Brandreth's Pills

Object Details

Associated Name

Brandreth Pill Works

maker

Allcock Manufacturing Company

Description

An inscription on the package reads in part “BRANDRETH PILLS / PROPRIETARY B. BRANDRETH” AND “ALLCOCK’S POROUS PLASTER” AND “BRANDRETH’S V.U. PILLS.”

Benjamin Brandreth (1809-1880) was an Englishman who moved to the United States in 1835, hoping to find a market for the “Vegetable Universal Pill” invented by his grandfather, William Brandreth. According to his obituary, he was “the first of the family to conceive the idea of enlarging the business by the free use of printer’s ink.”

Thomas Allcock (1815-1891) was an Englishman who moved to the United States in 1845, opened a drugstore in New York City and, in the mid-1850s, acquired the rights to a recently invented porous plaster for the relief of pain. After serving with the Union Army during the Civil War, Alcock returned to New York, and joined with Benjamin Brandreth in the manufacture and sale of patent medicines.

Ref: “BENJAMIN BRANDRETH,” New York Times (Feb. 20, 1880), p. 2.

“GEN. THOMAS ALLCOCK DEAD,” New York Times (Dec. 28, 1891), p. 2.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of William H. Helfand

Date made

c.1868

ID Number

1980.0678.29

accession number

1980.0678

catalog number

1980.0678.29

Object Name

otc preparation

Other Terms

Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid

Measurements

overall: 2.5 cm x 5.2 cm x 1.5 cm; in x 2 1/16 in x 9/16 in

box: 2 1/2 in x 1 1/8 in x 7/8 in; 6.35 cm x 2.8575 cm x 2.2225 cm

tin: 1 in x 2 in x 5/8 in; 2.54 cm x 5.08 cm x 1.5875 cm

place made

United States: New York, Ossining

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Medicine

Balm of America

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Subject

Laxatives

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-3cb8-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record ID

nmah_715713