Al AT LLOYD’S.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1922, Page 12

Al AT LLOYD’S.

FAMOUS INSURANCE FIRM. ROMANCE OF LONDON COFFEE HOUSE. “Some time during the seventeenth century an obscure man of the name of Edward Lloyd opened a little coffee house in Tower Street, near which the River Thames, with its many ships, flowed in placid unconcern of the. fortunes and misfortunes of men,” writes Mr. Archibald Hurd in the Daily Telegraph. “History does not tell us anything about his birth, and even his death was a matter of conjecture until a few weeks ago. But in a lecture, which he delivered at the London Institution, Mr. Sidney Boulton, the chairman of Lloyd’s—with which he has been associated for 50 years—mentioned that Colonel St. Quintin, the secretary of Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund, had diligently searched the registers of St. Mary Woolnoth Church, and had established the fact that he died in 17/12. WHAT EDWARD LLOYD DID. “For the rest, all that is known is that this inconspicuous coffee-house keeper provided a place of refreshment which became the rendezvous of seafarers, as well as of merchants and others who were concerned with the promotion of the growing over-sea trade which London was then conducting. As a matter of convenience, Edward Lloyd prepared ‘ships’ lists’ for the guidance of the frequenters of the coffee-house. ‘The lists, which were written by hand, contained,’ according to Mr. Andrew Scott, ‘an account of vessels which the underwriters who met there were likely to have offered them for insurance.’

“Edward Lloyd can have had no idea that he was laying the foundations of two institutions which have since exercised a dominant influence on the seacarrying trade not only of this country, but of the whole world. His name has become the hall-mark of good design and fine workmanship in the shipping world, and a Lloyd’s policy of insurance carries with it, wherever it goes, an unchallengeable prestige. NATIVE GENIUS OF OUR RACE. “London is a vast memorial to the native genius of our race. From the time of Master John Philpot, of Philpot Lane, it has drawn withifi its gates, from age to age, men of outstanding ability, who, almost contemptuous of Governments and their ways, have been the architects of their own fortunes, and the architects, also, of the fortunes of their contemporaries and successors. Of these men, Edward Lloyd presents perhaps the most striking picture. We can imagine him. almost certainly in his shirt sleeves, bustling about among his customers; we call see him serving one with a cup of coffee, or possibly something stronger; discussing the qualities of a steak with another; and then running away to hand his ‘ships' list’ to some important city merchant, possibly giving a word of advice as to some particular ‘risk.’ ” One pictures him as a small man. full of vitality, independent and yet not aggressive, anxious to serve his fellows, but at the same time holding his head high amongst them. We may search in vain for a status of this man. But if you raise your eyes as you pass the Mansion House your gaze is arrested by the Royal Exchange, the home of Lloyd’s, the greatest insurance institution in the world, which does now almost as much non-marine business as marine business; last , year the premiums amounted to £3*0.000,000, onethird of that sum being for non-marine business. And if you walk down Fenchurch Street you come to the fine new building which is the headquarters of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, with its great company of ship surveyors and engineers distributing over the globe, protecting alike the lives of seamen, the property of ship-owners, the pockets of underwriters, and the goods of merchants. SECRET OF SUCCESS. “These are the two abiding memorials to Edward Lloyd, and we can imagine how astonished he would be if he could visit the crowded ‘Room’ or glance in on one of the committees of Lloyd’s Register when it is at work. He would be dumb with amazement and would wonder how it had happened that out of his little coffee-house had sprung these two world-wide organisations. The secret of his influence from generation to generation is to be found in one word —honesty. One is convinced, though little is known of his life, that he was a man of the highest integrity. He and his customers struck a high note, which has never been silenced amid all the fierce competition of later years. That is why a Lloyd's policy goes unquestioned to the uttermost parts of the world, and why a certificate of ‘lOO Al* in Lloyd’s Register is accepted in every port as a guarantee of seaworthiness. 100,000 TELEGRAMS A YEAR. “Only those who have visited the ‘Room’ at Lloyd’s in the busy hours of the day can have any conception of its varied activities, for it has 1400 agents and sub-agents all over the world. It records through its intelligence service the movements from day to day of every vessel afloat. As many as 'lOO.OOO telegrams are handled in the course of a year, and from its own signal stations ships are reported as they pass on their lawful occasions. It edits, prints, and publishes in the Royal Exchange its own daily newspaper, ‘Lloyd’s List.’ ”