The Box

Click on any of the images in the gallery to enlarge them.

This “Box” started its working life on the opening of the “New” Lloyds Room in 1956.

It was typical of the Boxes used by Syndicates at the time - a seat for the Underwriter opposite the Deputy Underwriter. The seat beside the Underwriter was occupied by the Entry Clerk, whose job it was to keep a copy of the Lines written by the Syndicate in Ledgers stored in the centre recess of the Box.

The fourth seat was reserved for visitors to the Box, mainly Names, but not Brokers. They stood beside the Underwriter and presented the risk. Later, when Brokers brought volumes of Slips to the Box, as retail business increased, Lloyds permitted the Syndicates to have a high stool for “the poor dears”!

During “The Box's” working life in the Room, Syndicates got bigger, so the 4 man Box was used by new start up Syndicates.

In 1979 it was the first home of Crowe Motor Policies, Syndicate 963 and its sister Non-Marine Syndicate 349. The Underwriters Michael Crowe and Eddie Kelly shared “The Box” from 1979 until 1983 when the Motor Syndicate needed a bigger Box to facilitate an Underwriting Team of Six.

“The Box” was used by Syndicate 349 until the “New Room” was replaced by the “Coffee Percolator” we see today.

I had the pleasure of both broking to the Underwriters at this Box and later Underwriting on behalf of 963 and 349 when I acquired “The Box” after the closure of the 1956 building and moved it to Belfast.

Jack McIlduff
MD