XII. No loss or damage by fire happening by any invasion, foreign enemy, or any military or usurped power whatsoever, is to be made good.
XIII. All persons assured by this Corporation, are upon any loss or damage by fire, forthwith to give notice thereof, by letter, or otherwise, to the Directors or Secretary, at their house in London: and within fifteen days after such fire, deliver in as particular an account of their loss or damage, as the nature of the case will admit of, and make proof of the same, by the oath or affirmation of themselves, their domestics or servants, or by their books of accounts, or other proper vouchers, as shall be required; and also to procure a certificate under the hands of the Minister and Church-wardens, together with some other reputable inhabitants of the parish, not concerned in such loss; importing, that they are well acquainted with the character and circumstances of the sufferer or sufferers; and do know, or verily believe, that he, she, or they, have really, and by misfortune, sustained by such fire the loss and damage therein mentioned. And in case any difference shall arise between the Corporation and the assured, touching any loss or damage, such difference shall be submitted to the judgment and determination of arbitrators indifferently chosen, whose award in writing shall be conclusive and binding to all parties. And when any loss or damage is settled and adjusted, the sufferer or sufferers are to receive immediate satisfaction for the same.
XIV. In adjusting losses on houses, no wainscot, sculpture or carved-work, is to be valued at more than 3s. per yard.
N. B. There is no average clause in the policies of this Corporation; but the assured, in case of loss, receive the full damage sustained, deducing only three per cent. according to the terms of the policy.
Persons assured by this Corporation do not depend upon an uncertain fund or contribution, nor are they subject to any covenants or calls to make good losses which may happen to themselves or others. The capital stock of this Corporation being an unquestionable security to the assured in case of loss or damage by fire, and in case of such loss or damage the assured have as easy methods of recovery as can be had against any person or society whatsoever.
For the timely assistance of such as are assured by this Corporation, they have provided several engines and watermen, with proper instruments to extinguish fires, and porters for removing goods, all cloathed in green; and having every one a badge, with the figure of Britannia, holding a harp, and supported by the London arms, to distinguish them from servants belonging to other offices, and the badges are all numbered; of which all persons are desired to take notice, who intrust them with goods, or have any complaint to make.
The same figure as on the badges is affixed on buildings, &c. assured by this Corporation. The proposals printed for the Corporation, in 1758.
London Bridge, appears to have been originally built between the years 993, and 1016, since in the first-mentioned year, Anlaf, the Dane, sailed up the Thames, with a fleet of ninety-three ships, as far as Stanes; and in the last, Canute, King of Denmark, caused a canal to be formed on the south side of the Thames, for conveying his ships above the bridge.
If the traditionary account of the origin of the ancient wooden bridge, delivered by Bartholomew Linstead, alias Fowle, the last Prior of St. Mary Overy’s convent, is worthy of credit, we are indebted to the public spirit of that religious house for this structure: “A ferrie being kept, says he, in a place where now the bridge is builded; at length the ferrieman and his wife deceasing, left the same ferrie to their only daughter, a maiden, named Marie, which, with the goods left by her parents, as also from the profits arising from the ferrie, builded a house of sisters in a place where now standeth the east part of St. Mary Overie’s church, unto which house she gave the oversight and profits of the ferrie: but afterwards the said house of sisters being converted into a college of priests, they builded the bridge of timber, as all other the great bridges of this land were, and from time to time kept the same in good reparations; till at length, considering the great charges of repairing the same, there was, by aid of the citizens of London and others, a bridge builded with arches of stone.”
However, the continuators of Stow imagine, that Linstead, in this account, exceeds the truth, in ascribing all the praise of so public a work to a small house of religious, who might probably only consent to its being built, upon the monks receiving a sufficient recompence for the loss of the ferry, by which they had always been supported; the probability of this appears from there being lands appropriated for the repairs of the bridge so early as in the reign of Henry I. Besides, it can scarcely be supposed, that a petty convent could be able to erect and support such an edifice, which, besides other accidents, was burnt down in 1136, and was again so ruinous in 1163, that it was obliged to be new built, under the inspection of Peter, Curate of St. Mary Colechurch, in London; a person who had obtained great reputation for his skill in architecture.