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

Abstract.
The central theme of this work is the elucidation of the circumstances that
led to the decline of the apothecaries‘ assistants. The Apothecaries Act
(1815) formerly recognised them as dispensers of medicine and provided an
appropriate examination and qualification. Initially, starting in 1850, men
were the only candidates for the examination and it was not until 1887 that
the first woman qualified. From that time the occupation became
increasingly popular among young women, as it provided them with
respectable employment dispensing medicines in institutions and doctors‘
surgeries. This situation prevailed until The National Insurance Act (1911)
transferred almost all the dispensing to the chemists and druggists. This
dissertation examines the aspirations of the Pharmaceutical Society, the
Society of Apothecaries, the government and the assistants themselves, all
of whom were intimately involved in the changes brought about by the Act.
While much has been written about medical history in the nineteenth
century, little interest has been shown in the apothecaries‘ assistants who
were the main dispensers of medicines for a period of about 70 years. This
thesis advances our understanding on this subject. Additionally, as most of
the assistants were women from middle class families, it opens a window on
the social and cultural changes that these young women and their families
were experiencing in the second half of the nineteenth century.
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