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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Lloyd's of London
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(London EC3)
Unique insurance enterprise which has evolved from the transactions carried on in the 1680s between shipowners, merchants and insurers in the *coffee house of Edward Lloyd (1648–1713). The risk is taken and the profit shared between a large number of members (known as 'names'), whose entire personal wealth is theoretically available to back up the risk accepted by the professional underwriters. Around 1990 a series of bad years resulted in some heavy losses (more than £8 billion in four years) and much acrimony. In 1993 members voted to allow corporate capital to support underwriting for the first time on a limited liability basis.
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A famous feature of Lloyd's is the Lutine bell. The Lutine sank off Holland in 1799 carrying £200,000 of bullion insured with Lloyd's; in the 1850s the ship's bell and £25,000 were recovered from the sea bed. The bell used to be rung when any important news was received (one stroke for bad news, two for good). Since 1986 Lloyd's has occupied a spectacular new building by Richard Rogers, in his hi-tech style with the tubes and conduits exposed (causing some to grumble at starting out in a coffee house and ending up in a percolator). On the 11th floor Rogers incorporated a room by Robert Adam from *Bowood, already in use as the Lloyd's council room in the previous building on the site.
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