Please see Selected books and papers on actuarial history and pioneers for a fuller list of books and papers on these topics. The articles below appear in Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (JIA), Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries (TFA), British Actuarial Journal (BAJ) and Annals of Actuarial Science (AAS).
Actuarial pioneers and actuaries:
- Heywood, G. (1999). Francis Baily: another astronomer and actuary. BAJ (1999) 5: 269-271. (DOI link to BAJ article on Cambridge Journals - access via member login or through Athens portal)
- De Morgan, A. (1868). Some account of James Dodson, F.R.S. JIA 14: 341-364
- Hooker, P.F. (1965). Benjamin Gompertz, 1779-1865. JIA (1965) 91: 203-212.
- Glass, D.V. (1950). John Graunt's life table. JIA 76: 60-64.
- Renn, D.F. (1962). John Graunt: citizen of London. JIA 88: 367-369.
- [Graunt, J.]; Benjamin, B., foreword]. (1964). John Graunt's 'Observations'. JIA 90: 1-61.
- Heywood, G. (1985). Edmond Halley: astronomer and actuary. JIA (1985) 112: 279-301.
- Daw, R.H. (1980). Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777). JIA (1980) 107: 345-363.
- Elderton, W.P. (1931). William Morgan, F.R.S, 1750-1833. TFA 14: 1-20.
- Ogborn, M.E. (1957). Some family connexions of William Morgan, F.R.S. (1750-1833). JIA 83: 300-301.
- Anderson, J.G. (1945). William Morgan and X-rays. TFA 17: 219-221.
- Ogborn, M.E. and Storr-Best, R.H. (1959). Arthur Morgan's mortality experience. JIA 85: 300-309.
- Elderton, W.P. (1933). William Morgan F.R.S., 1750-1833. JIA 64: 364-365. (Facsimile of William Morgan's work for the Society for Equitable Assurances).
The 'Actuary', actuarial profession and work
- Young, T.E. (1898). The nature and history of actuarial work as exemplifying the mode of development and the methods of science. JIA 33: 97-131.Appendix: Title of Actuary.
- Ogborn, M.E. (1956). The professional name of actuary. JIA 82: 233-246
- Dow, J.B. (1971-1973). Early actuarial work in eighteenth-century Scotland. TFA 33: 193-229.
- Lewin, C.G., Evans, J.V., Goodare, K.J., Packer, L.J. (1989). Calculating devices and actuarial work. JIA 116: 215-287.
- Daykin, C.D. (1992). The developing role of the Government Actuary's Department in the supervision of insurance. JIA 119: 313-343.
Demography, mortality and life tables
- Hendriks, F. (1848-1851). Memoir of the early history of auxiliary tables for the computation of life contingencies. JIA 1: 1-20.
- Deuchar, J.J.W. (1882). A sketch of the history of the science of life contingencies, with special reference to the origin and construction of mortality tables. Transactions of the Insurance and Actuarial Society of Glasgow,1st Series, 3: 35-71.
- Daw, R.H. (1979). Smallpox and the double decrement table: a piece of actuarial prehistory. JIA 106: 299-318.
- Seal, H.L. (1980). Early uses of Graunt's life table. JIA 107: 507-511.
Finance, interest and annuities (early evidence of mathematics addressing life contingencies)
- Hendriks, F. (1851-1853). Contributions to the history of insurance, and of the theory of life contingencies, with a restoration of the grand pensionary De Wit's 'Treatise of life annuities'. Part I. JIA (1851-1853) 2: 121-150; Part II. JIA (1851-1853) 2: 222-258; Part III. JIA (1851-1853) 3: 93-120.
- Lewin, C.G. (1970). An early book on compound interest. JIA 96: 121-132. [Richard Witt's 'Arithmeticall Questions']
- Lewin, C.G. (1981). Compound interest in the seventeenth century. JIA 108: 422-442.
(History of) Insurance, life insurance and reinsurance
- Hendriks, F. (1853-1854). On the first Parliamentary Committee of Insurance, with remarks illustrative of other facts connected with the history of insurance. Part I. JIA 4: 58-60; Part II. JIA 4: 119-131; Part III. JIA 4: 300-359.
- Hendriks, F. (1862). Notes on the early history of tontines. JIA 10: 205-219.
- Walford, C. (1884-1887). History of life assurance in the United Kingdom. Part I. JIA 25: 114-133; Part II. JIA 25: 207-216; Part III. JIA 25: 257-271; Part IV. JIA 25: 433-437; Part V. JIA 26: 1-24; Part VI. JIA 26: 120-132; Part VII. JIA 26: 302-315; Part VIII. JIA 26: 436-465
Contact Details
For any library enquiries please contact:
We try to respond to email queries within one working day. Researcher access to historical resources may require notice in advance of visit in order to retrieve items from storage.
Filter or search events
Events calendar
-
Behavioural Science Series with Keith Grint - Wicked Problems, Clumsy Solutions and Leading Change
19 April 2021
Wicked Problems, Clumsy Solutions and Leading Change -
Dr Catherine Donnelly will present the basics of the structures for pooling longevity risks and summarise recent research results in this area in addition to outlinging future research around this topic. This is work under a research programme funded by the IFoA's Actuarial Research Centre, called 'Minimizing longevity and investment risk while optimising future pension plans'. -
Professional Skills Training Webinar - 21 April 2021
21 April 2021
Climate-Related Risk - This free to view webinar on Climate-Related Risk is the first in a series focusing on some of the ‘Hotspots’ identified in the JFAR Risk Perspective bringing the Risk Perspective to life with practical illustrations and insights from subject experts from the IFoA and other Regulators -
Recent decades have seen institutions, such as employers and financial services, give people more choice and flexibility, but these freedoms have come with more responsibilities. Individuals are now responsible for managing more of their own financial risks, from ensuring they put enough money into their pension to securing affordable protection to be financially resilient.
-
Actuarial Innovation in the COVID-19 era
This event is online.26 April 2021 - 7 May 2021
Join us for this brand new IFoA webinar weries comprising of a fortnight of webinars, panel sessions and a hackathon, that showcase the range of ways in which the actuarial profession has added value, in the public interest, to the understanding and management of the current and future pandemics through insight and learning. -
This event is now temporarily closed on Monday 26 April, but the session will be repeated on Tuesday 27 April, 09.00-10.30. Please click here to register your place.
Actuaries have a lot to offer biodiversity management over the next decade as the world develops more depth to its response to this global challenge. This sessional offers an opportunity to learn about this emergent risk, to contribute to our thinking as a profession and help us develop the next steps forward.
-
Europe Town Hall
28 April 2021
IFoA Immediate Past President John Taylor would like to invite you to the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ (IFoA) virtual Europe Town Hall, hosted by John Taylor with IFoA Council Members Alan Rae, Jennifer Hartley, Maribel Vasquez Flores and IFoA Chief Executive, Stephen Mann.
-
Mis-estimation risk is a key element of demographic risk, and past work has focused on mis-estimation risk on a run-off basis. However, this does not meet the requirements of regulatory regimes like Solvency II, which demands that capital requirements are set through the prism of a finite horizon like one year. This paper presents a value-at-risk approach to mis-estimation risk suitable for Solvency II work -
Finance & Investment Virtual Conference 2021
Available to watch globally in May.10-12 May 2021
This year's Finance and Investment Virtual Conference takes on the timely theme of ‘resilience’, something we have all learnt a lot more about in the last year! Our diverse range of talks will explore the theme of resilience in a variety of ways including in building robust investment portfolios, in the incorporation of ESG factors, in govern -
Wearables in insurance: a win-win opportunity
14 May 2021
This talk will explore the potential benefits that wearable tech can bring to health & protection insurers and their customers. The traditional approach of integrating wearables into insurance has largely focused on measuring steps and using rewards-based incentive programs to encourage more activity. -
Join us for this talk with Professor Sir Adrian Smith as part of the 'Dr Patrick Poon Presidential Speaker Series'. Professor Smith joined The Alan Turing Institute as Institute Director and Chief Executive in September 2018. In November 2020, he became President of the Royal Society, in addition to his leadership of the Turing. He is also a member of the government's AI Council, which helps boost AI growth in the UK and promote its adoption and ethical use in businesses and organisations across the country. He received a knighthood in the 2011 New Year Honours list. -
CILA 2021
Available to watch globally in May.19-21 May 2021
We continue to live in a world of global uncertainty. Survival depends on our ability to simultaneously navigate through the diverse root-causes, ranging from: the consequences of Climate Change; on-going financial consequences of the COVID pandemic; or self-imposed changes in regulatory requirements and accounting standards. -
Pensions Conference 2021
Online webinar series16-22 June 2021
Welcome to the programme for our 2nd Virtual Pensions Conference. This year's conference features 11 webinars offering members and non-members the opportunity to get up to date content from leading experts in the pension industry. There will also be opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.
Wicked Problems, Clumsy Solutions and Leading Change
Dr Catherine Donnelly will present the basics of the structures for pooling longevity risks and summarise recent research results in this area in addition to outlinging future research around this topic. This is work under a research programme funded by the IFoA's Actuarial Research Centre, called '
Climate-Related Risk - This free to view webinar on Climate-Related Risk is the first in a series focusing on some of the ‘Hotspots’ identified in the 
Join us for this brand new IFoA webinar weries comprising of a fortnight of webinars, panel sessions and a 
Mis-estimation risk is a key element of demographic risk, and past work has focused on mis-estimation risk on a run-off basis. However, this does not meet the requirements of regulatory regimes like Solvency II, which demands that capital requirements are set through the prism of a finite horizon like one year. This paper presents a value-at-risk approach to mis-estimation risk suitable for Solvency II work
This talk will explore the potential benefits that wearable tech can bring to health & protection insurers and their customers. The traditional approach of integrating wearables into insurance has largely focused on measuring steps and using rewards-based incentive programs to encourage more activity.
Join us for this talk with Professor Sir Adrian Smith as part of the 'Dr Patrick Poon Presidential Speaker Series'. Professor Smith joined The Alan Turing Institute as Institute Director and Chief Executive in September 2018. In November 2020, he became President of the Royal Society, in addition to his leadership of the Turing. He is also a member of the government's AI Council, which helps boost AI growth in the UK and promote its adoption and ethical use in businesses and organisations across the country. He received a knighthood in the 2011 New Year Honours list.
Welcome to the programme for our 2nd Virtual Pensions Conference. This year's conference features 11 webinars offering members and non-members the opportunity to get up to date content from leading experts in the pension industry. There will also be opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.