Editing Lloyd's of London (section)

===Early 20th century: San Francisco earthquake and first Lloyd's building===
On 18 April 1906, [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|a major earthquake]] and resulting fires destroyed over 80 per cent of the city of [[San Francisco]]. This event was to have a profound influence on building practices, risk modelling and the insurance industry.

[[File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue-Look.jpg|thumb|left|The [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] caused substantial losses for Lloyd's underwriters.]]

Lloyd's losses from the earthquake and fires were substantial, even though the writing of insurance business overseas was viewed with some wariness at the time. While some insurance companies were denying claims for fire damage under their earthquake policies or ''vice versa'', one of Lloyd's leading underwriters, [[Cuthbert Heath]], famously instructed his San Francisco agent to "pay all of our policy-holders in full, irrespective of the terms of their policies". The prompt and full payment of all claims helped to cement Lloyd's reputation for reliable claim payments and as an important trading partner for US brokers and policyholders. It was estimated that around 90 per cent of the damage to the city was caused by the resultant fires and as such, since 1906 "fire following earthquake" has generally been a specified insured peril under most policies. Heath is also credited for introducing the now widely used "excess of loss" reinsurance protection for insurers following the San Francisco quake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/catastrophes-and-claims/san-francisco-1906-earthquake|title=San Francisco earthquake|website=Lloyd's|access-date=29 June 2019}}</ref>

Heath had become an underwriting member of Lloyd's in 1880, upon reaching the minimum age of 21, on J. S. Burrows' syndicate. Within a year he was underwriting for himself on a three-man syndicate; in 1883 he also opened a brokerage business. In 1885, he wrote the first fire reinsurance contract, reinsuring the [[Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society|Hand in Hand Insurance Company]] and marking the start of Heath's push to diversify the market into "non-marine" business. He also wrote Lloyd's first [[burglary]] insurance policy, its first "all risks" jewellery policy and invented "jewellers' block" cover. Later, during [[World War I]] he offered air-raid insurance, protecting against the risk of [[German strategic bombing during World War I|German strategic bombing]].<ref name=Brown/>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Lloyd's Act 1911
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to extend the objects of and confer further powers on Lloyd's and to amend the Lloyd's Act 1871.
| year                  = 1911
| citation              = [[1 & 2 Geo. 5]]. c. lxii
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 18 August 1911
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo5/1-2/62/contents/enacted
| revised_text          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
The subsequent '''{{visible anchor|Lloyd's Act 1911}}''' ([[1 & 2 Geo. 5]]. c. lxii) set out the society's objectives, which include the promotion of its members' interests and the collection and dissemination of information.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lloyds.com/The-Market/Operating-at-Lloyds/Regulation/Acts-and-Byelaws/~/media/Files/The%20Market/Operating%20at%20Lloyds/Regulation/Acts%20and%20byelaws/Acts/Mar07LloydsAct1911.pdf|title=Lloyd's Act 1911|access-date=26 February 2011|archive-date=28 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928121010/http://www.lloyds.com/The-Market/Operating-at-Lloyds/Regulation/Acts-and-Byelaws/~/media/Files/The%20Market/Operating%20at%20Lloyds/Regulation/Acts%20and%20byelaws/Acts/Mar07LloydsAct1911.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A year later in April 1912 Lloyd's suffered perhaps its most famous loss: the sinking of the ''[[Titanic]]''. It was insured for £1 million, which represented 20 per cent of the entire market's capacity, making it the largest marine risk ever insured.  The record of its sinking in the 1912 "Loss Book" is on display in the Lloyd's building.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/sweeping-change-new-standards | title=Sweeping change, new standards 1827-1945 }}</ref>

The society moved into its first owned, dedicated building in 1928. It was located at 12 [[Leadenhall Street]] and had been designed by [[Edwin Cooper (architect)|Sir Edwin Cooper]].