This is the story of the expansion, trials, triumphs and demise of one of Britain's oldest and most important insurance offices. The records of the Phoenix are unusually rich. This, therefore, is more than the history of a single business. The insurance industry touches many aspects of modern life and the two have grown more complex together. Through the windows of the Phoenix the development of the entire modern insurance business can be studied and, at the same time, many aspects of social and commercial life in twentieth-century Britain are thrown into prominence.