The gambling spirit of that prosperous era fostered rapid innovation in the London insurance industry. Underwriters were willing to write insurance policies against almost any kind of risk, including, according to one history, house-breaking, highway robbery, death by gin-drinking, the death of horses, and “assurance of female chastity”—of which all but the last are still insurable.20 On a more serious basis, the demand for fire insurance had expanded rapidly after the great fire of London in 1666.
