Lloyds of London, The Most Powerful Insurance Company In The World, Issued A Statement Following The Police Brutality Murder of George Floyd During Lockdown In May 2020 And The Subsequent Worldwide Protests Calling For Social Justice Reforms. It Has Also Apologised For It’s Involvment In The Slave Trade. And Moving Forward, It Has Also Made A Corporate Commitment To Diversity, Equity And Inclusion.
JMW Turner: Rockets & Blue Lights (1840)
Rockets And Blue Lights By Winsome Pinnock Staged At The National Theatre This August Through to October Is A Very Haunting But Important Play Reviewing Racist Wrongs From The Past Up To The Present Day As They Have Occurred In Black British History. It’s So Good It Should Be Part of The School Curriculm And Indeed Continued History Education Programmes.
The Play Makes Clear That Only True, Open & Honest Dialogue Will Bring Real World, Long Term, Sustainable Healing By Changing The Narrative.
The Question Is Whilst The Wrongs of Slavery Continue To Haunt Us Today, Will The Ancestors Haunt The Perpetrators For Their Continued Wrongs of Yesterday? And Are Those In Power Prepared To Make The Necessary Changes In Order To Achieve Genuine Better Narratives As The Black Community And Its Allies Continue To Fight For Them?
It Seems The Leading Insurance Company, Lloyds of London Is Willing To Reassess Itself And Make Amends.
(Seperate Theatre News & Review On Rockets & Blue Lights In This Special October 2021 Black History Month Issue)
JMW Turner: The Slave Ship (1840)
The Play Is Staged As A Group of Thespians From The World of Actors, Directors, Producers, Theatre Financiers And Set Managers, Crossing Paths And Historical Time Zones As They Endeavour To Produce A Film About The Life of J.M.W Turner And His Involvment In The Slave Trade And The Sugar Industry. Joseph Mallory William Turner (1775 – 1851) Is The Revered British Artist In Whose Name The Annual Artistic Turner Prize Is Awarded To Up And Coming Artists Showing Promise.
Two of His Seascape Paintings, Both Painted In The Same Year (1840) Which Have Inspired Much General Discussion, Reflection And Official Debate Regarding The Atrocities of The Transatlantic Slave Trade. Both Were Exhibited At The Time At The Royal Academy of Art’s Annual Exhibition (Which Still Takes Place Today).
One Is Called: Rockets and Blue Lights (Close At Hand) To Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water. Now Exhibited At Tate Britain. And The Other Is Called The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard The Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). Now Exhibited At The Boston Museum of Fine Art.840.
The Former Painting, After Which Pinnock’s lay Is Monikered, Officially Relates To The Maritime Practice Whereby When A Storm Was Brewing, Flares (aka Rockets of Blue Light) Would Be Sent Up Into The Sky By Maritime Observers To Alert Ships In Danger of Being Thrown Into Shallow Waters or Accidentally Heading Perilously Close To Them. Citizens Seemingly Much Safer On The Shoreline Would Often Watch The Seabound Spectacle. The Later Painting Is Related To The History of An Infamous Insurance Case Involving A Slave Ship Massacre On Board A Slave Ship Called The Zong (1781) Which Threw In The Region of 150 Enslaved Africans Overboard As The Ship Ran Short of Drinking Water Resources.
At That Time Such Murder Was Legal Because Racist Slaveowners And Law Makers Declared That Africans Were Chattels, i.e. Possessions And Not Humans. This Inhumane Approach Was Brought To The Attention of The General Public At Large As A Result of The Legal Case And The Question Arose As To Whether The Slavers Were Entitled To Insurance For The Lose of The Slaves (Their Moneymakers Through Free Labour). This Organically Led To The Further Legal Question of Whether The Slaves Were Chattel That Could Rightly Be Insured Against In Terms of Loss of Chattels And Possessions or Whether or Not Any Such Legal Right of Insurance Could Exist At All Because The Enslaved Africans Were Not Infact Chattel But Human Beings, Thus Making Such Insurance Null & Void.
Turner Was A Prolific, Paradoxical, Eccentric Enigma And Maverick Character, Whose Mother Came From A Family of Butchers And Ended Up In Bedlam, The Notorious Mental Asylum. And His Father Was A Barber Who Supported His Son By Displaying His Artistic Talents In His Barbershop In Covent Garden. By The Age of Just 15 Turner Submitted His First Works To The Royal Academy of Art. By 24 He Was An Official Member of The Academic Fraternity There.Upon His Death Turner Bequeathed Virtually The Entirety of His Works To The Nation. And Since March 1st (St David’s Day) 2002 It Is Now Available To All Online Courtesy of The Insight Project. It Uses Technology Provided By Its Sponsor ‘BT Open World’ To Make It Available To Everybody Who’s Interested.
His Mother’s Poor Mental Health Meant He Was Often Sent Away To Be Looked After By Relatives As A Child And This Included Being Sent To The Seaside Town of Margate With Which Area He Was To Foster A Life Long Love. He Is Famous For Drawing It’s Seascapes, Landscapes And More of The Same Across Europe Including France, Italy And Holland.
The Slave Trade Was Officially Abolished In 1807. However Slavery Itself Still Existed. So Much So That The Anti-Slavery Society Was Formed Eighteen Years Later In 1823 And Slavery Itself Was Only Abolished In 1833 (A Decade After The Said Society Was Formed). It Was Another 10 Years Before The Slaves Were Freed Yet Again After Their Slave Status Was Coverted To A So-Called Apprenticeship During Which They Were Still Forced To Work For Free For Another Decade Up Until 1843.
However After The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 The Royal Navy African Squadron Was Deployed To Intercepted British Ships Which Endeavoured To Continue Operating The Now Illegal Slave Trade Even Though It Was Abolished. Again Flares (aka Rockets of Blue Light) Would Be Sent Up Into The Sky To Alert Illegal Operating Ships They Were About To Be Intercepted. The Slaves On Board Would Be Freed And Re-Directed To Sierra Leone An Officially Designated Freeland. However Before That Happened Many Illegal Slave Traders Would Murder The Slaves By Throwing Them Overboard Before The Navy Got To Them. And Then Protest Their Innocence.
In The Initial Hearing of The Infamous Zong Case It Was Ruled That The Slavers Could Be Compensated For The Death of The Slaves (Which They Murdered). Upon Appeal That Decision Was Overturned By Lord Mansfield (2 March 1705 – 20 March 1793). Whilst The Case Occurred In 1781 When Turner Was Just 6 Years Old, In 1839 Abolitionsist Thomas Clarkson Wrote A Second Edition of His Book The History and Abolition of the Slave Trade. It Is This Book That Is Said To Have Inspired Turner To Document Via The Instrument of Art, The History And Murderous Brutality of Slaves Being Thrown Overboard. The Zong Was Owned By A Consortium Group of Slavers From Liverpool. And Many Others Like It Were Previously Chartered By The Royal African Company.
It Was The Freed Slave Olaudah Equiano (c.1745–1797) Who Helped Publicise The Case of The Zong And Pressed For Abolition Through His Abolition Group The Sons of Africa. The Film Belle By Ghanaian Director Amma Assante Is A Cinematic Document of This Historical Slaveship Legal Case, Which Helped To Legally Redefine And Duly Recognise African Enslaved People As Not Being Chattel Objects But The Members of The Human Race. Which They Always Were Until Interferred With By The Plantocracy.
Lloyds of London: A Brief History On How It Got Started
The Royal Exchange Was Opened On January 23 1571 By Queen Elizabeth I Who Granted It The Royal Seal of Approval To Sell Alcohol & Quality Items (As Britain’s First Specialist Commercial Building).
Notably The Elizabethan Monarchy Was In Need of A New Source of Riches After Elizabeth’s Late Father, The Tudor King, Henry VIII, Disassociated From The Catholic Church (After Its Refusal To Allow Him A Divorce In Order To Marry Anne Boleyn). Then, As Now, The Catholic Church Was The Richest Organisation In The World. Britain Sought To Build An Empire In Order To Recover @TheRoyalExchange
The Great Fire of London September 2nd-6th 1666 Did Vast Damage To The City In The 17th Century And It Changed Certain Dynamics. During The 18th Century Stockbrokers (Buyers & Sellers of Stocks & Shares In Companies On Behalf of Clients, In Return For Commissions) Were Not Always Welcome At The Royal Exchange. Some Were Considered Too Ill-Mannered, Ill-Refined & Uncouth. Certain Elements of Merchant Business Began To Be Conducted Elsewhere. Particularly Coffee Houses.
Merchants, Shipowners, Plantation Owners, Lawyers, Manufacturers, Investors, And Stockbrokers Would Convene In And Around The Financial District To Discuss Business Matters In A Relaxed, Friendly And Scholarly Coffee House Fraternities.
The Merchant, Media, And Money Man Reputed To Be The Namesake of Lloyd’s of London Is Welshman, Edward Lloyd, Who Established ‘Lloyds Coffee House’ In Tower Street In 1688. His Establishment Attracted The Maritime Fraternity.
Photo From The East London History Society: Wapping 1600-1800 – The Social History of An Early-Modern London Maritime Suburb. By Derrick Morris & Ken Cozens (PDF Version)
The Original Lloyd’s Coffee House Patrons Would Gather, Natter, Network, Negotiate, Wager, Socialise, And Take Advice, To The Extent That Eventually Lloyd’s Coffee House Began To Produce A Business And Shipping News Publication Called ‘LLoyd’s News‘ In 1696. It Lasted Less Than A Year Due To A Libel Case In 1697.
But This Coffee House Fraternity Endured As The Maritime Merchant Classes Simply Returned To Word of Mouth Communication And Contacts. Wagers Would Often Be About Which Ships Would Make It Back From Their Journeys And What Ships Wouldn’t For Instance. The Insurance Business Was Building & Booming.
Three Years After The Initial Opening In 1688, In 1691 LLoyds Coffee House Moved To 16 Lombard Street In The Heart of The Finance District, Close To The Royal Exchange. There Now Stands A London Corporation Blue Plaque Indicating That It Stayed There Until 1785 (Just 6 Years Short of A Century).
Lloyd’s Coffee House Operated Under Different Family Inheritants, Leaseholders & Proprietors For Decades.
In 1734 A New Publication Emerged Called ‘The Lloyd’s List’ Detailing Shipping & Underwriting Business News & Information.
One Year And A Quarter Century Later In 1760 The Society For The Registry of Shipping Was Formed. It Would Later Become The Lloyd’ Register @ir.org
Nine Years Later In 1769 Due To Bad Practice And A Fall In The Coffee House’s Reputation A Group of LLoyd’s Patrons Disassociated From The Coffee House At No. 16 Lombard Street And Relocated To No.5 Pope’s Head Alley. They Called Themselves The ‘New LLoyds Coffee House‘. And They Published The First Edition of ‘The New Lloyd’s List’.
Five Years Later In 1774 (In Need of Bigger Premises) Members of Lloyds Group Moved To The Royal Exchange, Cornhill Street.
There It Began Operating Not As A Coffee House But Now Exclusively As Underwriters, Financially Facilitating The Seafaring Maritime Classes, Faring The Seas To And Fro, Operating Within The Colonies. And The Slave Trade. On Plantations. Producing Plantation Products Such As Cotton, Coffee, Sugar, Rhum, Tobacco, Tea And Coco.
In 1928 The Lloyds Group Relocated Again To Its Current Site At Lime Street, And Leadenhall, In London Finance District. Where It Has Been For Nearly A Century Now. In Forty Years Time It Will Be Four Centuries Since The Original Coffee House of 1688.
A History of Darkness And Light. LLoyd’s Today. At Night.
Lloyds of London
And
The Lloyd’s Register
In 1986 Architect Richard Rogers Famously Designed Its Iconic Inside Out Building. The Structual ‘Bowels’ of The Building Are Designed To Be On The Outside Periphery of The Building To Allow More Space On The Inside For The Staff & Company Executives Dealing With Millions of International And National Insurances And Re-Insurance Cases.
Three Main Towers With Their Own Attached Service Towers Are Built Around A Central Atrium. And Each Floor In The Building Operates As A Gallery Overlooking The Central Atrium. The First Four Floors Allow Access To The Atrium Area. All Others Have Enclosed Glass Panels.
The Stainless Building With Showcase Glass Panels Throughout The Structure Make It Very Striking City Landmark. Despite This Ultra Modern Contempary Architectural Facade LLoyds Retained The Original Brick Front Entrance As A Brickwork Momentum In Honour of The Historical 1928 Building At The Heart And Start of Its Uber Level Insurance Trading @lloydsoflondon
(LLoyds Later Revealed That The Design Has Proven Costly As The Component Parts Are Exposed To The Elements, Causing High Maintenance Costs).
In 1786 The Society For The Register of Shipping Moved From 16 Lombard Street To No.4 Sun Court, Cornhill Street. In 1834 It Became The Lloyd’s Register And Moved To No.2 White Lion Court, Cornhill Street. In December 1901 It Moved To The Purpose-Built Site At 71 Fenchurch Street Where It Has Been Ever Since @Lloyd’s Register
Whilst The Old Lloyd’s Coffee House At Tower Street Was The Start of LLoyd’s of London It Was Never London’s First Coffee House. That Was The Jamaica Wine House, St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill Street. Part of The Jamaica Building. The Name Reflects The Far & Wide Extent of Britain’s Colonial Activity During The Empire Centuries. It Was Integral To City Business And Social Life!
(1) The Original Coffee House (Tower Street),
(2) The Re-Located Coffee House (No. 16 Lombard Street),
(3) The New Coffee House (No.5 Pope’s Head Alley), The New LLoyd’s List (No.5 Pope’s Head Alley),
(4) The 1774 LLoyd’s Group That Moved To The Royal Exchange,
And
(5) The 1760 Society For The Register of Shipping
All Have Their Own Histories As Part of The LLoyds of London Insurance Legacy.
Slavery And The Treatment of Enslaved Africans As ‘Stock’ ‘Chattels’ & ‘Possessions’ Is The Worst Legacy. The Horrific ‘Zong’ Legal Case Reflected In Turner’s Painting ‘The Slave Ship’ (The Third Main Picture Above) Was A Turning Point. Enslaved African’s Were Finally Legally Recognised As They Human Beings.
Comment:
TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Would Say That The Zong Case Features The Most Important And Momentous Insurance Claim Ever Made In The History of Humanity And The Insurance Business.
Turner’s Painting Has Forever Hauntingly Captured Why. Although Painted After The Zong Case Was Litigated, This Artwork Became An Illustration Associted With The Abolition Movement.
It Simultaneously Proves How & Why Art Can Be So Important. It Is The Wicked Maltreated Souls That Must Be Remembered Forever.
Photo: Courtesy The Lloyd’s Register @ir.org. Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House. Originally Opened In Tower Street 1688 ~ Developed Through Different Iterations
Lloyds of London: An Apology For Its Role In Slavery As An Insurance Company.
Plus
A Pledged Commitment To Greater Diveristy Equity & Inclusion
Even Stockbrokers Are Now Warmly Welcomed At The Royal Exchange Even Though It Remains Inextricably Linked With The Monarchy And Is A Home Away From Home For Royal Grocers Fortnum & Mason It Has A Bar Service, Sells Fine Food, Offers Fine Dining, And of Course Teas & Coffees From Around The World. All Whilst Surrounded By Other High End Brands For Upmarket Ladies & Gentlemen Or Indeed Simply Anyone Who Can Afford It.
@TheRoyalExchange (Centre), Cornhill St. Lloyd’s of London Is Behind The Royal Exhange Building (At Lime St & Leadenhall Street). It Is Sandwich Between Threadneedle Street (Left) Opposite The Bank of England & Lombard Street (Right) Where LLoyd’s Coffee House Once Stood (At No.16)
Coming Full Circle, It Is Reported That Coffee Shops Are Flourishing Throughout The Nation As People From All Walks of Life Adopt Their Own Version of The Cafe Lifestyle. Such As @Grind In The Royal Exchange Building And @Costa Coffee @Caffe Nero, or @Starbucks In Virtually Every High Street. Yet Public Houses Are On The Decline As The Pandemic Impacts Pubs & Hospitality And Consumers Enjoy Lower Alcohol Prices Offered By Supermarkets.
Whilst Originally It Was The British That Travelled To The Colonies, The Development & Decline of The British Empire, Its Replacement With The Commonwealth, The Rebuilding of The Country After The Second World War, Plus The Introduction of The NHS In July 1948, And Developments In Communication And Avaition, Meant Britain Developed An Evermore Diverse Population.
This Was Made Unprecedentedly Clear In 2020 During Two of The Most Game Changing Events In World History. One, The Global Lockdown Due To The Covid Pandemic. And Two, The Police Brutality Murder of African-American Shop Customer, George Floyd, As Witnessed In Real Time On People’s Mobile Phones.
Worldwide Protests Erupted Calling For Social Justice Reform Firstly Because People Were At Home Due To Lockdown And Secondly Because People Considered This Grotesque Act Happened Not Only Because of Racism But Also Because of Systematic Inequity.
Many International Corporations Were Forced To Acknowledge The Part Slavery Played In Their Riches At The Expense of Others, Which Has Had Generational Consequences. This Included Lloyd’s of London Which Issued An Apology For It’s Part In Slavery Through Its Insurance Company. And It Committed To Embracing Greater Diversity Equity & Inclusion.
How Sincere It Proves To Be Comes With No Guarantees And No Insurances. But Will Undoubtedly Come With Some Dissession From Others. But We Salute Them That Particular Risk Nonetheless And Feel Confident About The Getting A Good ROI (Return On Investment).
Lloyds of London: The Company Apology & Pledge
Art As In Turner’s Example, May Be Painting. Innovative, Idiosyncratic, Maverick Painting Such As His Which Has Led To Annual Prize Giving.
But It May Also Be, As In More Modern Times, Film or Television. And Even Art Installations.
And As of Both Eras, It Can Definitely Be Music.
In Some Cases It Can Also Be Writing. Perhaps Poetry, Prowse, Plays, Essays, And Books. And of Course There’s The Spoken Word. And Theatre.
Through Which Ever Medium The Art Flows Naturally And Creatively, Sincere Art For Art Sake Is Important. It May Just One Day, A Day Unknown But Destined, Save Someone’s Life. Perhaps Even The Artist’s.
JMW Turner (1775-1851): Self-Portrait Aged 24 (1799) Painted Twin Paintings The ‘Slave Ship’ & Rockets & ‘Blue Lights’ (The Second & Third Main Pictures Above) Aged 65 (1840)
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