1. The “A1” Reputation of the Lloyd’s Register of Shipping
- Author:
- Charlie Harris and Christopher McKenna
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Oxford Centre for Global History
- Abstract:
- For over two hundred years, Lloyd’s Register has surveyed and classified ships. Founded in 1760 in a coffeehouse on London’s busy Lombard Street, the company then known as the Society for the Registry of Shipping, surveyed and classified the seaworthiness of ships. For the first time, underwriters and merchants could gain an idea of the condition of the vessels they insured and chartered while ship builders and shipowners could demonstrate seaworthiness. Lloyd’s classified the best as “A1.” This term would become the Register’s greatest contribution to the popular lexicon and, ever since, the phrase “A1 at Lloyd’s” connotes the highest quality.
- Topic:
- History, Capitalism, and Business
- Political Geography:
- London and England