Commercial Union plc was a large insurance business based in London. It merged with General Accident in 1998 to form CGU plc.
History
Commercial Union was established following a conflagration near London Bridge in 1861, known as the Great Tooley Street Fire, which destroyed a number of warehouses and wharves along the River Thames as a result of which the fire insurance companies were hit by a series of massive claims. Consequently, they increased their fire insurance rates so dramatically that a group of local merchants and brokers decided to form their own company. This became known as the Commercial Union Assurance Company.[1] The company established its head office at 24–26 Cornhill in London in 1897.[2]
It purchased the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, the world's oldest fire insurance company, in 1905[3]