It was wonderful being at the BIBA 2022 conference, catching up with those we have not seen for the last two years and meeting new people from across the UK and further afield. Again, we would like to thank BIBA for supporting the Insurance Museum by offering our stand free of charge.
We wanted our stand to feel like a museum, so had several historic items on show from the private collection of Brian Henham. These included fire buckets, the oldest of which dates to the 18th century and was from the Hand in Hand Fire Office. We also had a copy of the British Mercury, a newspaper issued by the Sun Fire Office from 1713, and replica fire marks which we could let people handle and have a good look at. On top of all that, there was a ledger book from 1859 showing marine risks written during that year. It is a wonderful piece of marine, economic and social history, showing which cargoes were travelling between which countries. It is handwritten in a wonderful cursive style.
Many people tried to put themselves in the shoes of Nicholas Barbon by taking a selfie in his portrait and we had a great number of people signing up to the Insurance Museum Newsletter. Welcome to our new subscribers. We also held a competition: anyone who signed up to the Newsletter at BIBA would be entered to win a bottle of bubbly. That draw is due to take place soon and a bottle will be on the way to the lucky winner.
Our next exhibition trip will be at the MGAA conference on 29 June at 133 Houndsditch, London EC3. If you missed any of the above artefacts in Manchester we’ll be in The City with the same items. Come and say hello to us, take a good look at the Museum Objects, find out about our Membership scheme, and get your very own Barbon photo. For more details visit the MGAA 2022 website here.
