Fire mark

Sun Fire Office fire insurance mark in the form of a sun in splendour with 16 alternate straight and wavy rays. Policy number stamped below: 277696. The policy was taken out by Lucy Boyd, widow, on 25 November 1769 on her brick dwelling house and its contents in Great George Street Westminster. Her house was insured for £2000, her household goods £850, her clothes £100, and china and glass £50. Fire marks were placed on the outside of buildings to indicate that the property was insured by a specific company. This identification was particularly important in London before the introduction of street numbering in the 1760s. Householders with fire insurance could expect the company to send its 'fire brigade' to put out the fire. Insurance companies often had reciprocal arrangements with each other so that if a fire brigade put out a fire at a house insured by a different company then the brigade's company would be reimbursed. In 1826 an agreement was reached between the Sun Fire office, the Royal Exchange Assurance and the Phoenix Fire Office to combine their brigades under the leadership of one superintendent. This provided the basis for the creation of the London Fire Engine Establishment in 1833.

This fire mark was issued by the Sun Fire Office, founded by the London businessman Charles Povey as the Exchange House Fire Office in 1708. Povey identified insured property with a numbered mark bearing the sun symbol. After establishing a partnership in 1710, the renamed Sun Fire Office opened for business at Causey's Coffee House in St Paul's Churchyard. By 1720, the company had become a national organisation. This mark features the policy number impressed on the panel at the bottom.