Beecham’s Pills, Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills and Beecham’s Toothpaste

Beecham’s Cough Pills for chest affections
Beecham’s Pills Best family medicine
Beecham’s Pills for constipation.
Beecham’s Pills for disordered liver.
Beecham’s Pills for female complaints.
Beecham’s Pills for impaired digestion.
Beecham’s Pills for nervous ills.
Beecham’s Pills for sick headache.
Beecham’s Pills Great colonial demand.
Beecham’s Pills invigorate the nerves.
Beecham’s Pills purify the blood.
Beecham’s Pills restore appetite.
Beecham’s Pills stand unrivalled.
Beecham’s Pills The leading remedy.
Beecham’s Pills The premier medicine.
Beecham’s Pills The world’s medicine.
Beecham’s Pills Worth a guinea a box.
Beecham’s Tooth Paste, in tubes 1/-
Stamp Beecham’s Pills on your mind.
Try Beecham’s Tooth Paste

 

Overview

Although overshadowed by the Sunlight Soap adverts, Beechams was a major advertiser and - uniquely - had their designs in a contiguous block, of size 4x5, in the bottom right pane of the sheet. Beecham was a British patent medicine vendor and advertised its two pills and toothpaste: Beecham’s Pills (a laxative), Beecham’s Cough Pills and Beecham’s Tooth Paste. One Beecham slogan - "Worth a Guinea a Box" - entered the popular culture of the day. Beecham’s presence in New Zealand during the nineteenth century was apparently vestigial: there are the syndicated newspaper adverts, the stamp adverts, an anti-forgery agent, and little else. There is not even any sign of a local distributor.

 

Beecham Company Beginnings

The founder of the first, Thomas Beecham, was born in Curbridge, Oxfordshire, England in 1820. His beginnings were humble and worked as a shepherd’s boy at age eight. There he learnt about herbal medicine and sold herbal remedies as a sideline [WikiBeechTom] [WikiBeechGrp].

As a young man of twenty he moved some 14 miles eastwards to the larger village of Kidlington, undertaking casual work such as the village postman. He also sold laxative pills of his own invention in nearby markets; these were made with the help of his brother in law [GraceBeecham].

Two years later, in 1842, Thomas Beecham went into business with his pills, now known as Beecham's Pills. He became a charismatic travelling salesman, offering his pills in different parts of the country [GraceBeecham] [LetLookAgainBeecham].

Perhaps Thomas Beecham already had pharmaceutical ambitions because he transferred 160 miles north to the manufacturing heartland of England. In 1847 he married Jane Evans of Bangor, Wales in Liverpool. At the time he described himself as a labourer, suggesting that his pill business was not doing well. The newlyweds settled in Wigan, where Thomas continued to make Beecham’s Pills, and other medicines, and sell them at markets around the town. Soon he was able to open a shop there; and in 1848, at the baptism of his first child, Joseph, he described himself as a "medicine vendor".

The building known as Beechams Clock Tower, originally part of Beechams Factory and now a part of the modern St. Helens College [WikiBeechamBlg]

His Wigan shop failed in 1859 yet, undeterred, the family moved nine miles to the south west, to St. Helens, a coal mining and glass making town north of the River Mersey. Here Thomas opened Beecham’s first factory. Reportedly, this factory was the first to be opened solely for the manufacture of medicines [GraceBeecham]. The Beecham firm became an entrenched feature of the town, with its headquarters at the gracious Beecham Clock Tower from 1877 [WikiBeechGrp].

Thomas’s eldest son, Joseph Beecham joined the family firm in 1866 [WikiBeechJos]. He was described as "[in] personal appearance ... the quiet, pipe-smoking, tweed-clad type of Englishman. He has neither business nor artistic pose, and is modesty itself" [LetLookAgainBeecham].

Beechams was reportedly exporting their remedies to Australia in 1875 [GraceBeecham], yet there is an earlier Australian newspaper record for when A.J. Watt & Co, a dispensing chemist at 528 George St, Sydney, imported Beecham Pills in 1873 [SydMornHer1873Mar27P2] [SydArchWatt].

Thomas’ eldest son, Joseph Beecham, took effective control of the company in 1881 even though Thomas remained as the formal leader of the company into the mid-1890s [WikiBeechTom]. Joseph was regarded as a superior businessman than his father and, in what would be a major feature of the company thereafter, Joseph increased the company’s advertising expenditures considerably [CorleyBeechamGrp] [EncycBizBeecham]. For instance, in December 1884, the first Beecham advert appears in an Australian newspaper [Argus1884Dec19P7].

Joseph was also responsible for Beechams’ new factory and office in Westfield Street, St. Helens, being built in 1885 [WikiBeechamJos], wherein the employees were mostly boys. There was no laboratory or research staff whatsoever, although the firm did regularly test the pill ingredients for quality. As well, "there were a limited number of wholesale agents, and its travelers were largely concerned with tracking down pill counterfeiters." [CorleyBeechamGrp]. Joseph Beecham opened a distribution business in New York in 1888, then a factory there in 1890 [EncycBizBeecham].

 

The Ingredients and Medical Efficacy

Beecham’s Pills

Beecham’s Pills "actually did have a positive effect on the digestive process. This effectiveness made them stand out from other remedies for sale in the mid-19th century." Indeed their manufacture was only discontinued in 1998 [WikiBeechamPill].

In their early days, Beecham’s Pills were sold in a box of 56 pills for 1/- 1½d. The cost of raw materials was estimated in 1909 as 1/8d, although the value was always marketed as a guinea a box [SecretRemCostContain1909]. The pills were described as "composed entirely of medicinal herbs" but that was only true for two of the three ingredients:

• Aloe: 0.5 grain (32.4 mg)
• Powdered ginger: 0.55 grain (35.6 mg)
• Powdered soap: 0.18 grain (11.7 mg)

A circular distributed with the pills claimed they cured "constipation, headache, dizziness or swimming in the head, wind, pain and spasms in the stomach, pains in the back, restlessness, insomnia, indigestion, want of appetite, fullness after meals, vomitings, sickness of the stomach, bilious or liver complaints, sick headaches, cold chills, flushings of heat, lowness of spirits, and all nervous affections, scurvy and scorbutic affections [i.e., affections related to scurvy], pimples and blotches on the skin, bad legs, ulcers, wounds, maladies of indiscretion [STDs?], kidney and urinary disorders, and menstrual derangements."

Given the purgative nature of the ingredients, the bolded items seem like they could be plausibly treated by the pills. The last item is bold due to [Tring1982, p182] which reports that both bowel movement and menstruation "were sometimes amendable to treatment which induced contractions or peristalsis". Scurvy and scorbutic affections are bolded since aloe and ginger do contain small amount of vitamin C, and aloe improves the absorption of vitamin C [GingerHeaBene] [AloeVeraRev] [AloeVerBioavailC].

The circular further reported "Beecham’s Pills are no more an abortifacient than Epson salts." [Tring1982, p182].

An earlier analysis, from 1894 [AucklandStar1894Feb03P4Supp], reported that the pills were composed of two parts aloe, two parts ginger, and one part soap. This analysis is roughly in agreement with the 1909 results.

 

Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills

The ingredients for the cough pills all had a strong pedigree of helping coughing and associated symptoms - plus apparently a notorious ingredient for pain relief. Like Beecham’s pills, Beecham’s Cough Pills were also sold in boxes of 56 pills for 1/- 1½d. Again there was some questionable marketing since the included circular reported that "they do not contain opium" yet by some reports they contained opium’s most important ingredient, morphine, among the five ingredients [SecretRemCostContain1909]:

• Morphine: 0.0035 grain (0.23 mg) [typical modern analgesic doses are 15-200mg [MedScapeMorphine]
• Possibly this ingredient was only included from 1905 [LetLookAgainBeecham]
• In 1913, after regular advertising of the pills had long ended, the presence of morphia was challenged in newspaper adverts [IllustratedSportingAndDramaticNews1913Mar08P31]
• Powdered squill: 0.1 grain (6.5 mg) [Squill is the common name for certain lily-like plants, and maritime squill is still used in some modern cough syrups [RansomNatSquill]]
• Powdered aniseed: 0.3 grain (19.4 mg) [A flowering plant, it has been used as an expectorant and to sooth bronchial irritation [HerbWisAniseed]
• Ammoniacum: 0.3 grain (19.4 mg) [Gum resin exuded by a wild carrot-like plant, and used since antiquity to treat respiratory issues, excess phlegm, chronic coughs and bronchitis [ApthAmmoniacum]]
• Extract of licorice: 0.4 grain (25.9 mg) [Extract from the root of a flowering plant from the bean family, with a long history of herbal use including as a cough suppressant and expectorant [WikiLic] [PubMedLicorice]]

The circular enclosed in the box went as follows: "Persons suffering from Cough and kindred troubles should relieve their mind of the idea that nothing will benefit them unless it be in the form of a lozenge, or taken as a liquid. Let them try Beecham’s Cough Pills, and they will never regret it. The Cough Pills do not contain opium; they do not constipate; they do not upset the stomach. On the first symptoms of a Cold or Chill, a timely dose of Beecham’s Cough Pills will invariably ward off dangerous features. For years many families have used no other Winter Medicine. Householders and travellers should avail themselves of the good, safe, and simple remedy for Coughs in general, Asthma, Bronchial Affections, Hoarseness, Shortness of Breath, Tightness and Oppression of the Chest, Wheezing, etc. The dose may be from three to six pills morning, noon and night."

Later we learn the rule of thumb "two for adults and one for a child" [Star1890Mar15P3], so it seems that the "three to six" pills is per day (not per dose), and then the box supplied 9 days’ worth of pills for an adult or 18 days’ worth for a child. The reported daily dose of morphine would then be 0.68-1.36 mg, and the entire box held 12.2 mg of morphine.

 

Beecham’s Tooth Paste

In the second half the nineteenth century, the diet of the average Britain changed appreciably:

• Cheaper sugar heralded a dramatic increase in sugar consumption via treacles, jams and chocolate (we’re looking at you Frys and Cadbury Bros!)
• Bread became softer because it was made from finer flour, because in turn flour was now produced using roller milling and the hard bran was sifted from the flour by way of a silk gauze filter.

Oral micro-organisms consumed the sugar to create lactic acid that attacked tooth enamel; and meanwhile the softer breads did not stimulate as much saliva production. It was a perfect storm of tooth decay [MiskellCavProtBizHistRev2004, p34-35].

It took some decades for science to catch up: what were the root causes and how could they be stymied? Regular brushing to remove food particles was clearly a good idea, and recommended by dentists, but fluoride was not proven as a therapy until the 1930s.

Accordingly it doesn’t really matter what the ingredients of Beecham’s toothpaste were, because none of them could be called active ingredients (despite marketing claims to the contrary) [MiskellCavProtBizHistRev2004, p36].

The "collapsible metal tube" was first used for paints in 1841, and early materials included tin, zinc, or lead. The tubes were first used for toothpaste in 1889 by Johnson & Johnson [WikiTube]. Beforehand, dentifrices were sold as a powder, as a cake, or as a paste in a jar. The jar form was convenient and popular but expensive, and meant that family members would be (unhygienically) scooping paste out of the jar with their individual toothbrushes [MiskellCavProtBizHistRev2004, p37]. Thus the collapsible metal tube seemed like a great invention: cost-effective and hygienic - except the tubes were oftentimes made from lead. Lead seems the most probable metal used for tubes, since it is known that toothpaste tubes were recycled into lead bullets during World War II [SchlosserLeadToothpasteTube2005].

 

The New Zealand Advertising Campaign

The presence of Beechams in New Zealand was light, and largely confined to their advertisements which first started in 1880. Unlike the contemporaneous Beecham adverts published in Britain, there was no graphic element, just typeset text with a dropped capital B, and limited centering. The advert copy would be retained with little change for many years, and highlighted their "Worth a Guinea a Box" slogan. Beecham’s first New Zealand advert, in the Lyttelton Times, illustrated the competitive environment of the day since the advert was sandwiched between other adverts for Lascelles’ Gout and Rheumatic Pills, Norton’s Camomile Pills, Blair’s Gout Pills, Dr King’s Dandelion and Quinine Liver Pills, Kearsley’s Widow Welch’s Female Pills, Keating’s Powder, Keating’s Worm Tablets, Kirkgate’s Pills No. 1, 2 and 3, Paget’s Saline Mixture and Skelton’s Pulmonary Lozenges (wherein the bolded pills treated overlapping complaints) [LytteltonTim1880Sep30P7]:

First Beecham’s advert in New Zealand, Lyttelton Times, 30 September 1880.
Credit: National Library of New Zealand [LytteltonTim1880Sep30P7].

WORTH A GUINEA A BOX. BEECHAM’S PILLS are admitted by thousands to be worth above a guinea a box for bilious and nervous disorders, such as wind and pain in the stomach, sick headache, giddiness, fulness and swelling after meals, dizziness and drowsiness, cold chills, flushings of heat, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, costiveness, scurvy, blotches on the skin, disturbed sleep, frightful dreams, and all nervous and trembling sensations, &c., &c. The first dose will give relief in twenty minutes. This is no fiction, for they have done it in thousands of cases. Every sufferer is earnestly invited to try one box of these pills, and they will be acknowledged to be Worth a Guinea a Box. For a weak stomach, impaired digestion, and all disorders of the liver they act like "magic," and a few doses will be found to work wonders upon the most important organs in the human machine. They strengthen the whole muscular system, restore the long-lost complexion, bring back the keen edge of appetite, and arouse into action with the rosebud of health, the whole physical energy of the human frame. These are Facts, admitted by thousands embracing-all classes of society, and one of the best guarantees to the nervous and debilitated is, Beecham’s Pills have the largest sale of any patent medicine in the world. BEECHAM’S MAGIC COUGH PILLS. As a remedy for coughs in general, asthma, difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath, tightness and oppression or the chest, wheezing, &c., these pills stand unrivalled. They speedily remove that sense of oppression and difficulty of breathing which nightly deprive the patient of rest. Let any person give BEECHAM’s COUGH PILLS a trial, and the most violent cough will in a short time be removed. CAUTION....The public are requested to notice that the words "Beecham’s Pills, St Helen’s," are on the Government Stamp affixed to each box of the Pills; if not on, they are a forgery. Full directions are given with each box. Sold by all Druggists and Patent Medicine Dealers in the United Kingdom. Prepared only, and sold Wholesale and Retail, by the Proprietor, T. BEECHAM, Chemist, St Helen’s, in boxes at 1s 1½d and 2s 9d each. Sent post free from the proprietor for 15 or 36 stamps.

Both Beecham’s Pills and Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills are advertised (the toothpaste is introduced later). We see that, even from the beginning, Beecham’s is worried about forgeries.

The initial copy seems to have been a lazy effort since it was not localized for New Zealand at all:

• "Sold by all Druggists and Patent Medicine Dealers in the United Kingdom."
• The identity of the "Government" in "...the Government Stamp affixed to each box of the Pills" is unspecified but surely refers to the British government, since it imposed a duty on medicines with payment identified by a stamp duty label (see below) [BasfordCommodityOfGoodNamesBranding1650to1900, ch2, p145-147]
• The text "Sent post free from the proprietor for 15 or 36 stamps" is also found on adverts in the UK (e.g., for an elaborate example, see The Illustrated London News, 26 February 1887 [IllustratedLonNew1887Feb26]), and it seems improbable that the cost of stamps to deliver a pill box within the UK would also suffice to send the same pill box to the opposite side of the world!

Two examples of medicine stamp duty labels: pre-1885 for Beach & Barnicott (upper) and post-1885 for Zam-Buk (lower) [BasfordCommodityOfGoodNamesBranding1650to1900, ch2, p145-147].

Beechams continued with adverts in the Lyttelton Times, initially with a spacing of a few months then more regularly in 1881.

Next they begin advertising in the South Canterbury Times [SouthCanterburyTim1881May03P1], where there is a minor variation in the copy and formatting:

• The advert now begins "OH YES! OH YES!", which replaces the leading "WORTH A GUINEA A BOX"
• "WORTH A GUINEA A BOX" remains in the middle of the advert (now followed by "Monmoutshire", for no obvious reason),
• Greater prominence is assigned to the observation that "Beecham’s Pills | They have the largest sale of any Patent Medicine in the World".
• Ditto "Let any person give BEECHAM’s COUGH PILLS a trial, and the most violent cough will in a short time be removed."

By July 1882, the advert is shortened, including fixing the "Monmoutshire" typo by excising "Every sufferer is earnestly invited to try one box of these pills, and they will be acknowledged to be Worth a Guinea a Box. Monmoutshire. ... with the rosebud of health, the whole physical energy of the human frame. These are Facts, admitted by thousands embracing-all classes of society, and one of the best guarantees to the nervous and debilitated is ..." In this version, the "Worth a Guinea a Box" slogan is nowhere to be found, although the opening line continues to say "Beecham’s -Pills | Are admitted by thousands to be worth above a Guinea a box" [SouthCanterburyTim1882Jul25P4].

In January 1885, Beechams began advertising in the New Zealand Herald. Their slogan "Worth a Guinea a Box" was back in two places in the advert, which now began "A Wonderful Medicine." The advert can be considered a shortened version of the first Lyttelton Times ad, since it ended after "BEECHAM’S PILLS have the largest sale of any Patent Medicine in the World" (with nothing on the cough pills, forgeries, or stamps sending post free) [NzHerald1885Jan06P3].

First Beecham advert in New Zealand with a graphic element [NzHer1885Jan07P3]. Credit NZME, reproduced for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence.

Almost immediately this was upgraded to a new advert which it contained the first graphic element used by Beecham’s in New Zealand. This was a simple elliptic medallion with "Patent Pills" circumscribed by "Beecham’s * St Helens * Lancashire". The copy in the rest of the advert closely follows the 1880 Lyttelton Times advert [NzHer1885Jan07P3], albeit:

• Topped by the more modern "A WONDERFUL MEDICINE"
• With additional text on Beecham’s Pills: "For females of all ages these Pills are invaluable, as a few doses of them carry off all gross humours, open all obstructions, and bring about all that is required. No female should be without them. There is no medicine to be found to equal BEECHAM'S PILLS for removing any obstruction or irregularity of the system. If taken according to the directions given with each box they will soon restore females of all ages to sound and robust health."
• With additional text on Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills: "... and any one labouring under any of the above complaints need only try One Box to prove that they are the best ever offered to the public for Asthmatic and Consumptive Coughs, Hoarseness, and Oppression of the Chest. ... They give almost instant relief and comfort to those afflicted with the above distressing and, when neglected, dangerous complaints."
• Localization is mostly addressed via
• The rewording to "Sold by all Druggists and Patent Medicine Dealers throughout the Colonies",
• The removal of "Sent post free from the proprietor for 15 or 36 stamps."
• With an additional closing statement "N.B. - Full directions are given with each box."

A later version italicises "BEECHAM’S PILLS have the Largest Sale of any Patent Medicine in the World." [NzHer1888Aug31P3]

From 1885, a blizzard of Beecham’s adverting begins across many New Zealand newspapers and, for the first time a local, W.W White (a chemist and druggist of Milton), independently advertised their pills [BruceHer1885May05P2]. Other chemists would do the same, in Auckland from 1888 [NzHer1888Sep03P1] and Otago from 1891 [OtagoWit1891Apr16P31].

Returning to 1885, a newly introduced advert for the Otago Daily Times is much more emphatic about the pills being advertised: along with the usual copy on the right hand side of the advert, "BEECHAM’S PILLS." is repeated some forty one times on the left hand side [OtagoDaiTim1885May09P2Supp].

An ornate border and spacer are found in the Beecham’s advert in the Otago Witness in 1887 [OtagoWit1887Oct21P40]. The localisation shifts again, and now reports "Sold by Druggists and Patent Medicine Dealers everywhere", but there are never any endorsements by New Zealanders.

The advertising widened further, to the Auckland Star, Thames Advertiser, Tarankai Herald, Hawke’s Bay Herald, New Zealand Times (Wellington), Colonist (Nelson), Marlborough Express, Grey River Argus, West Coast Times, Tuapeka Times, and the Timaru Herald. There were around 100 ads per month across New Zealand in 1887.

The most ornate newspaper advert in New Zealand by 1887. Credit: National Library of New Zealand [OtagoWit1887Oct21P40].

Influence on New Zealand Culture

One Nelson lady, with poetic leanings and suffering from dyspepsia, versified that she tried Beecham’s Pills but in vain [NelsonEvMai1888Jun02P4].

Australia, like Britain, was a source of fashion/modernity, and so titbits that kept New Zealanders up to date was always of interest. In that vein, there was a passing reference to real estate marketing from Melbourne, with the implicit indication that Beecham’s advertising had broken into popular culture in both Melbourne and the West Coast [WestCoastTim1888Nov01P2]:

This is how they advertise properties for sale in Melbourne : ... If Beecham's pills be worth a guinea a box, what should land be worth a foot at Burwood ? The one - "Like the snowflake on a river, A moment seen, then lost for ever." The other, Burwood ... "A thing of beauty and a joy for ever." That will be fleeting, fugitive, fumacious. ... This will be enduring, immobile, unalterable; therefore, buy some lots at Burwood Township, estate sale on Saturday, 13th October, if only to keep as a momento of your perspicacity and farsightedness. ... Be sure your ancestors will be proud of you and your posterity will bless you and keep the anniversary of your lucky purchase as a red letter day for all time.

A weakly-amusing anecdote can be found in the Marlborough Express in 1891: "A lady recently entered the Masterton Bank, and asked for a box of Beecham’s Pills. It is said that the teller blushed, but offered her a plaster." One infers that the teller believed that the lady needed the pills to help resolve constipation or indigestion or even menstrual difficulties, and the humour lies in the woefully inadequate help that a plaster might provide [MarlboroughExp1891Feb18P3].

One truly New Zealand occasion was when the purgative properties of Beecham’s Pills were (wildly) misused to evade a hangover: "A Feilding gentleman who is not of a bibulous habit took a few extra glasses of ale the other night, and, dreading the after consequences, when he arrived at his home he inconsiderately devoured a whole box of Beecham’s pills ... bar two consumed by another member of his family. Next day he was seriously ill and now he swears he will in future "give the beer a show," no matter what happens." [FeildingStar1893Jan28P2].

 

Other Beecham Mentions in New Zealand

In 1879, Joseph Beecham had a son, Thomas Beecham (who shared the same name as his grandfather, the Beecham’s founder), who went on to be a famous British conductor. Evidently the family was deeply engaged in music since by the time the grandson Thomas Beecham was 10 the company had already published "Beecham’s Portfolio Edition" of popular music and was now publishing their Christmas Annual [MarlboroughExp1889Jan03P2]:

PUBLISHING EXTRAORDINARY.... Perhaps the most marvellous Penny Publication ever produced has just been issued in London, by the well-known proprietor of "Beecham's Pills." It is called "Beecham’s Christmas Annual." Printed on superior paper from new type, and profusely illustrated by capable artists, it contains in its 70 pages contributions by "Ouida," George R. Sims, Jessie Fothergill, Manville Fenn, and a host of other celebrated writers, besides the last tale written by the Hugh Conway, and a quadrille specially arranged from all the popular tunes of the day. A special edition has been issued for Australia and New Zealand. The work, of which the first edition consists of a quarter of million copies, is intended to commence a new departure in penny literature, and well deserves all the success it will undoubtedly secure. Those who know Beecham’s Portfolio Edition of popular music, of which five million copies of various pieces have been distributed gratis mall parts of the world, will be pleased to hear that the enterprising proprietor is now reprinting the first thirty numbers in book form. This unique collection of popular music is published at twopence. TODO Find an extant copy of either of these publications; a later cover is here.

In an 1889 Christmas supplement published by the Evening Post, there was a short story set in London which makes an interesting point about the affordability of the medicine [EveningPost1899Dec21P2Supp]. The main (ragged) protagonist finds a gold sovereign on the ground and is discussing with his sister what to buy their mother with it, but his sister scorns his suggestions via "’Jacob’s Oil, Beecham’s Pills!’ she ejaculated with contempt. 'You’re a ninny, Jem. Them’s comforts for the rich. What we wants is summit in our insides, and summit to cover us. That’s what we wants. Them diversements (she meant advertisements) are not for the poor ...’"

Beecham’s advertising budget was big, and was recorded as £90,000 globally per annum in 1890 [FieldingStar1890Aug28P2].

Beyond newspapers and works of music, it was all too plausible that they could and would advertise anywhere possible, which leads to two amusing stories, the second of which was published in a British paper as fact.

[DailyTelegraph1891Sep29P2]: For the instruction and edification of the members of the Diocesan Synod, now in session assembled, we publish in another column an article from a Scotch contemporary, entitled, "A New Way of Paying Church Debts." The words of the article ought to sink into the hearts and minds of our readers. There are few churches in New Zealand that are not head over heels in debt, and the ancient methods of extracting money from congregations are very stale and rarely satisfactory. The bazaar, with its stalls of fancy rubbish, baby linen, and suspicious pastry, has long ceased to be the one bright spot ... The bazaar, in fact, has fallen on evil days, and the suggestion of a commercial traveller to our Presbyterian friends in Auld Reekie comes at the nick of time. When a minister has the courage to say that he should feel more assured of his income if his church walls were utilised as advertising hoardings, we may be sure that the days of bazaars are over. They are played out; and henceforth we must not be surprised if the virtues of Beecham’s Pills and Pear’s Soap take the place of Scriptural quotations in our churches.

[Star1890Mar15P3]: ... a certain impecunious Church of England congregation found themselves hard up for hymn books, and it was suggested to the vicar that he might be able to avoid expense if he could get an advertisement of a harmless character inserted into his new stock. After some debate the suggestion was agreed to, and among advertising firms, Beecham’s was the one with which the vicar determined to put himself into communication. His terms were accepted, and the books followed. The vicar and his friends were puzzled to find no advertisement in the books. They came to the conclusion, however, that the pill firm bad done the generous, and sent them a present of the hymnbooks. All went serenely until a Sunday near to Christmas, when the congregation were singing the well known hymn beginning "Hark ! The herald angels sing," when everyone suddenly stopped, and after a lapse of a second or two, a loud titter ran round the assemblage, the cause of which may be guessed when it is stated that the hymn had been printed to begin as follows :... Hark ! The herald angels sing, Beecham's pills are just the thing For easing pain and mothers mild. Two for adults and one for a child.

Although a good tale, this second story was apparently inaccurate since "Mr Thomas Beecham subsequently contradicted the truth of the story" [Star1890Mar15P3]. Meanwhile a third article - if taken as truth - suggests that church advertising was indeed being entertained in this era [MarlboroughExp1891Oct08P3].

What was valid is that Beechams gave away free sails [EncycloPolBizSmKlBe] and this, as part of a widespread advertising campaign, caused some offense in Sydney that was heard even in Otago: "The beauties of Sydney’s lovely harbour are spoilt by advertisement placards stuck up in every available nook. Even the blue waters themselves are disfigured by an unsightly craft on whose white sails are scrawled the virtues of Beecham's Pills; while the solitudes of the beautiful Hawksbury river are shamed by obnoxious posters stuck prominently on picturesque rocks and fallen trees" [OtagoWit1893Mar30P347].

Although later we shall see a different characterisation, the pills themselves were once described as "nasty squirmy things" in a further amusing anecdote that reached New Zealand [EveningStar1891Apr29P3]:

A good story is told of an American heiress named Miss Lighter and the late Lord Beauchamp. The name of the nobleman is pronounced Beecham. "Say, my lord, I guess you can spend pretty much what you please on your fancies," quoth the heiress. "Well," replied His Lordship, "I would hardly say that. A man in my position has so many embargoes on his income that in these days of agricultural depression his stock of pocket money is often microscopical." "My! but surely a few more columns of advertisements are always bound to bring in another 'hundred thousand’?" ... (The lady counted in dollars.) "I...l...hardly understand, advertise! What should I advertise...my poverty ?" "Poverty, no, your pills ! Ain't you Beecham's pills?" "No. I rather wish I were." "My word! and to think I've been taking those nasty squirmy things all my days, in preference to my own uncle’s article, simply because I thought a lord sold them! Weren't you made a lord for your success in the pill business?" "No," replied the nobleman pensively; "it is only the brewers who are made lords, not those who manufacture the correctives of their beer. I am a lord by inheritance."

All Beecham’s advertising had one unintended consequence: "About 3000 begging letters are received by the proprietor of Beecham's pills annually. ... Quite enough. More are not desired" [BruceHer1892Jan22P5].

The advertising in Britain was richer than in New Zealand; the ads included large-format engravings of men (and women) such as this advertisement in a Christmas 1888 issue of the Illustrated London News.

With that background, we read "Henry Irving tells a story with great gusto about a little girl. Mr Irving was taking a holiday in a village in Dorset last summer when he came across a number of children coming out of school. One little girl stood and looked me in the face, as though she had seen me before. After a time Irving said : 'Well little girl, do you know who I am?’ 'Yes, sir,' was the reply; 'you are one of Beecham’s pills’. The little girl had seen his face in an advertisement" [WestCoastTim1892Jun23P2].

 

Toothpaste

Beecham’s toothpaste was first advertised in New Zealand in January 1893 as the third Beecham product after Beecham’s Pills and Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills, via "Beecham’s Tooth Paste, Cleanses the teeth, Perfumes the Breath. In Collapsible Tubes : 1s each" [OtagoWitJan12P48].

First advert describing Beecham’s Tooth Paste in detail, Otago Witness, 20 April 1893. Credit: National Library of New Zealand [OtagoWit1893Apr20P52]

In April, more description is provided: "BEECHAM’S TOOTHPASTE Will recommend itself ; it is efficacious, economical, cleanses the teeth, perfumes the breath, removes tartar, and prevents decay. It is composed of the best known ingredients for neutralising the acids of the mouth, preventing all deleterious deposits upon the teeth, and is a pleasant and reliable dentifrice BEECHAM’S TOOTH PASTE is put up in collapsible tubes, perfectly air-tight, and so adjustable that no waste need occur ; the packages are pretty for the toilet table, and most convenient for the travelling bag. Of all Druggists, or from the Proprietor, for ONE SHILLING, postage paid." [OtagoWit1893Apr20P52]

 

Stamps and Telegrams

With this history, we see that the messages on Beecham’s underprint stamps were perfectly or very closely tied to their newspaper stamps. Others went further, and indeed one pun crept in ("Stamp Beecham’s Pills on your mind.").

Verbatim Message

Beecham’s Pills for constipation. Beecham’s Pills for sick headache. Beecham’s Pills stand unrivalled. Beecham’s Pills Worth a guinea a box. Beecham’s Tooth Paste, in tubes 1/-

Reworded Message

Beecham’s Pills for disordered liver. Beecham’s Pills for female complaints. Beecham’s Pills for impaired digestion. Beecham’s Pills for nervous ills. Beecham’s Pills invigorate the nerves. Beecham’s Pills restore appetite. Beecham’s Pills The world’s medicine.

New Message

Beecham’s Cough Pills for chest affections Beecham’s Pills Best family medicine Beecham’s Pills Great colonial demand. Beecham’s Pills purify the blood. Beecham’s Pills The leading remedy. Beecham’s Pills The premier medicine. Stamp Beecham’s Pills on your mind.

 

More ornate adverts were also added to telegram forms, which received some criticism during a review of the Budget by former premier and Postmaster-General Sir John Hall [OtagoDaiTim1893Jul13P3] [WikiJohnHall]:

Sir John Hall made many excellent points in his criticism of the Budget. The Colonial Treasurer, he said, is personally popular, and the very fault we have to find with him personally is that he keeps bad company. "I will lastly," said Sir John, "deal with the attack of the Premier upon my late friend Sir H. Atkinson." Sir John waxed humorous over the misuse of State documents for advertising purposes, and the endorsement upon telegrams that "Beecham’s pills were worth a guinea a box." "It is not non-borrowing, it is all borrowing." Reciting many of the titles of the minor subjects of the Budget, Sir John said they would be shunted, and it might be said the policy of the Government was one of shunt."

In an 1893 letter to the editor, "C." speaks against what today we would call globalisation, and specifically how New Zealand pharmacists now act as distributors of overseas patent medicines rather than preparing the medicines themselves. In passing the commentator notes that 6 million boxes of Beecham’s Pills are sold per annum and - rare amongst patent medicines - Beecham’s Pills were actually patented [AucklandStar1893Feb21P2].

The name Beecham came up peripherally in regards to an 1891 controversy over a certain Italian nobleman, Count Mattei, who claimed his remedies were curing cancer [OtagoWit1891Mar26P35]. In a related opinion piece on the Mattei remedies, the author argues that public opinion on their value (efficacy) - like the value of "Beecham’s Pills, Holloway’s ointment, or any other of the countless patent preparations for every conceivable purpose" - should be determined from an experimental inquiry judged by competent observers rather than the "instinctive attraction towards the mysterious" [OtagoWit1894Feb01P27].

 

The 1894 Counterfeit Episode

Given the low cost of ingredients, Beecham was right to fear counterfeits, eve on the far side of the world from Britain. In 1894 "at the Police Court to-day, before Mr Carew, S.M., William Edward Hanlon, of Dunedin, was charged with selling boxes of pills to which a false trade description within the meaning of the Patents, Designs, and Trades Mark Act of 1889...to wit, the words "Beecham's Pills" and "Beecham’s Patent Pills, St. Helens, Lancashire"... were applied, contrary to section 89 of the statute. There were three informations - one alleging the sale of twenty-four dozen boxes of these pills to John Peterson, the second twenty-two dozen to David Guthrie Shepherd, and the third twenty dozen to Robert Rutherford. MrHaggitt, who conducted the prosecution, suggested that defendant be informed that he might be tried by indictment if he so chose. Mr Solomou said that defendant pleaded guilty and would elect to be dealt with summarily. ... This business had been carried on for some considerable time." [EveningStar1894Jul05P2]

In Hanlon’s defence, his lawyer reported Hanlon had bought the pills in the belief they were genuine from an Edwin Peterson, who had passed through New Zealand and while there represented himself to Hanlon as an agent for chemists’ sundries. However, the judge did not find Hanlon’s naivet鍊to be credible.

Reporting of the case surfaced various nuggets [EveningStar1894Jul05P2]:

• Hanlon’s lawyer, Mr Solomon, was evidently not a fan of Beecham’s Pills, since he interjected "And [Beecham] propagated throughout the world the solemn untruth that they are worth a guinea a box ..."
• "The [Beecham] trademark was registered in New Zealand in 1886"
• "... the genuine [Beecham’s] pills were as round as shot, and all of exactly the same size ... and so hard that they would fly from the edge of a sharp knife"
• "The result of this imitation business was that Mr Beecham had been getting little or no profit from the sale of his pills here for the past two years"
• The imitation pills were not good - soft and "contained a considerable amount of bitter aloe, and there was none of that in Beecham’s"

More of the backstory is reported in [TuapekaTim1894Jul14P3], wherein we learn that Beecham’s sent an anti-fraud agent to New Zealand. Since there is no record of a local Beecham agent or Beecham family member in New Zealand beforehand, it is possible that this is the first instance of a Beecham’s representative reaching New Zealand. "It seems that for the past year or more Beecham, of pill-making fame, had found that the returns from the sale of his pills in New Zealand had been unaccountably falling off, and he determined to ascertain the cause. Accordingly one of his agents, one of a specially trained staff whose business it is to ferret out and hunt down all cases of infringement on the rights of the renowned and wealthy pill-maker, after a month or two in Dunedin, discovered that pills were being locally made in large quantities and sold to retail dealers as Beecham’s pills, and by them palmed off on to the public. Forged wrappers were placed on the boxes in which they were sold, and as the retail people got them for 3s 6d a dozen less than they paid for the genuine Beecham article, and the public were easily imposed on, the local artists did a roaring trade. During the hearing of the case, it was incidentally stated that Beecham, in advertising his pills, had for many years past expended £110,000 a-year [in advertising]."

Further details on the case can be found in the following references: [OamaruMail1894Aug07P4] [OtagoWit1894Aug09P27] [TuapekaTim1894Aug15P2]. The middle reference reports "There is a changing fashion in pills as in other things. At one time it was Morrison’s Pills ..., then Holloway’s, then Cockle’s, and now Beecham’s." Morrison’s and Cockle’s Pills were advertised in New Zealand as far back as 1849 [NzSpecCookStrGuard1849Oct06P2]. These pills generally contained aloe as their active ingredient, from:

• The ingredients of Morrison’s Pills are not easily discerned, in part because New Zealand advertising (and sales?) ended around 1873, well before New Zealand’s pioneering 1904/1905 patent medicine ingredient disclosure regulation came into effect [NzHerald1905Jan04P3Supp][TuapekaTim1905May13P2].
• [AucklandStar1894Feb03P4Supp] reports "... the active ingredient [in Beecham’s Pills] being, as in Holloway, Sequah and Mother Siegel, that cheap and efficient purgative, aloes". TODO Ascertain other ingredients in these pills.
• Cockle’s Pills contained aloes, colocynth and rhubarb [OtagoDaiTim1905May12P4].

 

Epilogue

The Beecham’s business narrowed but never really stopped. The message was simplified in 1895 [NzHerald1895Sep03P3].

The firm’s last advert for Beecham’s Magic Cough Pills was in August 1899 [PateaMai1899Aug14P1] (and 1907 in Great Britain [Middlesex&SurreyExp1902Aug20P1], [JerseyIndAndDaiTele1907Apr297P3]), although there was stock in New Zealand sales until 1932 [NzHerald193218P29Supp].

There was an (apparently) independent endorsement of Beecham’s toothpaste in 1899 [NzHerald1899Nov29P3]

HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. When the face is very heated it should never be washed in cold water. You should use warm water and then tepid water, and dry slowly on a soft towel, and powder. Leave the powder on for a few minutes and then brush off entirely. The only way to keep the teeth in perfect order is to brush them twice or three times a day. You should use tepid water in preference to cold. Beecham’s tooth paste will be found to be of great use in removing the tartar. Where people are apt to be sleepless at night, an excellent plan is to read a very dull book before going to bed, and to drink a little hot milk and eat a biscuit before going to sleep ; the window must also be left open all night. When the hair is apt to fall out, especially after any illness, this is a good tonic to use: Sulphate of quinine, 10 grains; bay rum, two drachms; tincture of cantharides, two drachma; glycerine, four drachma; water to six ounces. Rub this well into the head every night till the hair has ceased to fall.

Next Beecham’s tooth paste bit the dust, since its last New Zealand advert was at the end of 1903 [NazHerald1903Dec30P3Supp] (the end of 1904 in Great Britain [UlsterEcho1904Nov11P1]). New Zealanders then had the option of "Euthymol Tooth Paste" and "Cherry Tooth Paste" [LytteltonTim1904Jan07P2], "Wilkinson’s Carbolized Tooth Paste" [EveningStar1904Jan25P5] and so forth. From now on, Beecham’s Pills were the focus focusing of the firm’s advertising campaigns.

In 1907, the founder Thomas Beecham died aged 86 [WangHer1907May27P5], and left around £87 thousand in his will [WikiThomasBeecham].

Thomas’ son Joseph died in 1916 aged 68 [NzTim1916Oct25P8]. As testimony to his business prowess, his estate was valued at a much larger £1.5 million. The business passed to his two sons, Henry Beecham and Thomas Beecham, but was managed by Joseph’s younger brother (another Henry Beecham) and three executors for three years. In 1919 the pill business was sold to financier Philip Hill who kept the name (and indeed incorporated the company as Beecham’s Pills) but the era of the family firm had passed [LetLookAgainBeecham] [RefForBizGlaxSmKl].

The New Zealand price of 56 pills remained at 1s 1½d even into the 1923 or so [NzHerald1923Dec15P16].

Around the same time, the text-dominated adverts extended to include portraiture in some New Zealand publications, such as this winking woman [OtagoWit1924Jul01P13].

 

First advert with a pictorial element, Otago Witness, 23 September 1924. Credit: National Library of New Zealand [OtagoWit1924Sep23P19]

Philip Hill established a laboratory to extend his product line and as well acquired other health related companies. Perhaps recognising that Beecham’s Cough Pills filled a need, his first pharmaceutical product was an aspirin-based cold and flu powder that was introduced in 1926 then he acquired a cough syrup company in 1928.

Meanwhile there was a lot of innovation in toothpastes, containing active ingredients with actual dental efficacy. One such company was Macleans, founded by New Zealand born Alex C. Maclean in 1919, who initially manufactured "own-name" products for pharmacists. In 1927 he created Macleans Peroxide Toothpaste, the very first whitening toothpaste. Filling a 25 year product gap, Macleans was purchased by Hill in 1938 [GskBuildBrd] [LifeAngloAmBr] [RefForBizGlaxSmKl].

The slogan "Worth A Guinea A Box" was finally retired in New Zealand in 1953 [Press1953Mar25P4].

Manufacturing of Beecham’s Pills themselves remained a constant until 1998, even as the pill business continued to change hands: Beecham’s Patent Pills., Beecham Estates and Pills, Beecham Pills Limited, Beecham Pharmaceuticals Limited, Beecham Health Care, then SmithKline Beecham [WikiBeechamsPills].

Later SmithKline merged with Glaxo and formed GlaxoSmithKline where - in a further example of how connected the world is - Glaxo traces its beginnings to New Zealand in the 1870s [RefForBizGlaxSmKl].