The first documented life insurance policy issued in England was recorded in 1583.
The policy was made at the Royal Exchange in London on 18 June 1583. Richard Martin insured the life of William Gibbons for one year. Martin paid a group of thirteen merchants, who agreed to pay £400 if Gibbons died during the policy term. Historical accounts commonly describe this as the earliest known life insurance policy, rather than the first possible life-insurance arrangement ever created.
The contract was a short-term agreement tied to one person’s death risk, unlike most modern policies, which may last for decades and include savings or investment features. Life insurance later became more systematic as insurers developed mortality tables and actuarial methods. Edmund Halley published an influential life table in 1693, but the mathematical foundations of modern life insurance were not fully established until the 18th century.
A common mix-up is 1706, the founding year of the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, often called the first modern life-insurance company. That date marks organized insurance business—not the earliest documented individual policy.