Francis Danson

Sir Francis Chatillon Danson (24 November 1855 – 3 July 1926) was a British average adjuster (assessing claims for marine insurance), mortgage broker and investor, closely associated with shipping at the port of Liverpool. He was the senior partner of a company whose customers included many of the shipping lines based at Liverpool. Danson was a joint mortgagee with the White Star Line for the construction of its three Olympic-class liners in the years prior to World War I.

Early years

Danson was born on 24 November 1855 at Barnston, Cheshire, the son of John Towne Danson (1817–1898) and Ann Eleanor (née Lockett). His father had worked as a journalist and was a barrister. Shortly after Francis' birth J. T. Danson became involved in the marine insurance business. He wrote a pamphlet in 1859 claiming that Liverpool lacked an adequate local marine underwriting market, despite its network of docks being of critical importance to Britain's economy. In June 1860 a joint stock marine insurance company, the Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Co., was formed with J. T. Danson as its first secretary. In 1866 Danson became the company's underwriter.

Danson was educated at Liverpool College and in Paris, after which he was articled by his father to the Liverpool firm of average adjusters, Baily, Lowndes and Stockley. An average adjuster is a professional who specialises in marine insurance, responsible for preparing claims for insurance policies, often involving damage or loss to cargo or marine craft.

F. C. Danson & Co.

In 1879 Danson established his own firm of average adjusters, F. C. Danson & Co., and was the senior partner of the company.

Danson was a governor of Sedbergh School from 1909 to 1914. He was a member of the Admiralty Transport Arbitration Board from 1914 until his death. Danson served as deputy chairman of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society and was also a member of the Tidal Institute and the International Law Association. Danson was a collector of books and antiquities and was a member of the Institute of Archaeology. He was president of the Liverpool Philomathic Society in 1913 and 1914.

During Danson's chairmanship the School of Tropical Medicine was transferred from its old laboratory at the University of Liverpool to new laboratory and teaching premises in Pembroke Place (a move delayed until after the end of World War I). In 1921 the Sir Alfred Lewis Jones Research Laboratory at Freetown in Sierra Leone was opened (commemorating the LSTM's late benefactor), with the director of the new facility holding the Chair of Tropical Diseases in Africa at the University of Liverpool.

Death

Danson died on 3 July 1926 at his home at Oxton, Birkenhead, aged 71.

Footnotes