User:MountainWaves/The Colonial Life Company (1846-1866)

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This article discusses the overseas ventures of The Standard Life Assurance Company (Standard Life), from 1846-1866. This began through Standard Life's sister company, The Colonial Life Assurance Company, which was responsible for the initial expansion of Standard Life into overseas markets. In 1866 the two companies merged, and from then on all overseas business was completed through the one company.

Colonial Life

The Colonial Life Assurance Company (Colonial Life) was formed by the directors of the Standard Life Assurance Company in 1846, in order to separate domestic and overseas business.

The beginnings of the company saw William Thomas Thomson (manager for Standard Life) as actuary, Henry Jones Williams as secretary, William Stuart Walker of Bowland was chairman, and the Earl of Elgin was Governor (deputy governor for Standard Life). Additionally, the board also included George Patton (Advocate, and director), David Smith WS (director), and James Kinnear. While both companies shared premises and many directors, Colonial Life was responsible for all overseas business, while Standard Life was focused on domestic markets. Immediately, Colonial Life began to explore operations in Australia, North America, Ceylon, and the West Indies, with the latter three proving fruitful at this time. At the outset, they established local boards at Bombay and Colombo, and Montreal, and policies were to be assigned in local currencies, giving the local boards freedom to invest funds without seeking direct permission from the Edinburgh board.

Policies

From the outset, Colonial Life intended to assure the lives of British citizens who were living overseas. It was not until they were already established in certain countries that they began selling products to non-British citizens. The very first Colonial Life policy, for the total of £1,000 for whole-term, with-profits, was written on 6 November for a George Smith, a merchant in Ceylon.

While Standard Life was unable to offer advances to shareholders and policy holders for more than half of their value, from its outset Colonial Life was able to offer advances to shareholders and policy holders against their securities, up to the full amount of their polices. While this was originally only available for those policy holders living abroad, it was so popular among civil servants and army officers that it was eventually extended to include those living in the United Kingdom.

Taking inspiration from other companies who were in the assurance business overseas, Colonial Life decided to divide potential risks into four classes:

• Class A included:
  • Europe
  • North America north of the 38^th latitude and east of the Mississippi River
  • Cape Colony of Africa south of the 30^th latitude
  • Australia south of the 30^th latitude
  • New Zealand south of the 30^th latitude
• Class B included:
  • North America north of the 35^th latitude and east of the Mississippi River, and from November to June to the north of the 30^th latitude
  • Bermuda south of the 20^th latitude
  • South America south of the 20^th latitude
• Class C included:
  • India
  • Ceylon
  • Mauritius
  • Chinese treaty ports

• Class D included:
  • West Indies

As Colonial Life shared offices and leadership with Standard Life, following their acquisition of the Commercial Life Assurance Company in 1846, Colonial Life was able to acquire Commercial Life's overseas agents and directors for their own network. This gave the company 'an excellent base for the entry of Colonial Life into the West Indies and Canada'.

Overseas Presence

North America

The Canadian office at St James Street, Montreal, was opened officially on 25 February 1847. This led to the expansion of the company presence across Canada, with agents now spanning St John's New Brunswick, Toronto, Quebec, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St John's, Newfoundland.

In 1853, William Thomas Thomson travelled to New York with clerk Charles Martin, to establish a new agency in the United States. Thomson's brother, George Augustus Thomson (previously manager and actuary of the Experience Life Assurance Company) was appointed president and manager for the American business. Due to existing sales techniques and reach of local competitors, this entrance into the United States proved ultimately unsuccessful, and Colonial Life had withdrawn from the United States by 1857.

Far East

At the same time as their initial move into Canadian markets in 1847, Colonial Life also looked towards Indian and Far Eastern markets, and agents were appointed in Calcutta, Bombay, Shanghai, Ceylon, and Madras. Colonial Life’s presence was accepted, and business was promising enough to send secretary Henry Jones Williams to India in 1851 to establish local boards, which he did at Calcutta, Bombay, Ceylon, Colombo, and Madras.

Expansion

In a bid to expand Colonial Life’s reach, John O'Hagan, inspector of agencies for Colonial Life, travelled to Canada in 1860, visiting all 78 agencies there and investigating possibilities of increased investments and development. Later, between the autumn of 1862 and the winter of 1865, O'Hagan again travelled overseas, this time eastward, to investigate the feasibility of expansion, and where he felt there was strong prospects, he appointed local boards. These local boards ended up in mixed success, with Australia and New Zealand already being saturated with local competition, but India and Ceylon proving fruitful for future business growth.

Marketing

Prompted by the opening of a new office in London in 1856, Colonial Life became known for the motif of Hercules holding the world on his shoulders, which was meant to reflect the company’s ambitions for its success overseas. When Colonial Life merged with Standard Life in 1866, this motif was maintained for use on all overseas product literature. While the use of product literature overseas began with Colonial Life, following the merger, Colonial almanacs continued to be published for overseas agents, although now under Standard Life.

Merging with the Standard Life Assurance Company

In 1865, plans for Standard Life and Colonial Life to merge were beginning to take shape. Colonial Life had previously merged with Minerva in 1865, and were in the process of merging with Victoria and Legal and Commercial Life Assurance Company. Had Colonial Life obtained Victoria and Legal’s domestic contact base, they would have posed a threat to Standard Life on home soil. Instead of creating tension between Standard Life and Colonial Life, where they would be working against one another, the sister companies, as well as Victoria and Legal, entered an agreement where they joined together in a three-way merger; Colonial Life was to dissolve in March of 1866, and all Colonial Life shares were to be traded 4:1 for a Standard Life Share valued at £60.

The remainder of the 19^th Century: Standard Life overseas

Following the merger between Colonial Life and Standard Life, the company structure was rearranged to create a split between home and foreign business, with Thomas Robertson as secretary of the Home department, and D. Clunie Gregor as secretary of the Colonial and Foreign department, although the separate colonial committee was disbanded in 1868, and all business, foreign and domestic, were discussed by the directors.

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