The act just given, entitled, “An Act to prevent Gambling in Annuities,” struck a severe blow at annuity companies like these, as well as at those which were for the sake of gambling merely, or for which an unfair consideration had been given. It might be evaded by some, or it might be defied by a few; but it at least had the effect of sending the purchasers to those legitimate offices from which alone they were certain of receiving their due.

By this time the subject of mortuary registrations was mooted in magazines and periodicals, and many ideas may be found scattered over contemporaneous literature, which probably assisted to perfect the necrological system which we now enjoy. It may seem trite to relate that in 1773 it was recommended to keep a table of christenings, marriages, and burials in every church, chapel, and place of religious worship, to be published annually; but this was a grasp of intelligence not previously attained; and when, too, it was advised that the tables of christenings should specify the sexes, and the tables of deaths divide the males into children, bachelors, married men, and widowers, and the females into corresponding denominations, it was really no trifling advance in the objects of life assurance, although it was not thought so at the time. It was said, also, and said justly, “The establishment of a judicious and accurate register of the births and burials in every town and parish, would be attended with the most important advantages,—medical, political, and moral. By such an institution, the increase or decrease of certain diseases, the comparative healthiness of different situations, climates, and seasons, the influence of particular trades and manufactures on longevity, with many other circumstances not more interesting to physicians than beneficial to mankind, would be ascertained with tolerable precision. In the Pays de Vaud and in a country parish in Brandenburgh, 1 in 45 of the inhabitants die annually, and at Stoke Demerell, in Devonshire, 1 in 54. Whereas in Vienna and Edinburgh the yearly mortality appears to be 1 in 20; in London, 1 in 21; in Amsterdam and Rome, 1 in 22; in Northampton 1 in 26; and in the parish of Holy Cross, near Shrewsbury, 1 in 33. In the Pays de Vaud the proportion of inhabitants who attain the age of 80 is 1 in 21 1/2; in Brandenburgh, 1 in 22 1/2; in Norwich, 1 in 27; in Manchester, 1 in 30; in London, 1 in 40; and in Edinburgh, 1 in 42.”

This was in 1773, and the intelligent reader will necessarily be reminded of the period when life annuities were paid for without regard to youth or age, and when a life insurance office commenced business, and received equal premiums from the young and from the old, from the healthy and the sick. But people were beginning to think. In 1777 fault was found with the charges of the Equitable, and the following scale proposed:—

3l. per cent.4l. per cent.5l. per cent.
21years of age217721602150
30”313431283125
40”4116413114141
50”515551805174

In 1779 a proposal was made for an universal assurance of lives, by means of a tax to be levied by Government. By this all want was to be abolished, and various Utopian benefits to be received. As, however, the scheme was never carried out, it is only worthy of notice as indicative of a growing spirit of inquiry.

In 1783 Mr. Baron Maseres endeavoured to familiarise the mind with the doctrines of life annuities. It is to his discernment that we owe the confirmation of Mr. de Moivre having recourse to an hypothesis concerning the probabilities of the duration of human life, which he yet knew to be untrue, in order to facilitate the computation. This work of Francis Maseres is less referred to than it deserves; but there is reason to believe that the value of his tables for all ages under 75 or 80 were nearer the truth for the average of this country, than any other then extant.

During the mania for insuring anything and everything, there was a man named John Perrott of considerable repute in the coffee-houses and on the Exchange. He resided in a large mansion many miles out of town, and rode to Lloyd’s in his coach and four, after the fashion of the magnates of the day. He had come from the country a poor but clever boy, and had worked his way until he could boast that he was worth a plum. His avocations were various. He was a member of Lloyd’s; he was a speculator on the money market; he was an insurer of lives, of merchandise, and of anything that was offered, and so daring was his character that he would take any risk however desperate, his motto being, “Everything is insurable—at a premium.” He was liberal in his dealings in business, and in his annuity transactions would often grant more than he was asked if the applicant seemed to require and deserve it. He affected an expensive style of living; his agents bought rare pictures; but his chief delight was to collect fine china, a taste in which he indulged to an extravagant extent. The uglier the monster the dearer it was to John Perrott, and the more he was willing to pay for it. His clerks were employed to board the vessels from the East directly they reached the Thames, and he would at any time leave off business to listen to information about pottery and porcelain. When a man came to insure his life or his ship, to buy an annuity or to sell one, he was sure of a favourable bargain if he could but produce some vase or jar which had been seen by no one else. He had one fine specimen in his collection, which however required a second and similar one to complete its value in his eyes. This he once possessed, but being lost or broken, it afforded him a constant topic of complaint, and out of it arose a characteristic story of the man.

One day he was applied to by a merchant to effect an assurance on a ship which had been long absent, and of the safety of which many doubts were entertained. Perrott demanded a very high premium, and the applicant demurred. In the course of conversation, however, he carelessly alluded to a fine porcelain jar of which a friend was possessed, and which he thought he could procure. Perrott’s eyes opened as the description proceeded. It was the apple of his eye, the very specimen his soul desired, and his visitor, on witnessing the anxiety he evinced, offered to go for it, good-naturedly declaring it was of no value to him, and at the express solicitation of Perrott went off immediately to fetch the valued prize. The merchant seemed a long time gone, but Perrott attributed this to his own impatience, and felt fully rewarded when he saw him return bearing the porcelain he coveted. With eager hands he grasped it; the assurance on the missing ship was most advantageously concluded for his client; and Perrott went home a happy man. On entering the place where all his treasures were deposited, lo! his own jar was missing, and he found on inquiry that he had been outwitted by his City friend, who had tempted him to a low assurance with information about his own property, and at his urgent wish had procured it from his own home by a deception on his own housekeeper.

Burning with rage, and vowing vengeance against the crafty merchant, whom he determined to expose on ’Change, Perrott went to town the next morning, where the first information which greeted him was the arrival of the vessel he had just assured. Finding the tables turned in his favour he wisely held his peace, merely making an especial visit to the merchant to congratulate him on the arrival of his merchandise so immediately after he had assured it.

The following fraud, which was perpetrated in 1780, was perhaps the first instance of a deception which has since been often repeated. An application was made to the London to insure the life of a lady for 2000l. The references were satisfactory. The lady’s health was sound, her habits were good, her constitution was excellent. The usual certificates were handed in and the assurance was concluded. Within six months a claim was made for the money. The ordinary forms were lodged and found to be regular, the disease was certified to be that of the lungs, which of all others should have been discovered in the earliest stages. The directors looked grave and questioned the secretary, and the secretary questioned the doctor. There was no accounting for it; it all seemed regular; no fraud could be alleged, and the policy was discharged. Scarcely had it been paid when certain information was given. Inquiries were again instituted, and it was discovered that one sister being ill and utterly given over, the other brought a certificate of the invalid’s birth, personated her at the assurance office, deceived the medical man, sent in the certificate of her sister’s death, and obtained the money. No sooner did the office commence its inquiries than the lady was missing, and the company compelled to abide by its first loss.