Edward Lloyd (coffee house owner)

Edward Lloyd (c. 1648 – 15 February 1713) was the British owner of a London-based eponymous coffee house, a publisher and the origin of the names of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, the Lloyd's List shipping journal and the Lloyd's Register.

Little is known about Lloyd's early life until he opened his coffee house near the Port of London around 1685–1687. It became a favoured location of merchants, ship owners and sailors and Lloyd provided them with information about ship and cargo movements, maritime losses and market prices. In 1691 Lloyd moved the coffee house to larger premises on the corner of Lombard Street, in the centre of London's business and finance district. It continued to attract businesspeople, particularly in shipping, and he introduced two short-lived news-sheets—Lloyd's News and one with the running title "Ships arrived at, and departed from several ports of England".

In Britain, in addition to running his coffee house, Lloyd was a churchwarden, constable and questman, an early form of community policeman. Abroad he was sufficiently well known in shipping circles that his name was used as a reference in the West Indies and the ports of the Hanseatic League. On his death he bequeathed his coffee house to his daughter, who had recently married the head waiter. Lloyd's name was used when a subsequent owner launched Lloyd's List in 1734, providing shipping news; as at 2025 the publication is still being produced. Lloyd's name was also used when the businessman John Julius Angerstein opened a more formal institution for trading, naming it New Lloyd's; this body grew to become Lloyd's of London.