clattering to the fires of London on horse-drawn tenders.[2]
The Phoenix figured in case law. In 1796, the company refused to pay damages awarded of £3,000 (2021: £) following a 1792 fire at a house in Tavistock Street, London. Phoenix claimed that the owners had failed to obtain a certificate from the ministers and churchwardens of the parish affirming the good character of the victims. Phoenix issued a writ of error to appeal against the original decision.[3]
Phoenix diversified into life insurance, establishing the Pelican Life Office in 1797.[4] In 1907 Phoenix reabsorbed Pelican Life Assurance, at that time known as the Pelican and British Empire Life Office, becoming a composite insurer.[4]
The company built a new head office at 3-7 King William Street, erected in 1915,[5] on a design by John Macvicar Anderson and his son Henry Lennox Anderson.[6] It was known as Phoenix House while the seat of the company from 1915 to 1983; the name later went to another building at No. 18 in the same street.[7]
Sun Alliance & London acquired Phoenix Assurance in 1984.[8]