George Harrison Rogers Harrison
George Harrison was a founding director of Prudential and the first chairman. A history of Prudential written in 1948 commented on these early founders: ‘one is impressed with the integrity which marked all their transactions. The directors were determined not to be imprudent with either their own or their shareholders’ capital.’
George Harrison Rogers Harrison was born in 1805 in Ireland to a gentry family closely associated with the College of Arms. He was the son of Charles Roger Harrison and the nephew of George Harrison, Clarenceaux King of Arms. George Harrison Rogers Harrison served as Blue Mantle Pursuivant between 1831 and 1849 (a junior office within the College of Arms probably created by Henry V in the fifteenth century to serve the Order of the Garter) and as Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary between 1849 - 1880 (an office dating from c. 1338). He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and an active freemason.
Prudential was founded in 1848 at the premises of Hanslip and Manning, solicitors in Hatton Garden. Most of the founders were business contacts of Charles Hanslip, a solicitor and ‘parliamentary agent’. This new venture followed the earlier collapse of GILEA (the General Investment, Loan and Endowment Association), a short-lived company which had been promoted by the same individuals under the leadership of Hanslip but collapsed due to overextension. Harrison was probably chosen as the first chairman of Prudential on account of the influence he could bring to the position.
In 1848 George Harrison adopted the figure of Prudence to represent the values of the new business. He designed a company seal featuring the image of Prudence which could be used to head the prospectus and other documents the company might issue. This image was adapted from the image of 'Prudentia' painted on glass by Sir Joshua Reynolds for the chapel of New College Oxford. The female figure was depicted with her convex mirror representing self-examination and a resulting humility. Her other attributes were a visual play on the name of the virtue: a serpent, emblem of wisdom, twining its way around an arrow, representing purpose or direction, to suggest wisdom-in-action: prudence in other words.
Harrison’s brother, Charles Henry Rogers Harrison, was also present at the foundation of Prudential. He was well known in medical circles as the author of ‘Deformities of the Spine and Chest Successfully Treated by Exercise Alone’ and became consulting surgeon for the new company.
In 1849 George Harrison stepped down as chairman to make way for the Reverend James Worthington. He died in 1880 in Lambeth.
