ANNALS, ANECDOTES, AND LEGENDS
OF
LIFE ASSURANCE.
London:
Spottiswoodes and Shaw,
New-street-Square.
ANNALS,
ANECDOTES AND LEGENDS:
A Chronicle
OF
LIFE ASSURANCE.
BY
JOHN FRANCIS,
AUTHOR OF
“THE HISTORY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND,” ETC.
“Tragedy never quits the world—it surrounds us everywhere. Wehave but to look, wakeful and vigilant, abroad; and, from the age ofPelops to that of Borgia, the same crimes, though under different garbs,will stalk in our paths.”—Sir E. Bulwer Lytton.
“Murder?”
“Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural.”—Shakspeare.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1853.
Dedicated, by Permission,
TO
THE MOST NOBLE
THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE.
THIS NARRATIVE,
RECORDING THE PROGRESS OF LIFE ASSURANCE,
AND
RELATING THE SERVICES OF SIR WILLIAM PETTY,
THE FATHER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,
IN THE CAUSE OF VITAL STATISTICS,
IS, BY PERMISSION,
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO HIS DESCENDANT,
THE MOST NOBLE
HENRY PETTY, THIRD MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE,
BY HIS LORDSHIP’S
MOST OBEDIENT AND VERY DEVOTED SERVANT,
JOHN FRANCIS.
Shooter’s Hill, May 23. 1853.
PREFACE
The subject of Life Assurance is so important, thatany endeavour to trace its history, however imperfect,may not be unacceptable. Men toil, work, slave,nay, almost sin for their families; they do everythingbut insure: and should this volume induce any oneto avail himself of the benefits of Life Assurance whohas not hitherto done so, or should it attract the attentionof others who are ignorant of the system, thewriter will not deem his labour entirely in vain.
The many legends and traditions of the subject,form a page from the romance of Mammon, which,remarkable as some of the stories may appear, andfearful as many of them are, form but a small portionof the sad and stern realities attached to the annals ofLife Assurance.
The simple fact, that the payment of a small yearly[viii]sum will at once secure the family of the insuredfrom want, even should he die the day after the firstpremium is paid, is sufficiently singular to the uninitiated;but it is more so, that very few availthemselves of an opportunity within the reachof al