Tables showing the total number of persons assured in the Equitable Society from its commencement in September, 1762, to January 1, 1829 : distinguishing their ages at the time of admission into the society, and exhibiting the number of years during which they have continued members of it, the periods of life at which their assurances have terminated, and the ages which the surviving members had attained on the 1st of January, 1829, to which are added tables of the probabilities and expectations of the duration of human life, deduced from these documents, a statement of the disorders (as certified to the Court of Directors) of which 4095 persons assured have died in thirty-two years ending December 31, 1832, and a supplement showing the mortality of the society for the years 1829, 1830, 1831 and 1832.

  • Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tables showing the total number of persons assured in the Equitable Society from its commencement in September, 1762, to January 1, 1829 : distinguishing their ages at the time of admission into the society, and exhibiting the number of years during which they have continued members of it, the periods of life at which their assurances have terminated, and the ages which the surviving members had attained on the 1st of January, 1829, to which are added tables of the probabilities and expectations of the duration of human life, deduced from these documents, a statement of the disorders (as certified to the Court of Directors) of which 4095 persons assured have died in thirty-two years ending December 31, 1832, and a supplement showing the mortality of the society for the years 1829, 1830, 1831 and 1832. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Equitable Society from the time of its commencement in September 1762 to the 1st of January 1829 *, a period exceeding 67 years. It contains a marginal column, in which are exhibited the ages at which the several Members have been admitted into the Society, and 88 other columns, each containing four subdivisions. In the first subdivision of each column are inserted the numbers of persons who have attained, or been admitted at, the age which stands at the head of that column; these, consisting of persons who have entered the Society at various periods of life, are placed in classes one beneath another, in numerical order, from 7 to 66, so as to show the number of years they may have been severally assured. In the second subdivision is the number of persons of each class who had on the 1st of January 1829 attained, and were living at, the several ages stated at the head of these columns respectively. In the third subdivision is the number of persons of each class who have discontinued their assurances after they had attained the age stated at the head of the column, and before they had completed the next following year of age. In the fourth and last subdivision is the number of persons of each class, who have died after they had attained the age stated at the head of the column, and before they had completed the next successive year of age. The sum of the numbers in the last three subdivisions;— namely, the number still existing, the number who discontinued their assurances, and the num- ber who died between any one year of age and the next succeeding year of age,—being deducted from the number who attained to the former, and who are contained in theirs/ subdivision, the remainders are carried forward as survivors from one age to another, to the extremity of life: for example, under the age of 30 and opposite to 25, in the column showing the age of admission, we find the number 421, which is the exact number of persons, out of all who have assured at the age of 25, who continued Members of the Society until they completed their 30th year of age.; of these, 10 (the number in the second subdivision) were existing on the 1st of January 1829, and would enter upon their 31st year of age in the course of that year; 29 ceased to be Members of the Society between the ages of 30 and 31 ; and 2, the number in the 4th and last subdivision, died between those ages : deducting therefore the number still existing . 10 The number who discontinued 29 The number who died 2 In all . . 41 from 421, there remain 380 persons who have survived, out of the 421 persons first mentioned, to the age of 31, and entered whilst Members of the Society upon their 32nd year of age. A complete view is thus exhibited of the number of persons who have made assurances with the Equitable Society at each particular age, the number of each class who survived from year to year, so long as they continued Members of the Society, and the rate of mortality which has prevailed in each class distinctly, as well as amongst the whole body of assurers taken collectively. From this Table, containing a complete detail of all the facts which the experience of the Equitable Society can furnish connected with the subject of the duration of human life, other tables may without difficulty be formed, with such modifications as on an attentive consideration of the results may be thought necessary for the purpose of applying them to practical purposes: these alterations will of course be made according to the discretion and judgement of those who may undertake the labour. By the summary, page 18, it appears that of the whole number assured in the Society, amounting to 21,398 persons, there have died, who continued Members till their death 5144 there have ceased to be Members, by Surrender, For- feiture or expiration of their Policies .... 9324 and there remained, Members living January 1, 1829 . 6930 Total 21,398 It is obvious, therefore, that the data afforded by the experience of the Equitable Society towards a conclusive inference respecting the duration of lives of all ages, are as yet very imper- fect, little short of one half of all those on whose lives assurances have been commenced—have * 185 new Members were admitted into the Society, in the course of the whole year 1829, at various ages: these are not included in the Table A., although the mortality of that year is included in that Table. I lie reason for this omission will be apparent from a consideration of the principle upon which tables of this kind are formed, and of the information they are intended to convey, namely, the number of deaths which have happened, or may be expected to happen, out of a certain