WOMEN IN THE EARLY DAYS OF PHARMACY IN GREAT BRITAIN

Abstract
This paper deals with the beginnings and historical evolution of Pharmacy studies in Great Britain and on the role played by the first women who practiced the profession there, The circumstances of that time, which made very difficult for a woman to work in that area, the biography of the first English woman licensed in Pharmacy, Fanny Deacon, and the biographies of the women who followed her as graduates in Pharmacy in Great Britain are commented, detailing not only their personal data but also the impact they had on the evolution and development of Pharmacy studies in their country. These women were Alice Vickery, Isabella Skinner Clarke, Margaret Elizabeth Buchanan, Rose Coombes Minshull, and Agnes Thompson Borrowman. The main objective of the paper is to reveal the figures of these first women in Pharmacy in Great Britain to society, To do this, the methodology used has been usual in research of this type: search of data on these women in bibliographical and computer sources, as well as in historic archives. As main results, the biographies of these pioneers pharmacist women mentioned above have been elaborated.
Keywords
History of Pharmacy; first steps of Pharmacy in Great Britain; first graduates in Pharmacy in Great Britain; gender difficulties; Fanny Deacon; Alice Vickery; Isabella Skinner Clarke; Agnes ThompsonHow to Cite
References
Bland, Lucy (2002): “Banishing the Beast: Feminism, Sex, and Morality”, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, (202 – 207).
Briony, Hudson, Boylan, Maureen (2013): The School of Pharmacy, University of London: Medicines, science and society, 1842-
Academy Press, London Elsevier.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Available in: https://www.britannica.com
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
Holloway, S. W. F. (1991): Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 1841-1991: a political and social history. London:
Pharmaceutical Press.
the Humanist UK. Alice Vickery.Disponible en https://heritage.humanists.uk/alice-vickery/
Iglesias Aparicio, Pilar, Mujer y salud: las escuelas de Medicina de mujeres de Londres y Edimburgo (2003). Tesis Doctoral.
Universidad de Málaga (España).
Image 2. Image of Elizabeth Garrett. Available in: https://mujeresconciencia.com/2019/08/15/elizabeth-garrett-
anderson-1836-1917-la-doctora-que-recibio-las-llaves-del- reino-de-la-medicina/
Image 3. Fanny Deacon. Available in https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and- analysis/news-in-brief/seven-
women-pharmacists-entered- into-the-oxford-dictionary-of-national- biography/20206403.article FotoFanny
Image 5. Alice Vickery. Available in: https://hmong.es/wiki/Alice_Vickery
Image 6: The Northeastern Hospital for Children, London. Available in: https://www.flickr.com/photos/robmcrorie/10296973204
Image 7: The Westminster General Infirmary. Available in: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/191312/in-pictures-300- years-history-
Westminster/
Jordan, Ellen (1998): “The great principle of English fair- play”: male champions, the English women's movement and the
admission of women to the pharmaceutical society in 1879". Women´s History Review. Vol Nº 7:(3), (381-410).
Jordan, Ellen (2001): “Admitting a dozen women into the Society': the first women members of the British Pharmaceutical Society”,
Pharmaceutical Historian, Vol. Nº 31:(2), (18-27).
Lincoln, Justin (5 September (1926): “Letter”, The Chemist and Druggist, (105). Disponible en
https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk
No author indicated. Descendants of William Vickery. Vickery Family Page. 2008. Available in: https://www.ancestry.com
Consultado: 30 de marzo de 2020.
No author identified. Candidates for Council. Pharmaceutical Journal, 27 April 1918, n. 100, p. 194.
No author or date identified. Rose Coombes Minshull. Available in:
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rose_Coombes_Minshull
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. British Academy, Oxford University Press. (Online ed.). Oxford. Available in :
Page, William (1964): The Victoria History of the County of Leicester, Vol. Nº 5.
Rayner-Canham, Marlene; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2008): Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneering British Women Chemists, 1880-
, Imperial College Press.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Alice Vickery. Disponible en www.rpharms.com
Consultado: 30 de marzo de 2020.
Royal Society of Edinburgh, Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002. July 2006.
Shellard, EJ (1982): “Some early women research workers in British pharmacy 1886-1912”, Pharmaceutical Historian, Vol. Nº 12(2),
(2-3).
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). Lady- pharmacists, 6. 30 July 1892, p. 143. Available in the newspaper library of
https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). Obituary. 20 May 1905, p. 786. Available in the newspaper library of
https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). Women in British Pharmacy, 29 July 1916, n. 791. Available in the newspaper
library of https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). 18 September 1926, n. 103, p. 479. Available in the newspaper library of
https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk Consultado: 30 de Marzo de 2020.
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). Agnes T. Borrowman Ph.C., 1954, n. 161, p. 35. Available in the newspaper library
of https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk
The Chemist and Druggist (no author identified). Westminster General Dispensary, 29 June 1957. n. 697. Available in the
newspaper library of https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk Consultado: 30 de Marzo de 2020.
The Pharmaceutical Journal (no author identified). Agnes Borrowman. 15 December 1923, n. 625.
The Pharmaceutical Journal (no author identified). Obituary. 6 January 1940, n. 144.
The Pharmaceutical Journal (no author identified). Obituary. Pharmaceutical Journal, 27 August 1955, n. 175, p.155.
The Pharmaceutical Journal (no author identified), Seven women pharmacists entered into the Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography.11 Apr 2019. Available in: https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and- analysis/news-in-brief/seven-
women-pharmacists-entered- into-the-oxford-dictionary-of-national- biography/20206403.article
License
Copyright (c) 2021 25-12-2021

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Individual articles are published Open Access under the Creative Commons Licence: CC-BY 4.0.