Willis Group history

In 1841, Henry Willis applied for membership of Lloyd’s, where he started to broker insurance for the cargoes of commodities he sold on commission.

In 1843, Henry Dumas opened the Dumas and Wylie firm, which also brokered for Lloyd’s.

One of these was the merger of two London-based insurers, Galbraith and Henderson, in 1848, which, together with the firm of Fletcher and Welton, would grow into the Stewart Wrightston group of insurers.

In 1863, another firm, formed by George Henry Smith, began doing business for Lloyd’s.

In 1865, New Yorker David Parks Fackler founded one of the first actuarial firms in North America.

Manchester Unity was R. Watson & Sons’ first client in 1878.

Smith’s sons, who changed the family name to its Latin form, Faber, set up their own insurance business in 1886.

In 1889, David Parks Fackler helped create the Actuarial Society of America, a predecessor of today’s Society of Actuaries.

1896 — Henry Willis & Co. developed a relationship with United States-based Johnson & Higgins, which provided Willis access to the United States market.

The growing Willis company soon after merged its business with the Faber family, forming Willis Faber in 1898.

At the end of the decade, Willis Faber became Willis Faber & Dumas Limited, after its merger with Dumas & Wylie in 1928.

In 1929, Corroon & Reynolds became the first insurance broker to obtain a listing on the New York stock exchange.

In 1931, J. H. Miller founded a construction bonds surety agency in California; that company took on the name Miller & Day in the following year.

1934 — Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby (TPF&C) was founded.

1943 — Birchard Wyatt formed the Wyatt Company, an actuarial consulting firm, in Washington, D.C.

1950 — Fackler & Co. was acquired by the Wyatt Company.

Corporation, in 1966, forming the Corroon & Black Corporation.

1976 — Willis, Faber & Dumas listed on the London Stock Exchange, signifying its status as the leading U.K. specialty broker.

1986 — Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby acquired Atlanta-based Tillinghast, Nelson & Warren.

1987 — Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby was renamed Towers Perrin.

1990 — Willis, Faber & Dumas entered the United States as a retail broker through a merger with Corroon & Black, establishing it as the world’s fourth-largest insurance broker.

Willis Corroon’s transition was realized by 1993.

1995 — Willis acquired a 33% stake in French broker Gras Savoye.

The reorganization of the company helped lift profits by 1996.

In late 1997, the company also enhanced its position in India, with the joint-venture Willis Corroon Tower (Private) Limited, based in Mumbai.

Included among the company’s areas of expertise are industries including: environment; construction; healthcare; mergers and acquisitions; leisure; food and drink; and “unusual and niche” fields such as the company’s 1998 launch of its Fine Art, Jewellery & Specie division.

2000 — Watson Wyatt was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Willis brokered the coverage that made reconstruction of the World Trade Center possible after terrorist attacks felled the original twin towers in New York City in 2001.

2006 — Willis Research Network was launched as the world's largest collaboration between academic institutions and the finance sector.

Willis was the insurance broker for the first commercial service of the Airbus A380, as operated by Singapore Airlines on 25 October, 2007

On October 1, 2008, Willis acquired Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, one of the largest insurance and risk management intermediaries in North America, in the largest industry deal of the decade.

2010 — In a merger of equals, Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt combined to form Towers Watson.

2012 — Towers Watson acquired Extend Health and entered the private health care exchange market in the United States

2015 — Willis Group exercised its right to acquire the remainder of Gras Savoye and agreed to purchase 85% of Miller, the leading London independent wholesale insurance broker.

2016 Willis merged with Towers Watson to create Willis Towers Watson.