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subsequently confirmed that the affairs of the company were in order. The sale agreement was approved one month after
Seymour Augustus' death. The County Fire Office operated within Alliance Assurance as an autonomous subsidiary and was still doing so when a history of the County Fire Office was published in 1957.
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house. Meetings of landowners and prominent citizens were held in each of the counties. Shares were allocated on the principle that each county should have an equal holding. Directors were elected from each county with Barber
Beaumont managing the society. Half of the regional directors were bankers including
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on which a new building was erected. The new building was completed in 1819 and the County Fire Office remained there until 1970. Barber
Beaumont died in 1841 and his son, John Augustus Beaumont, was appointed managing director. John Augustus retired through ill health in 1877 after 50 years' service
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The formation of the County Fire Office differed from other insurance companies in that it started as a regional organisation, hence the name. It was founded "by an association of noblemen and gentlemen" from 12 counties. The first meeting was held in April 1807 in Barber
Beaumont’s Covent Garden
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was raising money to buy the County Fire Office, Provident Life, Westminster Fire Office and the associated business, Alliance Marine. This took its toll on
Seymour Augustus and he shot himself in January 1906, supposedly due to overwork implementing the sale of the two companies. The auditors
39:(the Beaumont being a late addition to his name) in 1807 when he was only 33. By then, Barber Beaumont already had a wide range of achievements. He was an accomplished miniaturist painter having exhibited 53 miniatures at the
78:. The County Fire Office and Provident Life were initially run from Beaumont's house, with the County Fire Office being operated from the front room on the ground floor and Provident Life from the rear on the ground floor.
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and he in turn was succeeded by his son, Seymour
Augustus Beaumont, who had joined the company in 1870. As with his ancestors, he was managing director of both the County Fire Office and Provident Life.
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For all but the last few months of its independent existence, the County Fire Office was run by three generations of the Barber
Beaumont family. The company was founded by
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between 1794 and 1804, also painting portraits of the Royal Family. He was an author, pamphleteer, and advocate of savings banks founding a savings bank in
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Almost from the beginning of the life of the company, agencies were opened and often later converted into branches. For instance, branches were opened in
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By the beginning of the 20th century, a view had developed that all branches of insurance could be covered under one roof. On 2 November 1905,
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in 1806. He also founded the
Provident Life in that year, destined to become a sister company to the County Fire Office. At the onset of the
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in 1906. Throughout this period it was run by three generations of the Barber
Beaumont family.
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in 1823. The businesses enjoyed early success and a site was found in
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was an
English insurance business founded in 1807 and acquired by the
145:Aubrey Noakes, The County Fire Office 1807-1957
74:as Chairman; his father had been Governor of
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215:Insurance companies of the United Kingdom
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62:and founded the Beaumont Institute in
51:in 1803, he formed and commanded the
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53:Duke of Cumberland’s Sharp Shooters
158:. Dictionary of National Biography
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156:"Beaumont, John Thomas Barber"
1:
210:Companies established in 1807
37:John Thomas Barber Beaumont
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16:English insurance business
41:Royal Academy of Arts
55:. He later became a
178:"Alliance Assurance"
119:Alliance Assurance
117:reported that the
72:Scrope Bernard M.P
25:Alliance Assurance
21:County Fire Office
184:. 2 November 1905
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107:Regent Street
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45:Covent Garden
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186:. Retrieved
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160:. Retrieved
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101:in 1819 and
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204:Categories
126:References
91:Manchester
76:New Jersey
60:magistrate
182:The Times
115:The Times
97:in 1817,
95:Liverpool
93:in 1809,
89:in 1807,
83:Yorkshire
57:Middlesex
188:17 July
162:17 July
103:Belfast
99:Glasgow
87:Lincoln
64:Stepney
31:History
190:2022
164:2022
85:and
19:The
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134:^
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