By Summer Parker, volunteer, and Alice Millard, archivist
In late 2024, the archive of the Marine and General Mutual Life Assurance Society was catalogued and made accessible to researchers. This project was made possible by a grant awarded by Lloyds Register Foundation.
Known as MGM, the company was founded in London in 1852 by a group of big hitters in the maritime industry. The signatories on the society’s ‘deed of settlement’ included William Fane de Salis, director of P&O, Samuel Cunard, shipping magnate, and several members of the East India Company.
They wanted to fill a gap in the market. Other life assurance offices charged seafarers much high rates than those in land-based occupations. As such, there was a lack of affordable life policies for seafarers, especially those who were teetotal. At this time, the Royal Navy and maritime companies provided beer and rum weakened with water and lemon/lime juice (grog). This was safer than unsanitary drinking water. However, during the temperance movement of the 19th century, some sailors refused their ration of alcohol. This rendered them more susceptible to waterborne illness, and therefore more likely to die at sea.
MGM began selling life assurance policies to predominantly seafarers. Their very first Life Claims Register (MGM 7/1/1) lists the names and details of death of almost two thousand policy holders from across the UK. This register is a record of more than ten years of mortality trends at sea. It also provides an insight into the operations of companies such as P&O, African Steamship Co., Union Steamship Co., and the colonial activities of the East India Company, through their employees.
Life Claims Register (MGM 7/1/1)
Summer Parker, WSRO volunteer, has spent considerable time transcribing this register. The first 50 pages hold over 1000 entries, spanning 25 years, and these are available to search on our website.
To mark this milestone, Summer has selected a few of the most memorable entries.
“I have loved spending time with this document. I have learnt a lot that I did not expect, such as how place names have changed over time and fascinating medical terminology. However, what stands out most to me are the individual lives. The everyday glimpse into how they worked and died, their ages and ailments. These details build a picture from different levels of society in the 1800’s from the stewards, engineers and surgeons to the commanders and gentleman.
One great example I found appears on page 51. It is the policy information of the Earl of Shrewsbury who died aged 46 from disease of the heart on May 11th, 1877, in Piccadilly. He had one of the larger insurance pay-outs at £1500. Just one line below him we see the policy of J L Symon, a 1st engineer for the Royal Mail Company who died aged 47 from nervous apoplexy on May 14th, 1877, in Buenos Aires. He had an insurance pay-out of £256 10s. We can see how these two men, nearly the same age, died three days apart in different parts of the world. You can only imagine how different their lives would have been, but they leave a note in history alongside each other.
Another interesting aspect of this register, which begins in 1853 and ends in 1895, is that sometimes I noticed a pattern of dates that you can’t help but investigate. One example that kept me digging for more was the information on pages 27, 28 and 29. It is here you can see the deaths of 18 men who all died on October 29th 1867, around the British Virgin Islands. The only information about their causes of death was either “Drowned Rhone” or “Drowned Wye”.
I was curious as to what could have caused so many deaths in such a short space of time. I found a tragic explanation. Unfortunately, these men lost their lives during the San Narciso Hurricane. This extremely deadly and unexpected storm took over 800 lives and more than 60 ships. Over 120 of those lives were on the HMS Rhone, a Royal Mail steam packet and passenger liner. There is a lot of information available about the sinking as it is now a popular Caribbean wreck diving site. Of the 18 deaths recorded in this register I was interested to find there’s a lot of information out there on the final moments of the crew thanks to the dive’s popularity.
On page 28 we see the insurance policy of Commander F Woolley, captain of the RMS Rhone, who tried to keep his crew and passengers safe by strapping them down to their beds and then heading to open sea to escape the storm through Black Rock point. However, only 250 yards from safety the winds changed direction throwing the ship at the rocks, sinking the ship along with the majority of the crew and passengers and also throwing Captain Woolley over board never to be seen again. There were only 25 survivors of the approximate 145 crew and passengers.
Records like this are so important to add to the details of an historic event such as it tells us the full names and occupations of a handful the crew and the islands where some of them were buried, which was mostly on St Thomas and Salt Island. It also tells us what compensation their family received, after such devastating news it is warming to know their families were provided for.
The first 25 years of information shows so much insight into the people and the fast-growing industry around them on the seas. I look forward to uncovering more about the lives of these men and women as I work my way through the next 20 years’ worth of entries.”
Summer continues to transcribe the remaining entries.
If you enjoyed this, you may like to read our previous blog post on MGM.
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