General Accident plc was a large insurance business based in Perth, Scotland.

His leadership spanned over half a century, remaining as managing director until 1939 and chairman until 1944; during that time, he took General Accident from a small local firm to a major international insurer.

A hire purchase subsidiary was formed in 1923 and in the same year the Road Transport and General Insurance Company was acquired.

[1][2] In the post-war period General Accident acquired several new subsidiaries including the Yorkshire Insurance Company in 1967, despite a higher bid from Phoenix Assurance.

The move into the estate agency business was not successful: the depressed British mortgage market produced considerable losses.

[4][3] General Accident bought NZI Corporation, a New Zealand-based insurance and banking firm, in 1988, intending to use it to expand into the Pacific market; it too was soon loss-making.

The 1990 accounts (the first on line at Companies House) showed premium income of £3.5 billion but a £121 million pre-tax loss in 1990.

[3] General Accident moved to a purpose-built head office at 2 High Street, Perth, in 1899;[1] the building was extended in 1958.