Assurance Assitant Superintendant

[stanmapstone]

A superintendent, district; superintendent of agents; supervises the work of insurance agents, usually life or industrial, in a particular town or district; conducts special negotiations; deals with local complaints, etc. "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"

Stan

[bearkat]

CarolA3 posted a reply to a similar question a while back

The first insurance company I worked for (1970s) still used the title 'Superintendent' for heads of departments within the branch.  Next step up was 'Chief Clerk', then 'Branch Manager'.

Your chap would have been in charge of clerks and/or agents dealing with life insurance.  Depending on the size of the business, he might also have been responsible for settling claims.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=627515.0

[KGarrad]

Am I allowed to get pedantic here?!

It's Life Assurance - an assurance against something that WILL happen; i.e. death.

Other kinds are Insurance - against things which MIGHT happen. i.e floods, car accident, burglary, etc.

It was drummed into me when I first started work for a Life Assurance Company

[stanmapstone]

From the OED
Babbage in 1826 (see quot.) proposed to restrict insurance to risks to property, and assurance to life insurance. This has been followed so far that assurance is now rarely used of marine, fire, or accident insurance, and is retained in Great Britain in the nomenclature and use of the majority of life insurance companies. But in general popular use, insurance is the prevalent term.

Stan

[CarolA3]

Am I allowed to get pedantic here?!

It's Life Assurance - an assurance against something that WILL happen; i.e. death.

Other kinds are Insurance - against things which MIGHT happen. i.e floods, car accident, burglary, etc.

It was drummed into me when I first started work for a Life Assurance Company

Yes Kevin, that pearl of pedantic wisdom was drummed into me too during my early years in the Insurance industry.  However the rest of the world has never taken much notice of such arcane distinctions so, with a heavy heart, I have learned to live with the burden of being the only person in the pub to get it right

I do still wince slightly at the tautologous 'Fully Comprehensive' but no-one else seems to care these days

Anyway, it was gratifying to see my words from another thread quoted here.  Thank you bearcat for the mention - my brief moment of glory

Carol (enjoying a reliable internet signal today; a rare thing in these parts)