TWO CENTURIES OF HEALING
Edinburgh Pharmacy Marks 200 Remarkable Years
The pharmacy believed to be the oldest still in existence in Scotland is celebrating a momentous milestone. Situated in the heart of Edinburgh, the Elm Row branch, which gave the Lindsay & Gilmour group its name, has been operating for 200 years this year.
ELM ROW IN THE 1800s
ROBERT LINDSAY
WILLLIAM GILMOUR
The branch is a living piece of Scottish history and is visited by hundreds of tourists each year, as well as patients requiring medication and clinical services. Those who visit have the opportunity to see many historical features, including a grand marble pillar and archway and a traditional glass dispensing cabinet housing many original artefacts including old pharmacy ledgers and what is believed to be the largest collection of old prescription books in Britain.
A number of historical figures have been customers of the pharmacy. Based on the label on an early medicine bottle, it is thought that Charles Darwin was one of the first customers at the branch when he studied medicine at Edinburgh University between 1825 and 1828. He may have been living in the area around the time the pharmacy opened. The pharmacy also held the Royal Warrant under George V to supply Holyroodhouse from the early 1900s until 1942.
Company Chairman, Nigel Cumming, whose family ran Raimes Clark when it purchased the Elm Row branch through their subsidiary Red Band Chemical Co. Ltd. in the mid 1970s, said it was druggist T.E. Horwell who first began trading there in 1826. Documents from the time show that by 1828 the branch was being run by chemist Robert Lindsay.
“At that time there was no examination to become a pharmacist and it was before the Pharmaceutical Society even existed. People like Robert Lindsay used to do an apprenticeship to learn the trade. When the Pharmaceutical Society was established in 1841, we know that Robert Lindsay was on the register from the beginning,” explained Nigel.
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In the 1860s Robert is believed to have purchased a second branch at St Andrews Square, but Elm Row remained the flagship branch. It was also during the 1860s that Willliam Gilmour started at Elm Row, succeeding his brother Andrew as assistant to Robert Lindsay in 1863. He subsequently became a partner in the business and the Lindsay & Gilmour name was born. When Robert died in 1869, William Gilmour became the sole owner of the branch. He was a prominent member of the pharmacy profession, joining the Executive of the North British Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1868 and serving as chairman between 1874 and 1875.
Although William died comparatively young, he had a long career in pharmacy having been apprenticed at the age of 12. When he died his obituary read - it’s difficult for any but Scotch pharmacists of the 1870-90 period to realise what the name Gilmour meant to Scottish Pharmacy.
“His son, another William Gilmour, took over and the business flourished. It was during this time that they were awarded the Royal Warrant for King George V when he was in residence at Holyrood,” said Nigel.
The pharmacy was eventually bought by Fletcher Menzies McIntosh in 1922 but it retained the name Lindsay & Gilmour. He ran the pharmacy until his son, also Fletcher, took over in 1942, running it until 1975.
“When Raimes Clark bought the business, they were still wholesaling and supplying them. There is a letter from my father to Fletcher McIntosh saying he was very sorry to be losing him as a customer after 33 years.”
LINDSAY & GILMOUR WARRANT
OLD LABELLING
EARLY CATALOGUES FROM RAIMES CLARK & COMPANY
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