The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

Table 5.2 - Insurance by London shoemakers, 1775-1787
Value Insured () Number of policies Percentage
Cumulative
frequency (%)
100 150 26.5 26.5
200 150 26.5 53.0
300 86 15.2 68.2
400 49 8.5 76.7
500 41 7.2 83.9
600 22 3.9 87.8
700 23 4.0 91.8
800 9 1.6 93.4
900 5 0.9 94.3
1,000 17 3.0 97.3
1,100 0.2 97.5
1,200 0.2 97.7
1,300 3 0.5 98.2
1,400 1 0.2 98.4
1,500 1 0.2 98.6
1,600 2 0.4 99.0
1,700 2 0.4 99.4
2,000 2 0.4 99.8
2,500 1 0.2 100.0
Total 566 100.0
Total value insured () 191,600
Mean () 328.5
Median () 200
Source: 'Sun Register Insurance Policies', 1775-1787.
Table 5.3 - Distribution of policy values for ten London trades in the 1780s
(percentage of the total by trade)
Sample Less than £300 £500 600 £800 More than
£300 to £500 to £600 to 800 to £1,000 £1,000
Shoemakers 51 70 14 6 2 8 0
Chandlers 14! 89 6 1 3 0 0
Butchers 55 76 15 4 0 1 4
Tailors 97 69 15 8 4 3 0
Bakers 52 50 25 15 6 2 2
Victuailers 297 36 38 10 9 4 3
Bricklayers 50 52 15 7 2 11 13
Carpenters 149 49 14 8 7 9 13
Grocers 53 30 23 0 13 13 21
Mercharit 134 7 12 6
Source: L.D. Schwarz and L.J. Jones, 'Wealth, occupation, and insurance in the late eighteenth
century: the policy of the Sun Fire Office', Economic History Review, XXXVI - 3 (1983), p.
367.
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