NOTES ON FIRE INSURANCE MARKS. 
56 
some alterations in their plans or names. This kind of state¬ 
ment is just about as correct as if we were to add to our week’s 
list of deaths, those ladies who have changed their names from 
the single to the married state—. . . 
Then the query is raised “ is there sufficient property to be in¬ 
sured in Yorkshire and the neighbouring districts to support an 
Insurance Establishment ? ’’ 
Another captious critic writes “ is there property sufficient in the 
County to give the requisite security to insurers ? " and so on. 
Notwithstanding these squibs, within a month over 7,400 shares 
of £50 were subscribed. A list of more than 70 patrons was pub¬ 
lished, headed by the then Archbishop of York, and by many of 
the Noblemen and principal families of Yorkshire, on the the 1st 
September, 1824, temporary Offices were opened in Coney Street. 
In October, 1824, the late Mr. W. L. Newman, was appointed 1st 
Secretary and Actuary to the Asssciation. The Office was removed 
to St. Helen's Square by September of the same year. Then 
additional land was bought on adjoining property, and the whole 
of the present Site was soon acquired for the development of the 
business. 
In 1890, the Yorkshire took over the business of the North of 
England Fire Insurance Company, and in 1902 acquired the business 
of the Lion Fire Insurance Company, and in 1904 a considerable 
portion of the Fire and Accident Departments of the National 
Assurance Company of Ireland was also acquired by the Yorkshire. 
This follows the usual course in every business now-a-days of the 
smaller being absorbed into larger concerns ; and it is interesting 
that out of 21 County Fire Insurance Offices called by the name of 
their Shires in the Annual Register of 1856, the Yorkshire is the 
only one now surviving as an independent Company ; but the pro¬ 
gress of this Company has been so continuous that I need not 
detail its more recent history, seeing it now has Branches and 
Agents all over the world ; that its income for 1911 was more than 
one million, whereas half-a-million was its whole capital at its 
foundation ; and, that all we householders have to beseige its 
doors and beg to be relieved of our burdens under the “ Employers’ 
Liability Act.'’ 
The very dilapidated Five Mark of the Sun on Plate III. is one of the 
rare Iron Marks of that Office, the Policy Number appears to be 821117 . 
The Bath Sun and the Sarum Sun are also figured on this Plate . 
