Description

Granta Editions 1st 1998
4to, v min bmps to bds, min crsing to btm edge of d/w o/w VG++/VG++ 1630 gms
(Order reference 7464).

The Company known worldwide as `the Prudential' — and in the United Kingdom, where at one time every third household was insured with it, as `the Pru' — has played an integral part in the commercial and social life of the nation for the past 150 years. Today it is one of Britain's largest institutional investors,, and its major provider of life insurance, pensions and allied financial services.

A Sense of Security examines the history of the Company that began in 1848 'with less capital than optimism, after a false start, at a less than auspicious time and in an insignificant place' and within the space of a generation rose to become a national institution. Its strength was built on industrial insurance — life assurance for the working classes, involving the weekly collection of small premiums by agents — along the lines developed by its dynamic and visionary Secretary, Henry Harben. This was only the beginning of a success story like no other, for Prudential's activities would eventually embrace most areas of insurance, and be carried abroad into 34 countries.

For much of its 150 years, Prudential has been the most powerful force in the insurance industry, in the vanguard of product development and service to policyholders, its influence helping to shape legislation that still affects us all. A Sense of Security avoids a narrow focus: well known figures — from W.E. Gladstone and Sir Alfred Waterhouse to Horatio Bottomley — come alive, `the Man from the Pru acquires a human face, and Prudential's unique corporate culture receives its due. From the development of National Insurance to the battle against nationalisation, from the Great War to the information revolution, A Sense of Security offers a comprehensive and lively account of a great Company.