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I. Introduction
Benjamin Gompertz (1779-1865) was born in London into a Jewish family with roots in Holland. Gompertz's father and grandfather were diamond merchants; but Benjamin's interests, although business related, were more academic and scholarly. Denied university admission because he was a Jew, he was self-taught in higher mathematics by reading Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746).1 In 1810, Gompertz married the sister of Moses Montefiore (1784-1885), the financier and philanthropist. It was through Montefiore that Gompertz was connected to Nathan Rothschild (1777-1836), the founder of his family's international banking empire in Great Britain. Montefiore's wife's sister was married to Rothschild; and Montefiore and Rothschild has some shared business ventures, one of which Gompertz managed for several years. In addition to being a practicing insurance actuary and businessman, Gompertz communicated his first paper to the Royal Society in 1806, became a Fellow in the Royal Society in 1819, and was a founding member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, Royal Statistical Society in 1834, and LondonMathematical Society in the year of his death in 1865.2
The Alliance British and Foreign Life and Fire Assurance Company was founded by Montefiore and Rothschild and managed by Gompertz. There is an interesting story, apocryphal but perhaps true in substance, about the origin of Alliance. In 1823, Gompertz was denied an actuary position at a large insurance company because he was a Jew. Gompertz told Rothschild about losing the position due to his faith. Here is an account of the conversation between Gompertz and Rothschild (Walford, 1878):
Nathan (Rothschild) was leaning . . . against his favorite pillar in the Royal Exchange . . . known as the ''Rothschild Pillar'' when Gompertz . . . recounts . . . how he had been applying for the vacant actuaryship of a large Ins. Co. (the Guardian), and had been beaten in the competition (though admittedly the best candidate), on account of his religion. Nathan (responds) ''Not take you pecause of your religion! Mein Gott! Den I will make a bigger office for you than any of 'em.''
The Alliance was duly established in 1824 but perhaps more related to profit potential in insurance than a reaction to religious discrimination. Gompertz served as...