Greene's medical examination for life insurance and its associated clinical methods : with chapters on the insurance of substandard lives and accident insurance.

  • Greene, Charles Lyman, 1862-1929.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Greene's medical examination for life insurance and its associated clinical methods : with chapters on the insurance of substandard lives and accident insurance. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    board. This strongly suggests the West Middlesex* swindle of 1836, which was originated by two sharpers, one of whom had formerly been a journeyman shoemaker and a smuggler, the other a bankrupt tallow chandler. In speaking of this swindle, Walford says: “If the disappointment and ruin which this one fraudulent scheme occasioned could be truly depicted, there is nothing in the realms of fiction which could ecjual it.” The Mercers’ Annuity Life Company, founded by Dr. Assheton in 1698, was really the first life insurance company. Though not successful, it furnished genuine mutual life insurance, agreeing to pay to the widow of any subscriber 30 pounds per annum during her lifetime. The premium was represented by a subscription of 100 pounds upon the part of the insured. The Society for the Assurance of Widows and Orphans, also unsuccessful, was founded in 1699, and was followed in 1706 by the Amicable Society. But for the first life insurance conducted upon a rational and scientific plan one must look to the Equitable, founded at London in 1762, of which Dr. Edgar Holden says: “Its history gives the best selection up to the advent of insur- ance in America.” f The Dawn of a New Era.—Walford also mentions it in the following terms: “The year 1762 ushered into existence the Equitable Society, and with it a new era in the practice of Life Assurance.” J Early Requirements and Rating.—The Amicable required good health, and the applicant’s declaration was supported by oath. The companies of this early period, for the most part, however, merely required a personal application to a lay-board, one adverse report rejecting, and for years all insurers, whatever their age or occupation, paid the same premium. Grading of Premiums and Employment of Physicians. —As time passed, greater care was exercised, and premiums were graded according to the age of the insurer. In 1762, the date of the founding of the Equitable, a health certificate was * The “West Diddlesex” of Thackeray’s “Great Hoggarty Diamond.” t “Selection of Lives for Insurance,” 1888, Edgar Holden, Wood’s “Handbook of Medical Sciences.” t Walford, “The Insurance Guide and Handbook,” London, 1867. The first com- pany, 1698. The Amicable, 1706. The Equitable of London, 1762. Same premium for all ages. Health certifi- cate.