The Friends Provident Institution Act sweeps away the final restrictions of previous legislation. It allows the company to operate as a modern mutual life assurance office. Membership is no longer exclusively restricted to the Society of Friends.

Between 1914 and 1918 more than 8.5 million die in the Flanders trenches and on other battlefields.

For the first time the board decides the company can offer policies (non-profit only) to non-Quakers. The outbreak of war brings a significant policy exclusion - no claims for deaths in military action outside the UK.

After Robert Bosch invents the spark plug and Louis Renault comes up with the drum brake the first Model T Ford rolls off the production line. The motoring industry is getting into gear.

Rudyard Kipling's evocative animal tales are released, seizing the public imagination.

Following the introduction of estate duty, which came to be known as inheritance tax, Friends Provident issues policies that will pay out before probate has been granted.

The Eiffel Tower claims the title, holding the honour until 1930, when the Chrysler Building goes up in New York.

Friends Provident continues to play a prominent role in professional associations to this day, through active membership of the Association of British Insurers.

For the first time, the new Married Women's Property Act gives women the right to own property and earnings.

For the first time, funds under management exceed £1 million.

The Old County Court in Darley Street, Bradford, becomes the new head office. It is to be home for more than 50 years - until the move to London in 1919.

A new Act of Parliament, in response to pressure from Friendly Societies, allows Friends' Provident to become, in many respects, a mutual life assurance office.

The first cable across the English Channel links London and Paris by telegraph.

The new Companies Act sees Friendly Societies required to register in just the same way as joint stock businesses.

Two leading Quakers - Samuel Tuke and Joseph Rowntree - propose an organisation "to provide the security of life assurance" to the Society of Friends and their families. Between them, 45 Friends put up an initial £10,700 Guarantee Bond. A room above a sweet shop in Bradford becomes the first office.