Although Schweppe was not a pharmacist, it was his association with a pharmacist that started his rise to fame.

Born in Witzenhausen, Germany, in 1740, Johann Jacob Schweppe was trained as a silversmith. He moved to Geneva in 1765, married Eleonore Roget in 1767 and for a while pursued his career as a jeweller. During this time he experimented with making artificial spa waters.

Dr Joseph Black discovered a gas produced by the action of sulphuric acid on chalk, originally called carbonic acid gas, now known as carbon dioxide, which could be added to waters under pressure and thus aerate them. Bottles were developed with seals that could withstand the pressure.

Towards the end of the 1700s, aerated waters were being made by a Geneva pharmacist, Henri Albert Gosse. He formed a group with a father and son named Paul and in 1790 Schweppe joined this group. His area of responsibility was England and it is thought that on his first trip to London that he saw the possibility of making mineral waters there. After six years he left the group and set up a factory in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, Westminster and later moved premises to 51 Berners Street. During the next fifteen years he enjoyed great success especially with his Soda Water which was advertised as particularly recommended for the treatment of 'Stone of the Bladder'.

Schweppe made frequent trips back to Switzerland but finally returned there in 1817 and died in 1821.

It is interesting to note that once the taste for aerated waters had been established, pharmacists throughout the country purchased machinery and produced their own artificial mineral waters. Demand for safe mineral waters was stimulated by shortage of clean drinking water and outbreaks of cholera.