Beecham's Pills were a

laxative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...

first marketed about 1842 in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. They were invented by

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philh ...

(1820–1907), grandfather of the conductor Sir

(1879–1961). The British pharmaceutical firm, established in 1859 as Beechams, became a global brand, and in the year it was founded produced the first

advertising slogan Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etymo ...

Commercial history

The pills themselves were a combination of

aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, and

soap Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...

. They were initially advertised like other

patent medicine A patent medicine (sometimes called a proprietary medicine) is a non-prescription medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name, and claimed to be effective against minor disorders a ...

as a cure-all, but they actually did benefit the digestive process . This effectiveness made them stand out from other remedies for sale in the mid-19th century. The pills, and their marketing, were the basis for Beecham's Patent Pills, which became Beecham Estates and Pills in 1924, eight years after the death of Sir Joseph Beecham, the son of Thomas Beecham. The pills continued to be made by a succession of companies: Beecham Pills Limited, Beecham Pharmaceuticals Limited, Beecham Health Care, and SmithKline Beecham. The manufacture of the pills was discontinued in 1998.

Popularity

In 1859,

focused on marketing Beechams by advertising in British newspapers. Two slogans used in Beecham's advertising were "Worth a

guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

a box" (the world's first

which first appeared in a Beechams advertisement in the ''St Helens Intelligencer'' in August 1859), and "Beecham's pills make all the difference". The first phrase was said to be uttered by a satisfied lady purchaser from St Helens, Lancashire, the founder's home town. Beechams adverts would later appear in newspapers all over the world, helping the company become a global brand. The popularity of the pills produced a wide range of testimonials that were used in advertising. The poet William Topaz McGonagall wrote a poem advertising the pills, giving his recommendation in verse.McGonagall Online – Beecham's Pills
/ref> In their 1907 obituary of Beecham, the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' said the slogan "Worth a guinea a box" was the making of the business and the foundation of a huge fortune. The

Cockney rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymi ...

Beecham for a still (photograph) comes from Beecham's pills (Beecham Pill, pill rhymes with still).

Notes

References

*"'Best for Me, Best For You'—A History of Beecham's Pills 1842–1998", ''The Pharmaceutical Journal''. vol. 269, pp. 921–924. *Anne Francis, "A Guinea a Box: A Biography", London, Hale (1968)

External links

{{commons category, Beecham's Pills
History
of

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

– successor to Beecham's Patent Pills.
Box For Beecham's Pills
via Science Museum 1842 introductions Drugs developed by GSK plc Laxatives Patent medicines *

Commercial history

Popularity

See also

Notes

References

External links