A Respectable Occupation: - University of Hertfordshire Research ...

supply of poisons continued to exercise Parliament, mainly in the area of
labelling and packaging and these concerns were reflected in the debates
that culminated in the Poisons and Pharmacy Act (1908).
Further private members‘ Bills were introduced into Parliament in
1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 and two in 1907, none of which completed its
passage; however a Government Bill was successfully introduced in 1908.
The 1903 Bill sought to restrict the sale of poisons to shops that were
registered and to record the names of the chemists and druggists who were
in charge of them. Secondly, it attempted to resurrect the objective of
creating a monopoly for pharmacists in dispensing prescriptions. 103 This
requirement did not appear in the Government‘s Bill of 1908; it was a step
too far towards a monopoly and would not have been accepted by the free
trade lobby. The 1903 Bill also sought to prevent the sales of poisons from
market stalls and other none permanent outlets. 104
The Bills launched between 1904 and 1907 were essentially
reintroductions of the 1903 Bill with adjustments to try to deflect objections.
However, they did address four more serious matters that had arisen, all of
which involved the company chemists. The name we naturally associate
with the company chemists is Jessie Boot. He had been ten years old when
his father died in 1860. Shortly afterwards he left school to work in the
small, herbalist‘s shop in Nottingham that his father had owned. Jesse
quickly realised that opportunities lay in selling, at reduced prices,
proprietary medicines manufactured by others and successfully expanded
103 Bills Public, vol. 3, session 17 Feb.-14 Aug. 1903, pp. 581-590.
104 Bills Public, vol. 3, session 17 Feb.-14 Aug. 1903, pp. 581-590.
247