European Guide on
Banking and Reverse Mortgage Loans
About Guide Guide Summery Order Guide
. . .
E A B H strong lender of reverse mortgage loans. G U G international reverse equity loans. SEBH reverse mortgage loans all across Europe.
EABH GUG SEBH

History of the company/bank and archive description for Eagle Star Holdings Plc.
History of the
company/bank:		 Eagle Star was founded by Edward Mountain in 1904, but the origins of its constituent companies go back to 1807. The foundation date of its earliest component, the Albion, is two years earlier, in 1805, but that company had already been absorbed into the Eagle, Mountain´s most important acquisition, over fifty years before he bought it.
Eagle Star began as a marine business under the name British Dominions Marine Insurance Company, registered on 15 September 1904. By 1911 it had expanded into general business, first into fire, and then into the pioneer field of motor insurance, and its name was changed to British Dominions General.
In 1914 it opened two new departments, one for accident and employer´s liability and one for indemnity insurance. Two years later it obtained powers to transact life business, and three existing life companies were purchased within the space of ten months: the Eagle (in December 1916), the Sceptre (May 1917) and the Star (September 1917).
The Eagle Insurance Company had been founded "for fire and life assurance and for granting annuities" as the result of a meeting of a group of City merchants, bankers and traders in Cole´s Coffee House, Cornhill, in the City of London, on 23 October 1807. They had been brought together by Sir William Rawlins (1753 - 1838), an upholsterer by trade, who became the Eagle´s first chairman and remained the driving force behind the company until his death. Fire business predominated in the early years, but this was sold to Protector Fire in 1826.
The Eagle itself had acquired many other life companies during the nineteenth century. With the Protector Life in 1847 came the services of its eminent actuary, Charles Jellicoe, and he was the person chiefly responsible for the subsequent amalgamations, making the Eagle into one of the soundest life offices of the time.
The Sceptre (1864) and the Star (1843) were both founded to appeal to Methodists, the Star particularly to Wesleyans. For most of its independent existence the Star´s list of directors could hardly be distinguished from a list of the leading Methodists of the day.
With the acquisition of the three life companies Edward Mountain obtained an instant pedigree for his young company. The Eagle had evolved its practice of insurance over more than a century, and the British Dominions General had had spectacular success in little more than a decade. Immediately after the purchase Mountain changed the company´s name to Eagle and British Dominions, and spread the date 1807 liberally over the new company´s literature and artefacts.
When the purchase of the Sceptre and Star had been completed in 1917 he changed the company´s name again, uniting the key elements into the new name Eagle, Star and British Dominions. This it remained until shortened to the present title, Eagle Star, in 1937.
In 1918 Mountain received a knighthood for his services to insurance. He was created a baronet in 1922. By 1918, with other acquisitions including the English and Scottish Law Life, his company was one of the largest composite offices in the country.
He had a recognised talent for spotting talent in others and between the wars he built up a powerful team of managers, several of whom had come from other companies, although on occasion he had had to buy the company in order to secure the man he wanted.
The appointment of A F Shepherd as publicity manager at British Dominions General in 1915 had added an extra dimension to the company´s expansion. Shepherd was one of the outstanding advertising practitioners of his time, and it was Mountain´s good fortune that his own company was to be the vehicle by which Shepherd revolutionised insurance marketing. The exposure generated by his innovative ideas and his phenomenal output, under Edward Mountain´s leadership, kept the company firmly in the public eye. He launched the All - In policy (1915) and the Victory War Loan (1917) with eye - catching advertising,and as fresh ideas for insurance pored out from the Company´s various departments, so he provided the advertising channels for their success.
New company schemes between the wars included free newspaper insurance, the Pluvius weather underwritings business (which still obtains good publicity for the company) and the creation of a women´s department, staffed entirely by women to deal with women´s particular insurance needs. At the same time a strong network of agencies and branches at home and overseas was constructed, supported by local boards of professional and business men. The first head office was built at 1 Threadneedle Street, London, and was opened in 1925. Outside office hours Sir Edward encouraged staff sports and social activities. The Eagle Dramatic and Operatic Society had a long run of highly successful productions from 1922 onwards, ended only by the outbreak of war. There were clubs for many sports and interests, and the company was particularly successful in football and swimming.
At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 the main administrative centre was immediately evacuated to Cobham Park in Surrey. Other London departments moved to various premises in the Cobham area. After the war the company entered a new phase of reconstruction and expansion, building on the solid foundations laid by previous generations. Its pre - war network of branches and agencies was extended, leading to the establishment and acquisition of companies in all parts of the world.
Eight conferences of branch managers were held at Worcester College, Oxford, between 1947 and 1961, and were seen as a significant contribution to the development of post - war business. The head office at Threadneedle Street was rebuilt and the new building was opened in January 1968. The new administrative head office and computer centre was opened in Cheltenham in the following October.
Important acquisitions included insurance companies with a unique reputation in their own specialist fields, such as Midland Assurance, Navigators & General and Home & Overseas, as well as non - insurance companies such as Bernard Sunley Investment Trust and Gresham Trust.
In 1948 Sir Edward Mountain died and was succeeded by his only son, Brian. Sir Brian retired in 1974 and died in 1977. His elder son, Denis, who had succeeded him as chairman in 1974, retired in 1985.
In January 1984 Eagle Star became part of B.A.T. Industries p.l.c. , one of the world´s largest industrial enterprises, to spearhead its planned diversification into financial services.
Archive description CATALOGUE OF SOME OF THE RECORDS OF THE PARENT COMPANY , 1904 - 1937:

The classes of records are arranged as follows:

  • 1 CORPORATE RECORDS
  • 2 SHARE RECORDS
  • 3 FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING RECORDS
  • 4 BUSINESS
  • 5 PREMISES
  • 6 STAFF
  • 7 ACQUISITIONS AND MERGERS
CATALOGUE OF THE RECORDS OF THE AMALGAMATED COMPANIES , 1807 - 1937:

The classes of records are arranged as follows, numbered after the identification letters of each company:

  • 1 CORPORATE RECORDS
  • 2 SHARE RECORDS
  • 3 FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING RECORDS
  • 4 BUSINESS
  • 5 PREMISES
  • 6 STAFF
  • 7 ACQUISITIONS AND MERGERS
Publications BRITISH DOMINIONS GENERAL:
  • British Dominions General : War Facts and Figures. 1914.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1916.
  • Shepherd , A.F. : Graphic Insurance. 1916.
  • Shepherd , A.F. : Press Extracts. 1916.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1917.
EAGLE AND BRITISH DOMINION:
  • Shepherd , A.F. : Links with the Past. 1917.
EAGLE, STAR AND BRITISH DOMINIONS:
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1918.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1919.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1920.
  • Langton Hewer , J. : Baby, From Bud to Blossom. 1920.
  • Bramley - Moore , S. : Motors in a Nutshell. 2nd - 9th edns. 1921 - 1929.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1921.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1922.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1923.
  • Salmon , Edward / Worsfold , James (eds.) : The British Dominions Year Book 1924.
  • Interesting Documents issued by the Eagle Star & British Dominions Insurance Company Limited & Companies therewith [ 1929 ].
  • Shepherd , A.F. : Business First Principles. London, Business Builders, 1923.
EAGLE STAR:
  • Spater , E.G. : Box 1299. London 1951.
  • Burton , Philip : Vanishing Eagles. London, Eagle Star - in association with the RSPB - , 1981.
  • Campbell , Peter (ed.) : A House in Town. London, Batsford - in association with Eagle Star - , 1984 ; reprinted 1997.
NAVIGATORS´ & GENERAL:
  • Coombs , William H. : The Nation´s Key Men. London, Potter, 1925.
  • Villiers , Alan : ´The Navigators´ and the Merchant Navy. Glasgow, Nautical Press, 1957.
MIDLAND EMPLOYERS´ MUTUAL ASSURANCE:
  • MEMA The Shield of Industry. Birmingham 1948.
UNPUBLISHED WORK CONNECTED WITH EAGLE STAR:
  • Catchpole , W.L. : 1 Threadneedle Street, The Eagle Star Story. 1968.
  • Apling , S.H. : A Slippered Pantaloon´s Memoirs. 1997.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS: (With significant references to company history)
  • Maclean , F.J. : The Human Side of Insurance. London, Sampson Low, [c. 1932].
  • Aris , Stephen : The Jews in Business. London, Cape, 1970.
  • Pyke , Magnus : The Six Lives of Pyke. London, Dent, 1981.
  • Chapman , S.D. : Hogg Robinson: the rise of a Lloyd´s broker , in: The Historian and the Business of Insurance. Ed. by Westall, Oliver M. Manchester University Press 1984.
  • Jeremy , David J. : Capitalists and Christians. Oxford, Clarendon, 1990.
  • Keyworth , J.M. : Cabbages and Things. 1990.
  • Kynaston , David : The City of London. vol. 2. London, Chatto & Windus, 1995.
  • Henry , Teresa : Partnership: The Story of Simmons & Simmons. Cambridge, Granta, 1996.
  • Scott , Peter : The Property Masters: A History of the British Commercial Property sector. London, E & F N Spon, 1997.
    • WITH SIGNIFICANT REFERENCES TO COMPANY PREMISES IN CHELTENHAM:
    • Ellis , Chris : Smiths Industries at Cheltenham. Surbiton, Kristall, 1990.
    • Sampson , Aylwin / Blake , Steven : A Cheltenham Companion. Cheltenham, Portico, 1993.
    • Mowl , Timothy : Cheltenham Betrayed. Tiverton, Redcliffe, 1995.
    • Blake , Steven : Cheltenham: A Pictorial History. Chichester, Phillimore, 1996.
    Conditions of use Eagle Star Holdings PLC is willing to allow bona fide historical researchers to use the records and the Group Archives Library, subject to appropriate references. Application should be made in writing to the company, addressed in the first instance to the group archivist. Eagle Star Group Archives is not a public repository, and it does not have the same facilities for students as a national or local record office. Access to, and reproduction of, its records is entirely at the discretion of the board of Eagle Star Holdings PLC.

    Acknowledgement of the use of archive material in published work must be made to EAGLE STAR HOLDINGS PLC. Records should be cited as EAGLE STAR GROUP ARCHIVES, followed by the reference number given on the item(s) concerned. A copy of finished research work may be requested for the Group Archives Library.

    home search the database contact