FIRE INSURANCE AND THE BRITISH TEXTILE INDUSTRIES DURING THE INDUSTRIAL-REVOLUTION

This paper examines, for the first time, the entrepreneurial, financial and organisational impact of fire insurance on the development of Britain's major textile industries during the Industrial Revolution. From a detailed study of insurance records, and from calculations of amounts insured on mill property over the period 1790-1830, it is concluded that the financial burden of insurance was small, and largely outweighed by the aggregate sums paid back to the textile industries in claims. It is argued, however, that the diversification of textile entrepreneurs into fire insurance, particularly after 1815, soon resulted in a more expert and stringent underwriting of mill property. This in turn had a significant impact on the physical organisation of textile production during this period of rapid growth.