The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was founded in 1841. From 1868 it was compulsory for all individuals in the business of compounding and dispensing medicines and selling certain scheduled poisons to meet criteria which qualified them to register with the Society. An annual, published register of all these "pharmaceutical chemists" and "chemists and druggists" was published from 1869.
Ada Richardson, who qualified as a pharmacist in 1906
A complete run of these Registers is held by the Society’s Library and is a major tool for researching the careers of individuals. From 1936 there is also a register of premises.
The Museum and Library have a number of other resources, in which details of individuals, eg obituaries, can sometimes be traced.
The Museum offers a prepaid research service to family historians and others seeking to trace the careers of individuals or the history of pharmacy premises.
A London pharmacy in the 1930s
Research in this area involves a costly use of staff time and the Museum charges a basic search fee to non RPSGB members of £20 (members £10) for each person or premises researched. Click here for an order form for the service.
Researchers are also welcomed to undertake their own research in the Society’s Library, but should pre book to ensure that Museum staff are available to provide an introduction to the available sources. Currently the Library charges non RPSGB members a daily fee of £15 for the use of its facilities.
All clients are supplied with a free copy of the Museum’s Information Sheet No 1: Tracing people and premises in pharmacy, which explains the sources available and lists other possible research centres.
Click here for a short extract from Information Sheet No 1: Tracing people and premises in pharmacy.