The Patent Medicines Industry in England, 1760-1830
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Rethinking Georgian Healthcare: The Patent Medicines Industry in England, 1760-1830 Alan Finlay Mackintosh Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science September 2015 The candidate confirms that the work is submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Alan Finlay Mackintosh The right of Alan Finlay Mackintosh to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. i Acknowledgements As I have been one of the more mature research students at the University, this thesis has presented fresh challenges to my supervisors, Jon Topham and Adrian Wilson. They have patiently and gently steered me from a scientific way of thinking and writing into a more humanities based approach, while remaining enthusiastic about all aspects of the research. I am very grateful to them for their perseverance in supporting and directing the research in so many ways. I am also indebted to many members of the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science for their help, particularly my fellow PhD students Becky Bowd and Jo Elcoat who have been invaluable in suggesting sources, commenting on work in progress and generally providing an extra dimension to the focussed life of a research student. My interest in this area of research started with a dissertation for an undergraduate degree under the guidance of John Chartres in the School of History, and the work would not have been possible without the firm foundation he provided on Georgian commerce and production. Alan Humphries at the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds used his intimate knowledge of the museum’s collection to uncover some surprising sources, and Christine MacLeod steered me into the imperfectly understood domain of eighteenth-century patents. The staff at all the archives visited have provided every assistance, and I am particularly grateful for the help in finding sources and pictures at the Wiltshire Archives in Chippenham, at Leeds Central Library, at the Godalming Museum, and at the Birmingham Central Library (now the Library of Birmingham). I would also like to thank Ray and Ivy Hall, churchwardens at St Peter’s Church, Claybrooke Parva, for their warm welcome and help. PhD candidates normally thank their families for the support and tolerance which has been exhibited. I certainly do so, but it my case this heartfelt appreciation has an extra dimension as my wife Sue and my children Clare and Nicholas had no practical reason to accept the interruption of many other activities: unlike most other candidates, I have no future employment prospects which would be improved by a higher degree. So my gratitude to Sue and the family in allowing me to pursue and complete this research is deep and emotional. ii Abstract Patent medicines were a major constituent of the healthcare of late Georgian England, but their position in the medical market has escaped the attention of scholars. In this thesis, information from advertisements for medicines in runs of provincial newspapers have been combined with contemporary reports and opinions, surviving printed bills, some preserved financial accounts and official documents to provide a systematic and inclusive account of the industry. My argument is that the production, distribution and sale of patent medicines constituted a stable, substantial and largely respectable industry, with only a minority of its participants being irregular practitioners. The thesis first analyses the status of patent medicines and the imperfect boundary between regular and irregular practice before exploring the functional components of the industry, which include the crucial role of the printed word. The industry employed specific practices from fixed, longstanding, premises, the owners being predominately reputable tradesmen or medical practitioners and the wholesaling being led initially by London booksellers before passing to medicine specialists and chemists. The retail market was national and structured, with the wholesalers organising and paying for much of the publicity. Medicine vending was initially dominated by the newspaper printers and the booksellers, and it was a substantial part of the income of some of them: it was later shared with the druggists. The advertising built up confidence in the medicines by a predominately low-key factual approach and by repetition, and contemporary physicians were aware that this confidence often ensured that the benefits of the medicines were greater than the sum of their pharmaceutical constituents. Thus we can regard the printed word as an essential ingredient of an effective patent medicine. The findings necessitate a reassessment of the late Georgian medical market with the patent medicines industry positioned as a distinct entity, separate from orthodox and irregular medicine, but overlapping both of them. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements …………………………………………………..... i Abstract ………………………………………………………………… ii Table of Contents …………………………………………………….. iii List of Tables …………………………………………………………. vii List of Figures …………………………………………………............ viii Abbreviations …………………………………………………............. x Introduction ………………………………………………………….... 1 0.1. Prologue – An Obscured History ……………………………... 1 0.2. The Medical Market and Patent Medicines ………………….... 4 0.3. Patent Medicines and the Historian …………………………… 6 0.4. The Patent Medicines Industry ………………………………... 9 0.5. What Was a ‘Patent Medicine’? ………………………………. 12 0.6. Research Methods …………………………………………….. 15 0.7. Structure of the Thesis ………………………………………... 18 Chapter 1. Medical Therapy, Practitioners, and the Rise of Patent Medicines in Late Georgian England …………………. 22 1.1. The Georgian Medical Market ………………………………… 22 1.2. Provision of Medicines ………………………………………... 24 1.3. Regular and Irregular Medical Practitioners ………………….. 30 A. Who Was a Regular? ………………………………………. 30 B. Who Was a Quack? ………………………………………… 34 1.4. Historical Origins of Patent Medicines ……………………….. 37 1.5. Demand for Patent Medicines ………………………………… 41 1.6. Conclusion ……………………………………………………. 44 Chapter 2. The Contested Popular, Professional and Official Status of Patent Medicines ………………………………………… 46 2.1. Why Take a Patent Medicine? ………………………………... 48 2.2. Attitudes of Regular Practitioners to Patent Medicines ………. 54 A. Opinions of Regulars ……………………………………… 54 B. Development of Patent Medicines by Regulars …………… 57 2.3. Official Recognition: The Royal Patent ……………………… 59 A. The English Patent System ………………………………... 60 iv B. Patenting Medicines in Georgian England ………………………… 62 2.4. Official Recognition: The Medicine Excise Stamp …………………… 70 2.5. Status of Patent Medicines in Late Georgian England ………………... 79 Chapter 3. The Owners and their Products in the Patent Medicines Industry ……………………………………………………. 81 3.1. Available Patent Medicines …………………………………………... 82 3.2. Types of Medicine Owners …………………………………………… 87 3.3. Market Leaders ……………………………………………………….. 90 A. Case Study – Francis Newbery ……………………………………. 90 3.4. Tradesmen Owners …………………………………………………… 93 A. Case Study – Francis Spilsbury …………………………………… 93 B. Other Tradesmen Medicine Owners ………………………………. 96 3.5. Medical Professionals and their Medicines …………………………... 97 A. Case Study - Thomas Henry ……………………………………….. 98 B. Other Professional Medicine Owners ……………………………... 100 3.6. Elite Owners …………………………………………………………. 102 A. Case Study - Elizabeth Shackleton ………………………………… 102 B. The Catholic Medicine Makers ……………………………………. 104 3.7. Irregular Practitioners ………………………………………………... 108 A. Case Study - William Brodum …………………………………….. 108 B. Other Irregular Medicine Owners ………………………………... 110 3.8. Local Owners …………………………………………………........... 112 3.9. Frequency of Ownership Groups ……………………………………. 114 3.10. Origins of Patent Medicines ……………………………………….. 117 3.11. Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 119 Chapter 4. Connecting the Country: Patent Medicine Wholesaling ... 122 4.1. Owners and Wholesalers ……………………………………………. 125 4.2. London Medicine Wholesalers ……………………………………… 129 A. The Diceys and the Newberys …………………………………….. 130 B. Other Prominent Wholesalers …………………………………….. 137 C. Wholesalers’ Stocks ………………………………………………... 138 4.3. Booksellers as Medicine Wholesalers ………………………………. 139 4.4. Methods of Distribution …………………………………………….. 143 4.5. Medicine Wholesaling in the Georgian Context ……………………. 145 4.6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………... 149 v Chapter 5. Supplying the Consumer: Patent Medicine Retailing …. 150 5.1. The Sellers of Patent Medicines ……………………………………... 151 5.2. Printers as Medicine Retailers ……………………………………….. 158 5.3. Booksellers as Medicine Retailers …………………………………… 166 5.4. Organisation of Newspaper Advertisements ………………………… 174 5.5. Finances of Medicine Advertising …………………………………… 184 5.6. Publicising Patent Medicines Outside Newspaper Advertisements …. 187 5.7. Printers and Booksellers as Irregular Medical Practitioners? ………... 193 5.8. Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 198 Chapter 6. The Potency of Print ……………………………………….. 200 6.1. Format of the Newspaper Advertisements ………………………….... 205 6.2. Creating Trust Amongst Consumers …………………………………. 209 A. Testimonials and Case Reports ……………………………………. 211 B. Text of Advertisements