ABSTRACT
There were several private fire brigades in Georgian London such as those belonging to the 12 principal livery companies or the brigade of Lincoln’s Inn. Generally, however, for most of the eighteenth century fire insurance was a profitable business for the stock companies. The satisfactory nature of fire insurance profitability over the long term can also be seen in the way the REA’s ‘fire fund’ grew after mid-century and gave the corporation the financial strength to deal with the losses of the 1780s and early 1790s. The story of the mutuals belies the idea that fire insurance in eighteenth-century London was anything other than turbulent. Each of the early fire offices thus had their own social and geographical identities within the rapidly expanding metropolis, helping to give them a foothold in their respective markets. The metropolitan economy offered a huge but often potentially hazardous extension to the residential property insurance market for those underwriters willing to explore the opportunities.
