One of the oldest pharmacies in the UK celebrates its 190th anniversary this month.
Topsham Pharmacy near Exeter was established in 1823 by a "chymist and druggist" called Marler Troake and has remained an independently owned business ever since.
It emerged from an era when leeches were kept in jars to bleed customers, prescriptions were written out by the local physician in Latin and treatments and potions – some involving poisons like arsenic – were made up on the premises and sold to local residents.
Now Judy Norsworthy, wife of current owner David Norsworthy, has gathered together a comprehensive history of the pharmacy.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society was established in 1841 and from 1868, 'chemists and druggists' had to register with the society.
If a chemist had owned a pharmacy business before 1868, they could register with the society without having to sit an exam, Although examinations were introduced in 1841 for those who wished to take them.
After 1868, an individual who had not previously owned a business had to pass the society's 'minor' examination before they could call themselves a 'chemist and druggist'.
Pharmacy manager Stephen Murphy still uses a stunning, Victorian mahogany chest of drawers with glass handles originally used to store dry powders, roots and herbs. The pharmacy also boasts beautiful Victorian Carboys that are over a century old.
Although the exact age of the colourful glass vessels is not known, they appear in all the historic photographs of the pharmacy, many of which are more than 100 years old.
Carboys are a recognised symbol of the pharmaceutical profession and date back to the 1600s. They guided people to the presence of a pharmacy when literacy levels were low.
During the 18th century, plate glass and larger windows were introduced and carboys became a regular part of the window decoration, used to attract people to the pharmacy.
During the 1900s, gas burners were placed behind the carboys to light them up. But in the 1920s, they started to go out of fashion as pharmacies sold more items and used the windows for product displays. Topsham Pharmacy is fortunate that its carboys were retained.
A typical Victorian pharmacist worked long days. The shop opened at 7am and closed at 10pm. Prescriptions were written out by the local physician, always in Latin. There were no suppliers, other than for ingredients and patent remedies, and although patent medicines were sold, these were mainly for poorer customers who could not afford to pay the druggist to prepare the treatment himself.
The shop would have been filled with the smell of ingredients drifting from the dispensary. Most medicines were prepared by the druggist based on his own formula combined with an agent such as soap, and moulded into a tablet.
