This digitised material is free to access, but contains information or visuals that may:<ul><li>include personal details of living individuals</li><li>be upsetting or distressing</li><li>be explicit or graphic</li><li>include objects and images of objects decontextualised in a way that is offensive to the originating culture.</li></ul>By viewing this material, we ask that you use the content lawfully, ethically and responsibly under the conditions set out in our <a href="https://wellcomecollection.cdn.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/d4817da5-c71a-4151-81c4-83e39ad4f5b3_Wellcome+Collection_Access+Policy_Aug+2020.pdf">Access Policy</a>.

Burroughs Wellcome & Co, Private Letter Book 2

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

Due to essential system maintenance, online requesting will be unavailable from 9pm until midnight on Tuesday 21 April. You can still search the catalogue as usual. We apologise for any inconvenience.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

** The original item is too fragile to be produced. Please order the microfiche version quoting the reference AMS/MF/175 and AMS/MF/176. **

Letterbook consisting of copies of internal and external letters sent by the head office of Burroughs Wellcome & Co, Snow Hill, May 1897 - December 1898.

Topics covered in this letterbook include the day-to-day running of the business, with detailed correspondence with the Burroughs Wellcome productions site in Dartford and also the branch in Sydney. Internal correspondence covers such administrative details as terms of employment and recruitment. Some of this internal correspondence - and much of the external - concerns the aftermath of a fatal explosion at the Dartford works, December 1897.

A great deal of the correspondence relates to trade and sales, whether it is the gift of BW&Co 'Tabloid' products to notable names (eg King Chulalongkorn of Siam; General Sir William Lockhart; Lieut Robert E Peary, US Arctic Explorer; Otto Sverdrup, Norwegian Polar Explorer; the US Army in their war with Spain); correspondence with trade journals over advertisements for BW&Co products; problems over the sale of BW&Co 'Tabloid' products in Germany or routine correspondence with travelling salesman employed by BW&Co.

There is also letters giving details of current research carried out at the Wellcome Research Laboratories (eg anti-toxin research on horses)

The letters to Henry Wellcome himself - written to him whilst he recuperated abroad - are extremely detailed and offer the best overall summary to the range of issues in the rest of the volume.

1000 pages used. Index as follows:

Jules ACKERMANN, Geneva, 6 
AERZTLICHER MEDICINISCHE WOCHENSEHRIFT, 468 
ALLEN & HOARE, 394 
ANALYST, 220 
W.D. ASTILL, 125

J BADOCK, 689, 726 
William BAKER, 134 
Dr Wiston BAKER, 47a, 64, 65, 66 
BANK OF AUSTRALIA Ltd, 21 
Lieut Col BATES, Military Attache, American Embassy, London (forwarding on Congo 'Tabloid' Medicine Cases to Surgeon General, United States Army), 566 
Dr Berthold BEER, Vienna, 759 
JOHN BELL & Co, 570 
GJ BIRKS, Sydney, 737 (reporting the use of BW&Co's trademarked word 'Tabloid' by an Australian company) 
Dr C BISCHOFF, Berlin, 477 (on Bischoff writing a report for BW&Co on their 'Tabloi'd products) 
A BLAKISTON, LRCP, 609 
BOARD OF TRADE (Commissioner for Labour), 369 
T J BOKENHAM, MRCS, 48, 54 (re dry Anti-diptheritic Serum), 55, 61, 83, 93 (HSW requesting Bokenham's resignation as director of the Wellcome Physiological Laboratories), 95, 102 
BRADY & MARTIN, 47 
BRAMIGK & Co, 880 
BRITISH AND COLONIAL DRUGGIST, 220 (letter submitted by BW&Co re explosion at Dartford Works on 15th December 1897), 782 
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 220 
F N BUNGEY, 582 
J F BURNETT, 90, 167, 248, 658, 929 
BURROUGHS WELLCOME & Co (Dartford) (letter sent from BW&Co offices, Snow Hill), 18, 37, 124, 130, 132, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152, 159, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 168, 170-178, 182, 183, 185, 187-190, 196-198, 207, 223, 226, 240,245, 246, 288, 297, 298, 300, 325, 327, 343, 372, 373, 374, 391, 413, 433, 437, 452, 470, 471, 474, 484, 485, 493, 495, 496, 499, 500, 501, 506, 508, 509, 526, 528, 530, 533, 534, 541, 578, 579, 591, 595, 600, 601, 615, 636, 639, 648, 650, 653, 657, 663, 664, 666, 673, 677, 679, 680, 684, 694, 698, 711, 715, 728, 732, 753, 755, 758, 766, 775, 777, 787, 788, 789, 793, 793, 807, 808, 818, 821, 822, 828, 829, 830, 832, 834, 841, 842, 848, 849, 857, 858, 862, 863, 864, 868, 871, 876, 876, 883, 896, 897, 906, 913, 918, 918, 919, 919, 920, 921, 922, 931, 936, 942, 943, 951, 953, 957, 964, 971, 973, 978, 980, 981, 983, 985, 989, 990 
BURROUGHS WELLCOME & Co (Sydney), 24, 31, 97, 98, 121, 228, 232, 233, 235, 237, 244, 250, 251, 328, 329, 438, 480, 519, 520, 556, 557, 558, 577, 588, 589, 599, 612, 620, 646, 670, 672, 676, 716, 717, 719, 733, 736, 772, 783, 784, 798, 804, 805, 813, 819, 823, 824, 825, 826, 827, 837, 854, 855, 867, 947, 959, 967, 1000 
BUTLER & CRISPE, 990

Stanislao CANNIZZARO, 652 (requesting Cannizzaro make an analysis of BW&Co 'Tabloid' preparations) 
H CARDY, 820 
F H CARR, 60 
P W CHANDLER, 742, 752 
CHEMIST & DRUGGIST, 220, 782 (on publishing a note by BW&Co on "The Testing of the Thyroid Gland", 19 August 1898) 
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, 220 
CHEMICAL NEWS, 220 
C J CHRISTIE, 87 (instructions for Christie, re visiting Doctors in South America to sell BW&Co goods) 
G Ernest CLARKE, 11 
Dr Louis COBBETT, 36 (re anti-toxin serum), 40, 57, 84, 86 
W Grossett COLLINS, 874, 886 
COLLYER-BRISTOW, RUSSELL, HILL, CURTIS & DODS, 887, 943 
COMMISSIONER FOR LABOUR (Board of Trade), 369 
COMMISSONER of CANADA, 184 (gifting 'Tabloid products to be passed on to the Chief Medical Officer of the Canadian Government, including the "Tabloid" Cow-hide saddle case) 
The COMPTROLLER, Patent Office, 59 
CORBYN & STACEY & Co, 838 
J Ward COUSINS, 38 
R Newton CRANE, 28 
CRUISERMAN & ROUSE, 514

Marcello DALMAZZO, 153 
DARTFORD CHRONICLE, 220 
DARTFORD EXPRESS, 220 
DARTFORD URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL, 770, 865 
G E DAVIS, 8 (termination of his contract as a travelling agent for BW&Co) 
T J DAVIDSON, Royal Insurance Co, 20 
T F DAUNCEY, 35 
C F DAY, 982 
CHARLES DELACRE & Co, Brussels, 700 
E E DICKINSON & Co, Essex, Conneticut, 671 
DIXON WATTS & ELKIN, 473 
Thomas DIXON, 888, 894 
Walter DOWSON (mostly on Dowson assuming the role of Director, Wellcome Physiological Laboratories; staffing matters), 92, 101, 107, 201, 202, 505, 776, 816, 833, 872, 873, 889, 911 
W James DRUMMOND, 342 
J W DRYSDALE, 131, 155, 836, 927

ESSENTIAL OIL IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS Ltd, 655

FAIRCHILD BROS & FOSTER, 5a, 194, 212, 602, 607, 622, 643, 690, 751 
Thomas FEARNHEAD, MRCS, 665 
A Chune FLETCHER, MRCS, 119, 192, 193, 205, 606, 634, 674, 725, 815 
F W FLETCHER, 475 
J H FRANCIS (Traveller), 71, 78, 617, 764 
Prof FRASENUIS, Wiesbaden, 289 (forwarding details of Tabloid brand drugs stocked in Germany), 367, 398, 417, 553, 567, 637, 682, 712, 730, 750 
Prof FRASER, Edinburgh, 315, 368 (on the Medical Council of the Duchy of Brunswick, forbidding pharmacists to stock BW&Co preparations), 399 
Francis FORBES, 654, 718 
W H FOWKES, 926 
John FOXTON, 852, 861 
Sir Edward FRANKLAND, 641 
A Lloyd FRYER, 473 

GALEN MANUFACTURING Co, 167 
Lt Col Brigade Surgeon GALLOWAY, Cairo, 181 
GENERAL POST OFFICE, 753, 800 
Dr GENESE, Baltimore, 723, 955 
Bruce GREEN, 59 
Harry GREY, San Remo, 423 
Dr GUBB, 709 

D C HALDERMAN, Mutual Life Insurance Co., New York, 33 
J & E HALL, 163, 296 
Dr James HAMILTON, Dartford, 69 (on Hamilton becoming consulting medical officer to BW&Co in Dartford) 
J H HARRIS, 361, 668 
HASELTINE LAKE & Co, 697 (illegal use of 'Tabloid' term) 
A B HECTOR, BW&Co Sydney, 73, 156, 157, 229, 231, 395, 573, 812, 909, 944, 958, 969, 997 
J A HENRY, 23 
Aubrey J HILL, 26, 27 
Dr HOFFMANN, Charlottenburg, 635 
C M HOLMES (Pharmaceutical Society), (request by HSW for Materia Medica specimens) 378 
HOME OFFICE (Secretary of State) (re explosion at BW&Co Chemical Works, Dartford), 202, 213, 214, 301, 364 
HORNE & Co, 658 
HORNSBY & SONS, 696 
W F HORTON, New York, 835 
J W HULL, (questioning Hull's role as a salesman) 616, 659, 660, 720 
HUMPHREYS Ltd, 709 

E B I'ANSON, 731, 881, 882

A J JACOUTOT, 932 
JAFFE & DARMSTAEDTER ((BW&Co acted as an agent for their 'Lanoline' products), 41, 106, 112, 123, 208, 209, 274, 422, 529, 543, 707, 879 
JOHNS & PORTER, Baltimore, 450, 954, 989 
John A JOHNSTON, 797 
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, 220 

Dr A A KANTHACK, Pathological Laboratory, Cambridge, 22, 25, 39, 42, 45, 50, 56, 58, 62, 74, 85, 105, (on the Medical Council of the Duchy of Brunswick, forbidding pharmacists to stock BW&Co preparations) 316, 337, 436 
James KELLY, 779, 817 
KENSINGTON CO-OP STORES Ltd, 699 
W G KING, 490 
Baron KITCHENER of KHARTOUM, (on receipt of a cheque from Kitchener of 100 guineas towards the Gordon Memoiral College Fund), 949 
M KRIS, (on Kris arranging the publication in Austrain Journals of reports on BW&Co products by eminent doctors), 703 
B KUHN, 722, 738 

LANCET, 17, 220 
E A LARMITTE, 749 
Miss M Martin LEAKE, 27 
Prof Oscar LIEBREICH, Berlin, 453, 497, 554, 587, 594, 597, 608, 611, 621, 623, 625, 629, 729, 754, 774, 791, 795, 809,902, 908, 925 
LINKENHEIL & Co (Berlin), 80, 146, 179, 224, 273, 294, 341, 362, 370, 377, 390, 392, 412, 421, 424, 466, 467, 476, 479, 486, 487, 498, 507, 513, 515, 516, 532, 539, 542, 549, 568, 571, 572, 575, 590, 592, 605, 638, 705, 734, 760, 778, 796, 801, 806, 839, 875, 814, 916, 923, 924, 941, 961, 965, 976, 994, 996, 1002 
E E LITTLEDALE, 517 
Gen Sir William LOCKHART, Commander of the Punjab Forces, 111 (on sending BW&Co medicine chests for "present operations on the Indian Frontier"), 416 
F W LOCKTON, Sydney, 393 
E L LOEWE, 146, 179, 224 
LONDON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 860 
E B LOFTUS, 75 
J L LOVELAND, 952 
W Jesse LOVETT, 435, 472 
Prof Dr Hofrath LUDWIG, 426, 460, 595, 613 

Robert McBRIDE, 859 
W McBRIDE, (BW&Co salesman) 683, 744, 762, 892 
William McNAB, (on chemical trials, in particular Erythrol Tetranitrate. An explosion involving said chemical caused the explosion which resulted in the death of a BW&Co employee in December 1897) 217, 238, 249, 252, 268, 275, 302, 318, 342, 366, 375, 449, 538, 587, 711, 910 
MARKBY STEWART & Co, (lwayers, inc. correspondence re Silas Mainville Burroughs's will, in particular money left to BW&Co employees) 4, 35, 82, 91, 120, 186, 193, 195, 216, 217, 222, 239, 290, 291, 317, 642, 685, 695, 710, 739, 740, 749, 756, 763, 768, 771, 787, 790, 846, 850, 852, 853, 872, 890, 891, 895, 899, 910, 922, 934, 950 
MATHER & CROWTHER, 16 
MEDECIN DER GEGENWART, 468 
MEDICAL PRESS & CIRCULAR, 220 
MEDICO, 468 
MEISTER LUCIUS & BRUNING, 451, 531, 757 
Dr F G MELANDRI, 145 
D MICHAH, Dartford, 668a, 675 
Dr MICHAELS, Berlin, 786, 847 
T MIDDLETON, 645 
MILITARARZTLICHE ZEITACHRIFT, 468 (on publishing in German Trade press, a report on 'Tabloid' preparations by Dr Otto Witt) 
Peter MOLLER, 792, 858 
A C MOLONEY, 118 
Mr Arthur MOSER, 702 
Fletcher MOULTON, 126, 227, 239 
Henric B MURRAY, London Chamber of Commerce, 860 
William MURRELL, 206 
Walter MURTON, Solicitor, Board of Trade, 191 
Augustus MURZIO, 743 
MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co. 33 

Gerald NYE, 681

Dr Owen PAGET, 708 
F W PAINTING, 100 
PATENT OFFICE (Comptroller), 59 
A W PATERSON, 988 
G E PEARSON, (BW&Co salesman) 598, 614, 745, 836 
Lieut R E PEARY, 296 (supplying Tabloid equipment for his Arctic expedition), 633, 656 
PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL, 220, 782 
PHARMACUTISCHE ZEITUNG, 468 
PHARMASEUTICAL SOCIETY, 378 
H J V PHILPOTT, (re Patent fees) 29, 52, 53, 65, 75, 147, 336, 761 
His Excellency PHYRA SRISIDI, Secretary to HM the King of Siam [Chulalongkorn],76 (sending price list of Tabloid products) 
Dr F B POWER, 169, 692, 984 
J E PURVIS, 40 

RAFFO DALMAZZO & Co, Genoa, (on making orders of BW&Co products) 14, 153, 242, 339, 610, 704 
E W RAVEN, 877 
P K READ (Tetley & Co), 136 
Fred REYNOLDS, 821 
John ROGER, 108, 109, 110, 114, 115 
S ROBERTS, 99 
W ROBERTSON esq 63 
Thos ROBINSON, 710 
W A ROBSON, 46, 51, 135 
Julius ROCKMAN 817 
F A ROGERS, 745 
Sir Henry E ROSCOE, 219 (on re-arranging date of Roscoe inspecting BW&Co works, due to death of employee), 618 (remarks on Tabloid products), 647, 766, 767, 769, 817 
Dr J L ROWLAND, 326 
ROYAL INSURANCE Co. 20 
P J RUTLAND, 292, 376, 469, 574, 775, 788, 794 

Messrs SLOPER & POTTER, 30, 67, 77, 96, 128 
A SYMINGTON, 34 
H A SCHLESINGER, Geneva, 44 
J SCOTT, 79 
Charles STEWART (MARKBY STEWART & Co), 120, 186 
SECRETARY OF STATE (Home Office), (mostly on the death of a BW&Co employee in December 1897), 203, 213, 214, 301, 364 
Sir Thomas Grainger STEWART, 363 
H Wood SMITH, 435 
Henry SMELLING, 488, 580, 581, 693, 735, 974 
SECRETARY OF STATE for the Oberfranken District of Bavaria, 491 (on problems regarding the sale of 'Tabloid' medicines in Bavaria) 
W J STEVENS, 552 
Captain [Otto] SVERDRUP, Christiania, Norway, 576 (Polar explorer been given 'Tabloid' Medical Equipment) 
STREET & Co, 811, 907 
J Collett SMITH, 814 
SURGICAL SUPPLY ASSOCIATION Ltd. 925

H Neville TAYLOR, 569 
Mowbray TAYLOR, MB, 489 
W E TAYLOR, 340, 746 
TETLEY & Co (on blends of tea to be sent to BW&Co, most likely for the production of 'Tabloid' Tea), 1, 72, 136, 137, 247, 295, 327, 419, 454, 651, 930, 962 
Mr THOMAS, Chemist, Aberdovey, 204, 246 
Miss THOMPSON, 19 
C J S THOMPSON (mostly correspondence requesting Thompson's opinion on BW&Co labelling), 57, 667, 724, 781, 972 
Joseph TOROK, Budapest, 701 (on the publishing in Hungarian medical journals of reports on BW&Co products. Letter insists the reports must be in the literary part of the journal and not in the advertisements).
J TURNER & Co Ltd (mostly re. Erythrol Tetranitrate) 293, 317, 397, 420, 494, 551, 749, 780, 831, 848, 866, 878, 911, 933, 937, 940, 963 

URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL (Dartford), 770, 863

VAN WYCK & DUTCH STAR CHOCOLATE Co Ltd, 13 
C VALLET, 99

Dr A WANDER, Berne, 885 
J W WARD, 10 
James WASHINGTON, 901 
Henry G WATEL, 606 
C C WELD, 991 
H S WELLCOME (letters to Wellcome - holidaying abroad - from J Collett Smith and R C Sudlow). Matters discussed include preparation of 'Tabloid' products (including 'Tabloid' Mineral Water); labelling of 'Tabloid' products; Erythrol Tetranitrate and the explosion at the Dartford works; BMA conference in Edinburgh; orders for 'Tabloid' Medicine cases; summaries of travellering salesman's activities; Prof Witt's reports and sales in Germany. 103, 104a, 253, 260, 261, 262, 263, 269, 271, 276, 284, 303, 305, 306, 307 (removing 'sky sign' for BW&Co from the roof of No. 57 Holbron Viaduct), 319, 322, 330, 332, 344, 346, 352, 355, 356, 357, 380, 384 (comments on the Congo 'Tabloid' medicine case), 399, 401, 403, 409, 414, 427, 429, 439, 441, 445, 447, 458 (Army use of 'Tabloid' medicine cases), 462, 481, 502, 521, 523, 535, 545, 547, 559 (on war between USA and Spain, and USA being sent 'Tabloid' Medicine Chests. "We have felt in this matter that although you would recognise that perhaps no business results would follow this presentation, yet as an American Citizen you would wish to make a contribution..."), 561, 624, 626, 627, 628, 630, 632, 686 
WEST KENT ADVERTISER, 220 
T J WHIFFEN, 755 
WILLATS & Co, 669, 678 
W Lloyd WILLIAMS (Works Manager, BW&Co, Dartford), 2, 3, 7, 9, 15, 18, 28, 116, 127, 199, 200, 218, 360, 550, 662, 687, 688, 741, 810, 843, 844, 853, 862, 870, 893, 898, 905, 935, 938, 939, 956, 975, 977, 987, 992, 993 
Prof Otto WITT (on writing reports on 'Tabloid' products), 365, 425, 434, 512, 544, 555 
H A WOOLNOUGH, Melbourne, 966 
E WOOTON, 884 

Pelham C YOUNG, 713 (on doing business in Australia)

ZEITSCHRIFT fur PRACTICHE AERZTE, 468

Content advisory

Burroughs Wellcome & Co, Private Letter Book 2

Licence and re-use