The Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships, founded in London in 1762, became the first life insurer to use scientific actuarial principles to set premiums and manage long-term liabilities.

The founding of the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1762 coincided with the high period of Johnson, Goldsmith, and Cowper. The novel idea that life's duration could be fairly priced contributed to the period's philosophical poetry on time, mortality, and rational providence.