Commercial Union

File:24 Cornhill (geograph 2546894).jpg

Commercial Union was established following a conflagration near London Bridge in 1861, known as the Great Tooley Street Fire, which destroyed a number of warehouses and wharves along the River Thames as a result of which the fire insurance companies were hit by a series of massive claims. Consequently, they increased their fire insurance rates so dramatically that a group of local merchants and brokers decided to form their own company. This became known as the Commercial Union Assurance Company.Liveing, Edward. A Century of Insurance: The Commercial Union Assurance Group 1861 - 1961. London: H F & G Witherby, 1961 The company established its head office at 24-26 Cornhill in London in 1897.{{cite web|url=https://heritage.aviva.com/our-history/companies/a/aviva-international-insurance-ltd/|title=Commercial Union Assurance Company|publisher=Aviva|accessdate=18 April 2020}}

It purchased the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, the world's oldest fire insurance company, in 1905{{Cite web |url=http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/companies/hand-in-hand-fire-and-life/ |title=Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society |access-date=2009-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204135549/http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/companies/hand-in-hand-fire-and-life/ |archive-date=2010-12-04 |url-status=dead }} and The Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation in 1910 and it continued to grow by further acquisitions.

The acquisition of the British General Insurance Company followed in 1926.{{cite web|url=https://aim25.com/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=17155&inst_id=118&nv1=browse&nv2=repos|title=British General Insurance Company|publisher=Aim 25|accessdate=18 April 2020}} Then, after completing the acquisition of North British and Mercantile Insurance, which had significant operations in the United States, in 1959, Commercial Union moved to larger and more modern facilities at St. Helen's in London in 1969.{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/avivatower-london-unitedkingdom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418010101/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/avivatower-london-unitedkingdom |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=St Helens |work=Emporis |access-date=2020-04-18}}

With the intention of expanding its activities in continental Europe, it acquired the Dutch insurance business, Delta Lloyd Group, in 1973 and the French insurance business, L'Epargne de France in 1984.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tyvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257|title=Cross-Border Entry in European Retail Financial Services: Determinants, Regulation and the Impact on Competition|first= Tobias C |last=Hoschka|page=257|publisher=Palgrave McMillan|year=1993|isbn=978-1-349-22979-6}}

The company merged with General Accident to form CGU plc in 1998.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB888413884754700500|title=U.K.'s Commercial Union, General Accident to Merge|publisher=Wall Street Journal|date=26 February 1998|accessdate=18 April 2020}}

The College of Arms granted the following coat of arms to the Commercial Union:{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Geoffrey |title=Civic & corporate heraldry: a dictionary of impersonal arms of England, Wales, & N. Ireland |date=1971 |publisher=(10 Beauchamp Place, S.W.3), Heraldry Today |isbn=978-0-900455-21-6 |location=London |pages=116-121}}{{Infobox COA wide|name=Commercial Union|image=File:Commercial Union coat of arms.png|imagesize=220|bannerimage=|badgeimage=|coronet=|torse=|escutcheon=Sable, a fire beacon and on a chief Or three anchors azure.|supporters=On either side a winged lion guardant collared Or.|motto=Anchora salutis|orders=|banner=|badge=|symbolism=|year_granted=14 November 1928}}

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Category:Aviva

Category:Financial services companies established in 1861

Category:Insurance companies of the United Kingdom

Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange

Category:1861 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Financial services companies disestablished in 1998

Category:1998 disestablishments in the United Kingdom