Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. In 1996 Sun Alliance merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.
History
The company was created in 1959 by the merger of Sun Insurance, founded in 1710, and Alliance Assurance founded in 1824.[1]
In the mid-1960s Sun Alliance established its administrative centre in a large office block, spanning an A-road through the town centre of Horsham, a railway town 31 mi south of London's centre.[2][3] and its head office at 1 Bartholomew Lane in London.[4] The Horsham building, St Marks Court is earmarked as developable.[5] In an external recess, to the market place (Carfax) side, is the tall spired tower of the church.[6] Its nave was demolished in about 1985.[6] The spire was part of the original church of 1841 constructed from sandstone. The tower's base has become a florist and volunteers’ centre.[6]
Sun Alliance went on to acquire the London Assurance Company in 1965 (becoming Sun Alliance & London)[7] and Phoenix Assurance in 1984.[7] The company thus added suffix "Group" in 1989, consolidated most UK-based operations into the Horsham office in 1990,[8] and yet kept its London head office.[9] The company merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group in 1996.[10][11]
References
- History of 'The Alliance' Rothschild Archive, retrieved 16 May 2022^
- A P Baggs, C R J Currie, C R Elrington, S M Keeling, A M Rowland. 'Horsham: General history of the town', in A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 2, Bramber Rape (North-Western Part) Including Horsham British History Online, 1986, retrieved 19 April 2020^
- Horsham: Historic Character Assessment Report Sussex Extensive Urban Survey, 1 October 2004, retrieved 19 April 2020^
- {{London Gazette|issue=44336|page=6378|date=6 June 1967}}^
- St Marks Court Planning legal status of building. Horsham Council.^
- Horsham Town Local List Horsham Council^
- Clive Trebilcock. Phoenix Assurance and the Development of British Insurance: Volume 2, The Era of the Insurance Giants 1870–1984 Cambridge University Press, 1999^
- Bridges Memorial Spire Public Sculptures of Sussex, retrieved 19 April 2020^
- J. Forsyth. Major Companies of Europe 1991/92: Volume 2 Major Companies of the United Kingdom Springer Netherlands, 1991^
- Gavin Clarke. RSA chief uncans insurance giant's mega IT infrastructure review The Register, 10 August 2015, retrieved 19 April 2020^
- Royal and Sun seal pounds 6bn merger The Independent, 3 May 1996, retrieved 3 September 2025^
- History - RSA Group rsagroup.com, retrieved 12 October 2017^
- acquired Phoenix Assurance in 1984^