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The County Fire Office was founded in 1807 by John Thomas Barber (from 1812 John Thomas Barber Beaumont) to conduct fire insurance business in county areas, specifically country-house and farming risks. It was originally established by 'an association of noblemen and gentlemen' from the counties of Bedford, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire.
Each county (Yorkshire was treated as three counties) was allocated 250 shares at £100 each. No individual was allowed to hold more than ten shares. Five people were elected in each county as directors from holders of not less than five shares each; one retired annually to be replaced by another elected by ballot at annual county meetings.
A unique feature of the company was that each person who continued a policy for seven years, whether annual or septennial, was entitled to share in the profits of the concern without being liable to any losses. J T Barber was appointed the first managing director and upon his death in 1841 was succeeded by his son John Augustus Barber Beaumont. He retired in 1877 and was replaced by his son, Seymour Augustus Beaumont, until his suicide in 1906.
The County Fire Office was originally administered under a Deed of Settlement of 25 February 1808 and later amendments. It was registered as a limited company on 1 August 1905 and the business was acquired by the Alliance Assurance Company in 1906, but the name of the County Fire Office was retained.
The Company started business from the residence of J T Barber Beaumont at 25 Southampton Street, Covent Garden. On 1 Decemder 1819 it moved to 50 Regent Street, which remained its head office until 1970, except for a short period between October 1924 and June 1927 during the rebuilding of 50 Regent Street, when it moved to York House, 15 Regent Street. During the Second World War the business was conducted from Hindhead, Surrey. The name disappears from the London Directories after 1970.
Business was conducted through agents, and offices were gradually opened in major towns and cities throughout the U.K. Its offices in the City of London were at 2 Royal Exchange Buildings, 1849-1855; 78 Lombard Street, 1857-[1867]; 14 Cornhill, 1856-1909; and 4 Lombard Street, 1909-1941.