Quakers and insurance agents William Hargrave and Joseph Marsh had been the most successful agents of the Friends Provident Institution, which sold life policies only to Quakers. The pair eventually took life policies to a wider public.
In 1835 they established the National Provident Institution (NPI). An advertisement in The Times newspaper offered nine types of insurance and invited readers to apply. The NPI prospectus reminded readers that: "The man who daily expands upon himself more than is necessary for his proper sustenance, and takes no thought for the period of age and decrepitude which is likely sooner or later to befall him, is deficient in that prudence which is the handmaid of every virtue".
AMP purchased NPI in 1999. By this time NPI was the UK's 17th-largest life insurer.
AMP (the previous owner) demerged its UK companies in 2003 into a new group headed by HHG plc. London Life, NPI and Pearl are now part of the Life Services division of this new independently managed UK business.
The above article was taken from the NPI Website 1/6/2004
To contact NPI National Provident Institution - Telephone - 01892 596100
