The Western Assurance Company was a Canadian insurance company that has operated from 1851 to 2025. Western was one of the country's earliest fire insurance companies and played an important role in the development of the industry in Canada.E. P. Neufeld, The Financial System of Canada: Its Growth and Development, (Macmillan of Canada, 1972), 283.
History
In 1892, Western formed an alliance with the British America Assurance Company. Under the agreement, the two companies would retain the separate identities but would share a common board of directors.J. Castell Hopkins, "Historical Sketch of the British America Assurance Company," in The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs 1911, (The Annual Review Publishing Company Limited, 1912), 101. Thereafter, the companies were known as the Western–British America Group.
In 1961, Royal Insurance of London, England acquired the Western–British America Group. Following the acquisition, Western and British America continued to operate separately. In 1976, British America changed its name to the Royal Insurance Company of Canada, and then in 1978, absorbed the operations of its subsidiaries the Hudson's Bay Insurance Company and the Globe Indemnity Company of Canada. After the 1996 merged of Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance to form Royal and Sun Alliance, the Canadian company changed its name to the Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada. In 2008, Royal and Sun Alliance changed its brand name to RSA, at which time Western Assurance began operating as WA.
In 2021, Intact acquired the RSA Insurance Group. On 9 September 2024, Intact petitioned the federal minister of finance to amalgamate Western's operations into intact, effective 1 January 2025.
Leadership
President
Isaac Clarke Gilmor, 1851–1862 George Michie, 1862–1865 John McMurrich, 1865–1883 Alexander Mortimer Smith, 1883–1895 George Albertus Cox, 1895–1914 William Rees Brock, 1914–1917 William Buchanan Meikle, 1917–1923 Wilfrid Maynard Cox, 1923–1931 Ernest Arthur Brownell, 1931–1947 Geoffrey Stubington, 1947–1958 Frank John Erwood, 1958–1960 Hugh P. Ham, 1960–1966
References