Apothercary 2016

2016

APOTHECARY
2016
ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO:
The Editor
Apothecary
© The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
Black Friars Lane
London
EC4V 6EJ

Contents
The Court and the Livery Committee 1
Editorial 2
Profile of the New Master 3
Profile of the Master’s Chaplain 5
Master’s Chaplain’s Sermon 7
Bioethics in Deep Space Exploration 9
Clerk’s Report 11
Past Master’s Report 2015-2016 16
Treasurer’s Report 18
Treatment of Vitamin B12 Deficiency 19
The Centenary of the Society’s Roll of Honour 1916 23
A Sabbatical in Italy 29
Registrar’s Report 31
Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy 32
Curator’s Notes 34
The Anniversaries Committee 35
The Charity Committee 36
Anniversary Year Events 37
Faculty of Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine 39
Livery Committee Chairman’s Report 2015-2016 41
The Friends of the Archives 45
Apothecaries on Vacation 46
Society Contacts 48

Master:
The Court
2016 - 2017
Dr D W Adams BSc MA PhD FRPharmS
Senior Warden: Dr C G Mackworth-Young MA MD FRCP
Junior Warden: Prof M N Rossor MA MB BChir MD
FRCP FMed Sci
Immediate Past
Master: Dr R N Palmer LLB MB BS FFFLM HonFRCPath
Past Masters:
Assistants:
Mr M H Jourdan BSc PhD MS FRCS
Dr P A Knapman DL FRCP FRCS DMJ
Mr A M I Paris OStJ MB BS FRCS
Mr N L Wood BPharm FRPharmS FIPharmM
Professor T Beedham MB BS BDS FRCOG
Hon DSc
Dr R G H Bethel MA MB BChir MRCGP
Dr T L Chambers OBE FRCP JP DL
Professor R H Taylor BSc MA MBA MD FRCP
DHMSA DPMSA
Dr PJH Tooley LLM MB BS MRCGP MFPM (Dis)
DMJ DFFP
Dr J C Moore-Gillon MA LLB MD FRCP
Prof M J G Farthing BSc MD FRCP
Dr P D Simmons MB ChB FRCP
Dr JJC Holliday MB BS DCH DObstRCOG
MRCGP DFFP
Prof J Anderson PhD MB BS FRCP
Air Vice Marshal A Mozumder MB BS
MSc FRCGP DTM&H DAvMed DMCC C Dir
Dr. P.J.T. O’Mórdha MA MSc FRCP FRCGP
MFMLM DPMSA
*Dr M A Spencer MA MEng MB BS MRCGP
DObstRCOG
The Livery Committee
2016 - 2017
Chairman:
Dr Mike Spencer MA MEng (Cantab)
MBBS MRCGP DRCOG DFFP
Honorary Secretary: Colonel Jane Carey-Harris
TD VR RGN RCNT DMS FRGS
Honorary Treasurer: Mr Harry Crook
BSc (Hons) FRPharmS FRI MIPharmM
Dr Simon Bailey BSc MB FRCGP
Dr Nicholas Cambridge MD LRCP MRCS FSA FLS FRSA
Dr Alan Collett MBBS LRCP MRCS DObstRCOG
Dr Judith Dixon (Lady Dixon) LRCP MRCS MB BS DCH
Air Commodore Mike Gibson OStJ PhD MPhil MB ChB FRCP
FFOM DAvMed DDAM RAF (retd)
Dr Colin Gillespie MB BS DObst RCOG
Dr John Harcup OBE OStJ LRCP MRCS DObst RCOG MRCGP
Dr Susan Horsewood-Lee MB BS FRCGP
Ms Wanda Jay B Pharm(Hons) MRPharmS
Dr Vanessa Jenkins MBBS MRCS LRCP DObst RCOG
Mr Omar Khan MB MS FRCS
Mr Chris Khoo MA MB MChir (Cantab) FRCS (Eng) FRCS (Ed) ad hom
Major Sean Kibbey
Dr Joy Main MA MB B Chir DObst RCOG FRCGP FHEA
Dr Brian Matthews B Pharm PhD FRPharmS FTOPRA
Dr Celia Palmer MB BS DA AFOM
Dr Elizabeth Stearns FFFLM MB BS BDS Barrister
Dr Ralph Stephenson TD CStJ MBBS MRCS LRCP DA DObst RCOG
Dr Frank Wells MBBS FRCP FRCPE FFPM
Ms Nicola Whatley NNEB Dip HE Nursing
* Appointed ex officio as Chairman of the Livery Committee
1

Editorial
As I become older and wiser, my career paths are
starting to converge in pleasant ways I did not expect.
Jerome Burne, who is writing about Vitamin B12
deficiency in this issue, is not an Apothecary but he does
sit with me on the Executive Committee of the Medical
Journalists’ Association and is a prominent medical
writer. The MJA also now use the beautiful
Apothecaries' Hall for their annual Christmas quiz, to
which the Master and the Clerk are always invited. I
thought you would like to read his views on an issue
which may mean that many people do not receive the
medical treatment they need.
Like many Apothecaries, I found that 2016 was a
fruitful year for branching into the digital age. Back in
March, I launched the world’s first global blogging site
An Apothecary box of delights for you
on medical issues, www.hippocraticpost.com, which
features blogs by members of this Worshipful Society,
under the section ‘An Apothecary Writes’ as well as
many other distinguished medical professionals from
all over the world. Read Dr Simon Read’s blog on his
recent sabbatical in Italy – he is an Apothecary and a
blogger and has recently launched his own secure
intranet app for NHS GPs.
My keen hope is that you will all soon be able to read
this august journal in digital form online, as well as a
paper version to browse at your leisure, and I know that
many others feel the same. We shall be working to try
and make that happen in the not too distant future.
In this issue, there is also a fascinating discourse into
the Bioethics in Deep Space Exploration by Andrew
Papanikitas, Course Director, Diploma in Philosophy of
Medicine. Among other things, he reports how
members of the faculty considered whether someone
who goes into space needs a different set of ethics to
someone who stays on terra firma. He considers
whether normal rules of Society can be suspended in a
harsh and hostile environment and even strays onto the
subject of sex.
Finally, we feature a focus on the 1916 Roll of
Honour which contains the names of many of the
members of the Society who had a military role in the
Great War. Authors Edward Wawrzynczak and Janet
Payne have gone to some considerable trouble to
describe the varied roles of those who served the nation
during the Great War in the Armed Forces or as
civilians; in particular, to remember those who lost their
lives, to acknowledge some of those who received
special honours related to their war work, and to
highlight a number of their more memorable
contributions. It is well worth the read.
Thea Lord, Editor
2

Profile of the New Master
Dr Derek Adams
I was born in Leeds in
1941 and moved
immediately to York
where, a little later on, I
attended Archbishop
Holgate’s Grammar
School. After a year
and a term, I transferred
to Roundhay
School, at the age of 12,
when my family
moved back to Leeds.
These two schools
convinced me, with
very little difficulty,
that I was destined for
a career in science and
resulted in my securing
a place at Manchester
University Pharmacy
Department. On graduating,
I returned to
Leeds and employment
with Timothy Whites
and Taylor’s. I soon
decided that I was not
temperamentally fitted
to deal with poorly
people and started
looking for a change
of career. While at
Manchester, I had
made a half-day trip,
with the Pharmacy
Students Association,
to the Geigy factory
at Macclesfield and
Dr Derek Adams
3

emembering how the sight of medicine being made
on a grand scale had impressed me, I successfully
applied for a job with Merck, Sharp and Dohme at
Hoddesdon, where I was to remain for 33 years. My
decision to leave the retail scene – as it was called in
those days – was met by very definite advice from my
District Manager that I was making a big mistake and
how I had excellent prospects with the Company.
Unbeknown to me, and I suspect to him, Timothy
Whites was about to be taken over by Boots. What
this would have done for my career is difficult to
assess, but it certainly didn’t do much for his. My
friends at the time divided into those who generously
suggested that the firm had been unable to manage
without me, and the remainder who declared that I
had brought a once glorious enterprise to its knees
within 18 months. I started at MSD in Pharmaceutical
Development, creating new dosage forms for
existing products and finding solutions to
formulation related problems occurring in the market
place. While remaining in Pharmaceutical
Development, I then spent a period manufacturing
clinical trial materials for use in studies worldwide.
These were presented as sterile preparations and as
solid and liquid oral dosage forms. After a while, I
was looking for a bigger role and the half-day at
Geigy came to mind. There was a vacancy for a
Manufacturing Manager in the Production
Department and I was lucky enough to be appointed.
A further stroke of luck occurred six months later
when the Production Manager left the Company and
I was promoted to that position. After a good number
of enjoyable years in Production, I was told that my
portfolio would benefit from some commercial
experience and I was put in charge of warehousing,
transport, export shipping and importation. After
about two years, I changed direction again to become
head of Quality Operations in the U.K. with ultimate
responsibility, under the terms of the Medicines Act,
for the quality of all U.K. manufactured products. A
reorganisation about two years later gave me
responsibility for quality in two chemical and two
pharmaceutical plants in Great Britain and Ireland
and a later development saw me finishing my career
as a Director of Compliance in Europe; a job that took
me all over Europe and to much of the rest of the
world as well. While all this was taking place, I
managed to find time to seek out and marry Kay,
who was working for a Stockbroking firm at the time
and was one of the first few women to pass the Stock
Exchange Examination and be admitted a Member of
the Stock Exchange. Professionally, I was appointed
by the Pharmaceutical Society as an assessor of those
seeking Qualified Person status as defined by
Directive 75/319 EEC. I served on the Antibiotics
Subcommittee of the British Pharmacopoeia
Commission for 10 years and was the Pharmaceutical
Society’s representative on the committee that
decided on the planned distribution of pharmacies in
Hertfordshire. I was designated a Fellow of the
Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 1989 for distinction
in the practice of pharmacy. Having taken early
retirement in 1999, I went on to read history at
Cambridge and followed this with a PhD concerning
the fortunes of the Apothecaries’ Assistants– just for
the fun of it.
4

Profile of the Master’s Chaplain
The Rev’d Susannah Underwood
I was born in Barnet – a 70’s power cut child - and
grew up in Welwyn in Hertfordshire, three miles
from the parishes I now serve.
The Rev Susannah Underwood
Apart from a fleeting desire, aged 10, to become a
monk (they seemed so much more fun than the nuns
I had met), I don’t think anyone would have guessed
that I would enter into full-time ministry. Not least
because, when I was growing up, women’s
ordination was not yet authorized by the Church of
England. Even some years after having completed a
Theology degree at Westminster College, Oxford, it
still came as a surprise to me, as much as to anyone
else.
I trained for ordination with the Cambridge
Theological Federation of colleges, completing an
MA in Pastoral Theology and allowing me to
balance family life with work as well as studies.
They were a busy three years, but set me up well for
the practice of juggling the competing demands of
parish ministry.
I was ordained deacon in 2008 and served a
curacy in Stevenage. It was a good place to be. The
command to ‘love your neighbour’ is shown by the
churches of Stevenage in a variety of ways. There
was the historic establishing of ‘The Haven’, a
shelter for the homeless. ‘Street Pastors’, see trained
volunteers from the churches go out into the early
hours of the weekend to ensure drunken revelers
are given a bit of TLC and a safe passage to get
home. ‘The Living Room’ is a Christian-run centre,
supporting those wrestling with addictions, and a
place I got quite involved with. If you struggle to
believe in resurrection, that is the place to see it for
yourself.
It was also in Stevenage that I became connected
to the charity Mercy Ships, which I talk about in my
sermon for Master’s Day. This international charity
had its UK office in our parish, and they asked me
to act as chaplain for the three years I was there.
In 2011, I moved to my current position as Team
Vicar within the Welwyn Team of churches. I have
particular responsibility for two beautiful village
parishes, All Saints Datchworth (where I live), and
St. Peter’s Tewin (where Derek Adams is a part of
the congregation).
5

At home I have two children. Annabel is studying
childcare at a local college and Rebecca who, having
graduated from Sheffield with a Geography degree,
is currently training to be a solicitor. I’m married to
Bob, a Director of a bespoke furniture-making
company. We also have Tilly, a cockerpoo, and
Oscar, a black cat who is beyond adorable.
Small things make me happy; reading poetry,
wallowing in jazz, pondering the pictures of Stanley
Spencer. I am an expert in none of these, but all bring
me to life.
I am very pleased to have been asked to serve for
this year as Master’s Chaplain and I look forward to
sharing in the life of the Worshipful Society of
Apothecaries with you.
St. Peter’s Church Tewin
6

The Master's Chaplain’s Sermon
Master’s Day, 25 September 2016
1 Kings 17:17-24, Luke 8:43 – 48
Firstly I’d like to thank Derek for asking me to be his
chaplain for this year. I’ve already tested the meals in
Apothecaries’ Hall so I know I shall be well fed (it’s an
important part of the discernment process for any
chaplain). But also the invitation has provided me
with the opportunity to explore a little of what you do
as a society, which has been of great interest.
I also think in Derek you will have a hard working
and wise Master. He has vast and varied experience in
his profession. His unassuming and steady manner
will guide and serve you well.
I do not have a scientific or medical background,
but I did act as chaplain to the UK fundraising office
of the charity Mercy Ships for a few years. You may
have heard of this charity, they operate the world’s
largest hospital ship, infact are in the process of
building a brand new one. This floating hospital
spends most of her time on the West coast of Africa
offering free surgery and medical care to some of the
world’s poorest people. They specialize particularly in
maxillofacial and ophthalmic surgeries as well as
other general medical procedures. Staffed entirely by
volunteers - doctors, nurses, dentists and a whole host
of extras make up the ship’s crew, people give two
weeks, two months, two years and in some case over
two decades of their time and skill for free, in what is
an amazing place of healing and kindness.
And one thing I learned in my time as chaplain to
them, and I witnessed first hand on the occasion I was
able to visit the ship in Togo, was something you will
all know – that healing is rarely just physical – that ill
health has most often a social, emotional, economic,
sometimes political edge – and that the gift of
medicine and skilled practitioners has the potential to
transform not only physical health, but also restore
livelihoods, relationships and mental wellbeing.
I witnessed this whilst watching simple cataract
surgery and surgery correcting a child’s squint. The
strength of the sun in that part of the world, combined
with constant dust in the air, and lack of early
intervention meant cataract patients were literally
blind. They would queue up in the morning and be
admitted on to the ship, each one clinging on to the
back of the other, their feet fumbling along the gang
way.
The skill of a surgeon’s fingers fascinated me, how
transformation can happen with just the smallest of
movements, and about 20 minutes in surgery led to
the return not only of sight, but also of livelihoods.
And the boy who I watched have his squint corrected
was able to return to a village where his mother had
been told she must throw him out, because he was
seen as having an evil eye that would curse them all.
And I saw this whilst having the privilege to share
in a ceremony held regularly for women who had
received fistula-corrective surgery. The constant
leakage of urine caused them great embarrassment
and stigma.
One woman told me how her husband had taken a
new wife. When she was very sick even her children
were not allowed to help her. Another woman spoke
about having lived with the condition for 20 years and
the smell that people complained of.
A third woman spoke of her traumatic experience
of childbirth. ‘They thought I was dead’, she said ‘and
they took me outside the village to bury my body. It
was only when I started shaking that they knew I was
alive’.
But these women who knew not only physical
suffering but also social stigma, before they leave the
ship – are dressed in the most beautiful new clothes.
Someone styles their hair and wraps colourful fabric
7

around them. Their makeup is done and they are
made new jewelry, and they enter the ward anew, a
new start, a new beginning to the sound of a beating
drum. When I was at the ceremony, the ward sister, a
large beaming Ugandan woman, read from Psalm 103
as they entered, the psalm we have sung together
tonight:
“Bless the Lord and do not forget all his benefits –
who forgives all your iniquity and heals all your
diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit.” These
words which were followed by exuberant, excited,
joyous, flamboyant dancing – and I too celebrated
with them, in a slightly more British manner by stilted
clapping and self-conscious, awkward bobbing from
the sideline.
And I saw it when I met 9-year-old Tanni, who had
fallen into the fire as a young child, and lost her lips,
ears, nose – which the surgeons had been patiently
rebuilding. We played endless snap together -
interrupted on occasion by the little phrase she would
chant “You are beautiful” she would sing “I love you”.
“You are beautiful and I love you” She, a girl who was
quite unlikely to find a husband, in a society where
that would make her vulnerable financially and
socially, she knew these words well – as the American
nurse who tended her said that to her over and over
again, every day, morning and night – “you are
beautiful, and I love you. You are beautiful and I love
you”. Words, as well as medicine and scalpels, can be
powerful agents of healing.
Our lessons this evening are also aware of this mix
of physical, social and spiritual healing. Elijah brings
back to life the widow’s son; her grief and despair
compounded not just by loss of her child, but coming
also from a place of great poverty, her life completely
at the fate of his wellbeing. And then we’ve heard the
account of the healing of the haemorrhaging woman –
blood and gender contributing to her uncleanness
before others. Her healing, brought by her daring to
trust in Jesus’ regard for her. Healing which would be
more than just a physical restoration. So often, biblical
accounts of healing, and Jesus’ interactions in
particular, show God’s concern with those on the
edges and margins - those whom the world rejects.
Those where shame and sin, poverty and politics, are
as much a part of the burden they bear as the ill health
which marks them. In physical healing is revealed
God’s desire for wholeness in all its forms.
And it struck me, looking at the work of the
Apothecaries Guild, and the educational programmes
that you offer, that there also is a very gospel edge to
the work you are investing in. Victims of sexual
assault, people living with HIV and sexually
transmitted diseases, refugees and others suffering
catastrophes. You have in your commitments a
distinctive social and marginal edge. We may see, in
those very recipients of your concern, some of the
most vulnerable and excluded people – for whom
physical needs are woven tightly with social and
emotional wellbeing.
Perhaps those programmes won’t quite resurrect
the dead, like Elijah, but they will, in their own way,
bring life. They may not be instant in their cure, like
Jesus and the bleeding woman, but they will play their
part in compassionate reminding of a shared and
valued humanity with some of the most traumatised
and rejected people.
We come today to begin a new phase in this
society’s long and prestigious history in which you,
with the Master, will all play your part – and with that
we thank God for the people whose lives will benefit
from the efforts of this guild, and we ask God to bless
again, all the work, that together, you do. Amen.
8

Ethics and Deep Space Exploration
Andrew Papanikitas, Course Director, Diploma in Philosophy
of Medicine, Society of Apothecaries
When we attach the words ‘ethics and deep space
exploration’, we might be forgiven for thinking of
the Prime Directive of the television and movie series
Star Trek. A community of virtuous people take
what is ostensibly the best of Western cultural values
out to beautiful worlds that support life in a
spaceship that is luxurious even by ocean-going
cruise-ship standards. The possibilities currently
however are slightly grimmer. The best scenarios
that are offered are of a one-way mission in
conditions the human body is not evolved for, which
may if successful, result in a subsequent generation
reaching an inhospitable world that may be prepared
in some way for human habitation.
Last year the History and Philosophy Faculty
Fellows of the Society of Apothecaries, prompted by
the fact that people are nonetheless volunteering for
such missions, considered the bioethics of the
scenario. One of our group had been invited to
discuss the issue on the radio, and he reflected on the
fact that such individuals would require
psychological preparation for a lifelong mission.
Potentially they would need a different set of ethics
to those of us who enjoy the freedoms of terra firma.
We did not dwell on the reasons for deep space
exploration. Species survival was a key reason – the
Earth has finite resources and a limited (thought one
no given human might truly appreciate) lifespan.
Therefore for humanity to expand and flourish, the
stars beckon. Our discussion included a
consideration of current societal taboos and was
conducted under Chatham House Rule – none of
what follows should be attributed as the opinion of
any one of our group.
The first question is whether the normal rules of
society should be suspended in a harsh environment.
We can consider how a group of people might
The Cybermen from the 1960s Doctor Who story 'The Tenth Planet.' In this
story humans from a parallel earth enhance themselves with technology to
survive the rigours of harsh environmental space travel. They also remove all
illogical emotions and sentiments as love and compassion with the result that
they are no longer fully human
9

ehave differently stranded in a desert, in a lifeboat with
limited supplies and no immediate prospect of rescue or
deep in a warzone. Long term survival of the group and
completion of the mission might become more
important moral goals than the liberty or even survival
of any one individual. We reflected that a military chain
of command might be realistic. The further question we
then asked was at what point a militaristic morality
would end. Should deep space pioneers carry two
moralities within them – that of the mission and that of
home. Could a guardian of morality, some sort of earthpriest,
be justified aboard the mission? It made sense
that pioneers should in some way be prepared for those
who would follow in less extreme circumstances.
The second question we considered was how to
tackle issues around sex and reproduction on-board a
lifelong mission. Should either sex for relationships
and/or sex for reproduction be abandoned or controlled
in some way? One of the sillier examples in the media
is the pairs of ‘beautiful people’ selected to repopulate
the world in the movie adaptation of ‘James Bond:
Moonraker.’ We reflected on how this phenomenon
eventuates in arctic expeditions (again thinking about
harsh environments). One approach offered was that
pioneers might be matched or selected for attitudes to
polygamy. Another was that an IVF process should take
place before leaving earth or orbit so that there would be
a bank of fertilised ova compatible with women on the
mission. IVF is an arduous process for women in terms
of ovarian stimulation and egg-harvesting, and might
not be considered practical once a deep-space mission
left orbit (arguably the same could be said for
pregnancy). Conceptually, reproduction and
relationships are treated differently in this instance. A
lifetime spent in close proximity with little if any
privacy would inevitably alter many of the conditions
taken for granted in sexual relationships.
We naturally considered rationing and medical
treatment. When even the air is finite, rationing becomes
a starker necessity. Justice – or treating equals equally
and unequals unequally according to the relevant
inequality- might take a more Marxist turn: From each
according to their ability and to each according to their
needs. Luxury and pleasure might been to be redefined
and themselves rationed in the interests of morale.
Anyone whose sickness or function fell below an
acceptable threshold might need to be ejected into space
or possibly recycled along with other ‘human waste.’
We discussed the difference between the drive to
survive, set against the horror of taboos being broken –
the case of the shipwrecked sailors who ate the cabin
boy was mentioned. Palliative care and medicines might
only be appropriate for someone who could still
contribute to the mission and the group. We reflected on
whether this reflected utilitarianism or other schools of
ethical thinking. The greater good might be a guiding
principle, or ‘the commandments of space’.
Finally we considered the morality of preparing
people for such an endeavour. Should resilient and/or
virtuous people be selected? Are survivors preferable to
martyrs? We considered whether existing citizens of
Earth should undergo preparation or whether children
should be educated into the role. The novel and movie,
‘Ender’s Game’ offers a thought provoking example of
preparation for a role in space warfare. Two key issues
arose here – the first was whether we might be prepared
to effectively brutalise our children in order to give
them the best chances of saving themselves and the
human species. The second issue returned us to the very
beginning of our discussion. As a society would we
want to meet the survivors of our deep-space pioneer
programme? Would they still be, ethically-speaking,
human?
This article represents insights from two discussion
groups hosted by the Faculty of History and Philosophy
fellowship scheme. All Faculty members are entitled to
subscribe. The philosophy fellows meet 3-4 times a year
to present work, discuss current issues and hear visiting
speakers.
For more information contact
facultyhp@apothecaries.org
10

Clerk’s Report
The recent Activities of the Society
At the Election Court held on 17 August 2016, the
following were elected for the year 2016-17:
Master Derek Westwood Adams
Senior Warden Charles Gerard Mackworth-Young
Junior Warden Martin Neil Rossor
The Activities of the Society
September 2015 – August 2016
Mr WS Shand and Professor B Livesley retired from the
Court on 13 August 2016 at the end of their tenure, with
the gratitude of the Court for their long and exemplary
service. The Court was joined on the same day by Dr PJT
O’Mordha as Court Assistant.
2016 has been a year of change in the Society’s staff. After
13 years dedicated service as Clerk, following his
previous appointment of 11 years as Registrar, Mr
Andrew Wallington-Smith took a well-earned
retirement, for which the Society wishes Sarah and
himself well in their new house in Southwold. Andrew’s
successor is Mr Nick Royle, who joins us from the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeon’s charity RCVS
Knowledge, having formerly served for nine years as The
Cochrane Collaboration’s Chief Executive.
A new Clerk’s Secretary joined us, Miss Rosanna Youssef,
and we also saw the appointment of an Assistant Clerk,
Miss Verity Mitchell, who will be managing the Society’s
events, and functions in the Hall.
In the Exams Office, Ms Rita Pulga returned to Italy, to be
replaced by Ms Smita Shah as Examinations Officer.
The 2015-16 Court
Seated: (left to right) Prof B Livesley, Mr WS Shand, Senior Warden
Dr DW Adams, Master Dr RN Palmer, Junior Warden Dr CG Mackworth-
Young, Past Masters Mr MH Jourdan and Dr PA Knapman.
Standing front row (left to right): the Registrar Mrs JME Maclean, Immediate
Past Master Dr JC Moore-Gillon, Past Masters Mr AMI Paris, Mr NL Wood,
Prof T Beedham, Dr RGH Bethel, Dr PJH Tooley, Dr TL Chambers, Clerk Mr
NS Royle, Beadle Mr GR Howe.
Standing rear row (left to right): Court Assistants Dr PD Simmons, Dr JJC
Holliday, Prof MJG Farthing, AVM A Mozumder, Prof J Anderson.
Not present: Past Master Prof RH Taylor, Dr MA Spencer, Chairman of the
Livery Committee
11
Society Membership
Congratulations are due to the following 27 Liverymen
who were clothed by the Master during the year:
Mr Jeremy Aspden, Dr Mahmoud Barbir, Dr Nicholas
Cambridge, Dr Simon Chaplin, Mr Marshall Davies,
Dr John East, Mr Richard Giangrande, Mr Terence
Gosling, Mr Mohamed Hammadeh, Mr Richard Harker,
Mr Jonathan Jewell, Mr Jonathan Johnson, Dr Lee Kayne,
Prof Parveen Kumar, Dr Caje Moniz, Dr Beatrix
Nagyova, Prof David Radstone, Mr Richard Rawlins,
Dr Judith Rissik, Prof James Ryan, Dr Simon Scott,
Dr Oliver Seyfried, Mr Andrew Wallington-Smith,
Mr Alexander Watson, Prof Anthony Weetman, Miss
Nicola Whatley, and Dr Fiona Wilcox.
25 candidates made their declaration as Freemen and
were welcomed to the Society by the Master:
Dr Clive Archer, The Hon Dr Thomas Balchin, Mr David
Britton, The Hon Richard Broadbridge, Dr Ian Cole,
Dr Emma Dalton, Mr Mark Davis, Dr Craig Goldsack,

Dr Henrietta Hughes, Prof Michael Joy, Dr Fergus
Keating, Maj Sidney Kibbey, Air Cdre Stephen Kilbey, Dr
Robin Knill-Jones, Lt Col Deborah Malins, Miss Louise
McCullough, Dr Kristian Mears, Mr Makarand Oak, Prof
Robert Peckitt, Prof John Schofield, Prof Michael Seed, Dr
Priya Singh, Dr Christopher Timmis, and Mr Andrew
Wallington-Smith.
All were admitted by redemption except Mr Wallington-
Smith, who was admitted by gift, in recognition of his
service to the Society.
In addition, three Apprentices were bound, there was one
resignation, and 26 notices of deaths.
On 1 September, 2016, the strength of the Society stood at
1,583, discounting Honorary membership. 1,202 were
Liverymen and 381 Yeomen and, of these, 83 were
pharmacists, and 216 other non-medical members. 18% of
the Society’s membership is female.
In terms of Quarterage, 612 members have declared
Guardant, 330 declared Couchant,118 are not yet eligible
to declare, having less than five years’ seniority, and the
remainder are Couchant by default.
The Society’s Property
The Society is fortunate to own the property immediately
adjacent to the Hall. This has the great advantage of
providing sufficient income to fund our activities, and to
put some aside for long-term care and maintenance, but
with property comes responsibility and potentially
significant cost, and this year has brought that home to us.
On the plus side, we are pleased to report that during the
year all of the lettable property has became tenanted. There
has been continuing work to ensure that our properties are
of a high standard and attract competitive market rental
rates, and this is now paying off.
However, during the year a serious problem was
discovered in the fabric of the Courtyard, which was
identified as a dry rot infestation. The cause of this was
water seeping behind cement render applied to the
Courtyard walls in the mid-1980s. In retrospect this cement
rendering was an unfortunate mistake. Not knowing the
extent of the problem, and mindful of mitigating against
future damage, with a heavy heart the decision was taken
to remove all of the Courtyard render, and replace this
with a more appropriate lime-based render.
12
During the Courtyard work a further problem has been
found in the roof beams of the Great Hall. One of these in
particular needs to be repaired as a matter of some
urgency, as does the roof itself, the disrepair of which is the
most likely culprit for the damage, and which we have
known for some time needs to be replaced. This will entail
major expenditure.
The Courtyard in disguise
This work has been very disruptive to the Hall and our
tenants. However, once the work is complete and
new decoration applied, we should have a glorious
“new” Courtyard in good time to celebrate the 400 th
Anniversary of the Charter. The cost is high, but as we
start to celebrate our “first 400 years”, we plan for the
next 400.
Honours and Awards
The Society is aware of the following members of the
Society having been honoured by the Queen during the
year:
Dr RCD Staughton LVO
Dr S Fitzpatrick MBE
Mr Andrew Wallington-Smith received the Hon LMSSA
on 17 March 2016 in recognition of his long and loyal
service to the Society.

Service Affiliations
The Society continues to enjoy affiliations with HMS
Somerset; 256 Field Hospital, RAMC; 4626 (County of
Wiltshire) Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron; 201
(Harrow) RAMC Cadet Detachment; and the Middlesex
and North West London Army Cadet Force. The Senior
Warden and Liveryman Lt Col Jane Carey-Harris
enjoyed dinner with the Officers and crew of HMS
Somerset, followed by a passage from Devonport to
Newcastle. The Apothecaries’ Prize for Excellence was
awarded to Petty Officer Engineering Technician
(Weapons Engineering) Neil Smith. The Master visited
256 Field Hospital in Braganza, and the Society was
pleased to welcome them to the Hall for their annual
cocktail party.
Cadets from 201 Detachment continue to provide stair
guards for Society events, and were honoured and
delighted to provide this for a visit by the Lord Mayor in
June.
Close and warm relations with the Chelsea Physic
Garden have been maintained. Our representative on
their Advisory Committee has for some years been Dr PA
Knapman, and he will be replaced in October 2016 by Dr
PJH Tooley. The Clerk visited the Garden during the
summer, and was assured that the potting shed used to
be the Apothecaries’ Boathouse.
The original Apothecaries’ Boathouse, now Chelsea Physic Garden’s shed
Events at the Hall
On Sunday 18 September, 2016, the Society again opened
its doors for the City Open House Scheme. 1,387 visitors
were received, and feedback was extremely positive.
Cadets from 201 (Harrow) Detachment line the stairs for the
Lord Mayor’s visit
Visitors on
Open House day
13

The Galen Dinner, four Livery Dinners, the Livery Lunch
and two Guest Nights were held. In addition, three
dinners celebrated special links and events. In April, a
joint dinner was held with the Courts of the Society and
the Barbers Company (the “Pestle and Pole” Dinner)
marking our common medical purpose in the City;
Penfolds wines, continuing our special association with
the company founded by Apothecary Dr William
Penfold, in July sponsored a fundraising dinner to raise
funds for the 400 Appeal; and a dinner was held at
Barbers’ Hall to mark Andrew Wallington-Smiths’s
retirement.
The Galen and Farr Medals
At a ceremony at the Hall on 19 May, 2016, the Master
presented the Society’s Galen Medal in Therapeutics to
Professor Alastair Compston in recognition of his
research into human demyelinating disease. Professor
Martin Rossor delivered the citation.
On 17 June, 2016, the Court were pleased to welcome the
Lord Mayor, The Lord Mountevans, Alderman and
Sheriff Charles Bowman, Sheriff Dr Christine Rigden and
their spouses to dinner, and a most pleasant and informal
evening was enjoyed by all.
Professor Alastair Compston receives the Galen Medal from the Master
The William Farr Medal was presented on the same
occasion to Professor Gillian Mead in recognition of her
major contribution to the promotion of safe and effective
exercise for frail and older stroke survivors. Dr Jonathan
Holliday delivered the citation.
Society Lectures
The Lord Mountevans, The Master, and Lady Mountevans
The Curator and Archives volunteers arranged displays
of archival material to mark these events, which were
much appreciated.
A total of 1,068 Society guests, members and their guests
were entertained at these functions.
The Society of Occupational Medicine Apothecary
Lecture was held on 20 May, 2016 at the Royal Society of
Medicine and given by Lord Freud, Minister of State for
Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and
Pensions, on initiatives to improve mental health in the
workplace, and particularly to support those with mental
health problems into work. The medal was presented by
the Senior Warden.
The Strickland Goodall and Keats Lectures will next be
held in 2017.
14

Gifts
On behalf of the Society, the Court received the following
gifts:
Penelope Hunting, 2016, They Built London, The History of
the Tylers and Bricklayers’ Company, Beaconsfield. A gift
from the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers,
marking the 600 th anniversary of the Company’s first
Master in 1416.
Patrick J Pead, 2016, Benjamin Jesty, Grandfather of
Vaccination, Chichester, Timefile Books, from the author.
Christopher J Duffin, 2008, “Fossils as Drugs:
pharmaceutical palaeontology”, Natural History
Museum of Luxembourg.
Harold Lipman, 2016, “ Preventive Cardiology: How can
we reduce CVD risk?”, Lambert Academic Publishing
A plaque from Dr JC Moore-Gillon and Dr RN Palmer, to
mark their earlier gift of a piano.
The Lord Mayor’s Show: 800 Years 1215-2015 from Dr BR
Matthews, Liveryman
Uncovering the Origins of Thomas Hamilton Ayliffe and
Elizabeth, Countess of Egremont from the author Mr Jeremy
Masters
Two copies of The Syon Abbey Herbal AD 1517 from the
editor Mr John Adams
The Historical Apothecary Compendium from Sir Colin Berry
The C19 Haselar Family Recipe and Cook Book [they were
Licentiates & Apothecaries]
from Miss Turner
Indenture and Charter restored by the Friends
A mayoral banner used during his term of office,
presented by Past Master and former Lord Mayor Sir
John Chalstrey.
Andrew Caillard MW, 2013, “The Rewards of Patience”
(Seventh Edition), Richmond, Victoria. A gift from Mr
Peter Gago, Chief Winemaker, Penfolds.
Portrait reproductions of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson,
presented by the Immediate Past Master, the Senior
Warden, and the Junior Warden.
An armorial window bearing his arms, presented by the
Master, Dr RN Palmer.
The following bequest from members’ estates was
received:
Sir Ralph Dodds £1,000.
Deaths
The deaths of the following members are reported with
regret:
Wellesley Howin, BATSTONE
George Hilary Lanyon BULLMORE
Derek Hubert Patrick COPE
John Pilkington CLAYTON
Anthony John CLEMENT
Michael Christopher Langton COX
William Joshua Caddell CURRIE
Maurice Frederick CUTHBERT
Edward Walter Leslie FLETCHER
James Malcolm GOLDIE
Bernard, HARDISTY
John Richard, HARPER
Philip JAMES
Brian Knight MADDEN
Peter Stanley MAGAURAN
John MARKS
Edward John MCGUIRE
Robin John Russell MOFFAT
Kenneth Harry NIXON
Jack Havill OAKLEY
Robin Gooch ORR
Vincent O’SULLIVAN
Kirit Chimanbhai PATEL
Thomas Henry TAYLOR
Lord Walton of DETCHANT
James Lyndall WHITBY
15

Past Master’s Report 2015-2016
Every Past-Master tells the new, incoming Master A later challenge was the discovery of dry rot in
that he or she will have a most enjoyable year and so
it has proved to be. It is a somewhat daunting
prospect, but once elected it is indeed a great privilege
to serve the Society and the year has passed enjoyably
and all-too-swiftly. Past Masters also warn that each
Master has one or more challenges (crises might be a
more realistic word!) during his year and so it has
proved!
My first challenge was to be put in charge of recruiting
a new Clerk (effectively Chief Executive) to succeed
Andrew Wallington-Smith, who was due to retire at
Easter after almost a quarter-century of service to the
Society. Andrew was a marvellous support to me in the
one wing of the building (happily, not in the Great
Hall). It has been treated with radical chemotherapy
and the walls of the Courtyard are currently being
restored to their full glory in good time for the
quarter-centenary celebrations next year of the
granting of our Royal Charter.
I am grateful to so many for making my year such
a pleasure. The staff of the Hall is unfailingly friendly
and welcoming – nothing is too much trouble. My
colleagues on Court have been helpful and supportive
and forgiving of my shortcomings. My Chaplain, the
Reverend Prebendary Bill Scott CVO, has graced all
the dinners with friendship and good humour. Celia,
first two-thirds of my year and
I owe him great thanks.
Members of the Society
responded magnificently to
my appeal for a leaving gift.
He was made free of the
Society and given a splendid
‘send-off’, with a handsome
cheque, the wherewithal for a
Coat of Arms and, from the
Court, a valedictory dinner at
which he and his family were
guests.
I was pleased to welcome
his successor, Nick Royle, in
April and am delighted that he
has settled in well and been
welcomed by all with whom
he has had contact. There is,
inevitably, much for a new
Clerk to learn about the quirks
and quiddities of an ancient
livery company but Nick is a
keen student and fast learner. The Great Hall of the Merchant Adventurers of York
16

my wife, a fellow Liveryman, was a great support both
at events in Hall and in supporting me ‘behind the
scenes’. The Livery Committee is one of the Society’s
great assets and produced many splendid social
events. To all of them I express heartfelt thanks.
The Master has the privilege of seeing the
Examinations Department in action, attending (as
silent observer) the OSCE examinations and the
Examiners’ Meetings. It was a pleasure to preside at
the Diploma Ceremony and to welcome so many of
our new Diplomates.
Of external events there were many, all of them
most enjoyable. I attended many lunches and dinners
of other city livery companies and was able to view
their Halls – albeit none quite as ancient as ours, save
for the visit to the Merchant Adventurers of York and
their hall, dating from 1357, which makes our 1672
Hall seem positively adolescent! Visits to the Mansion
House and to the Guildhall were especially
memorable. The ceremonies to elect the Lord Mayor
and the Sheriffs and the United Guilds Service in St
Paul’s Cathedral were particularly colourful.
Another happy memory, albeit shortly before I was
elected Master, was to sail in HMS Somerset (the RN
ship that we support) from Neath to Plymouth and to
witness the calm efficiency of the ship’s company as
well as to present the Society’s prizes to the three
winners.
Of the many, enjoyable internal events in Great
Hall two remain especially memorable: first, the
dinner to commemorate the 150 th anniversary (almost
to the exact day) that Elizabeth Garrett (later Garrett-
Anderson, after her marriage) received the Society’s
Licence, the first woman on this side of the Atlantic to
qualify as a doctor. The other was the visit of the Lord
Mayor and Sheriffs and the dinner following the June
Court meeting.
I have already utilised more than the space allotted
to a Past-Master by the Editor so I must desist from
longer discourse. The one blessed relief on completing
my year is that I shall never have to prepare and
deliver another speech! Other than that challenge, I
have had a marvellous year in office as The Master
Apothecary and I am grateful indeed to all who
helped make it such a happy one.
Dr Roy Palmer
17

Treasurer’s Report
What words characterise the year? “Brexit”?
“Trump”? …..no, for the Treasurer, the words must
be “Dry Rot”! The Monarch’s sympathetic
correspondent who, in 1992, coined for her the term
“annus horribilis” might well suggest “annus
cariosus” (if my schoolboy Latin is up to it).
At the end of my report last year, I mentioned the
discovery of dry rot in the building. This has been
thoroughly investigated and more than one
professional opinion has been obtained. We have
acted upon the advice and the courtyard is scheduled
to emerge from its covering of scaffolding and plastic
sheeting early in 2017 when the (incorrect) cement
rendering of the 1980s has been replaced by the
(correct) lime mortar version and, moreover,
redecoration is complete. We have every confidence
that the courtyard will look splendid for the Society’s
400 th birthday.
So far, the cost of the work is between £300,000 and
£400,000.
Alas, in October, 2016, further dry rot was
discovered in some beams above the Great Hall.
Initially, we were alarmed about possible safety issues
if we continued to use the Great Hall, but were quickly
reassured by structural engineers that there was no
hazard. Nevertheless the situation has to be remedied
and this will be done alongside the courtyard work.
The cost of this extra work is, as yet, unknown but will
run into several thousands.
Last year we were able to put £190,000 back into
reserves (£1.2 million having been needed to refurbish
the Warehouses prior to re-letting) but, this year we
have already withdrawn £205,000 to cover the extra
and unexpected costs.
How valuable and sensible it is to have reserves! If
we need convincing about this, the unheralded but
essential dry rot works are surely enough to persuade us.
Additionally, this year we have needed more
expenditure on Human Resources with the
recruitment of several new staff and sickness cover for
others. Nevertheless, I am pleased that the Court
approved an appropriate improvement in staff
salaries and an increase (to 10%) in the employers’
contribution to all staff pensions.
As I write, all our rental properties are let and
generating income and the market is showing our
portfolio of investments to be in rude health having
risen in value by almost 17% over the last 12 months.
The portfolio has weathered the Brexit storm
reasonably well. Movements in the Economy have led
our investment managers to put some possible future
inflation protection into the portfolio.
By the end of the Society’s next year, I am confident
that visitors to the Hall will see significant
improvements in its appearance. There is ambition for
other works to be scheduled including internal relighting,
re-carpeting, and improvement in audiovisual
equipment. The Hall always needs repair and
maintenance and to assist in planning for these
eventualities we have instituted a regular professional
structural assessment of our properties.
The Grand Old Building needs continuous care and
frequent attention but it is one of which we are
privileged to be the present custodians.
Dr. Robert Bethel
18

Treatment of Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Time for a Reassessment?
Jerome Burne is a medical writer and editor and is also
on the executive committee of the Medical Journalists’
Association which holds its annual festive gathering at
Apothecaries’ Hall.
As far as the official medical guidelines are
concerned vitamin B12 deficiency is pretty
straightforward to diagnose and treat. Like any
deficiency it certainly should be. But many patients
report the current system fails to meet their needs,
claiming the treatment they get is unreliable and
inadequate.
According to NHS choices the most common cause
is a lack of ‘intrinsic factor’ in the stomach which is
needed for B12 absorption from food, a condition
known as pernicious anaemia.
(http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anaemia-vitamin-
B12-and-folate-deficiency/Pages/Introduction.aspx)
Other causes recognised by the NHS include a diet
very low in extractable B12 or a side effect of the drugs
metformin – for diabetes – and the stomach acid
suppressing PPIs. Recommended treatment is a
limited number of replacement injections
Complications, such as damage to the nervous system
or during pregnancy, are said to be rare.
Among the patients who don’t share this
reassuring assessment is Tracey Witty. She runs a
campaigning website http://www.b12deficiency.info
that receives over 20,000 hits a month and paints a
very different picture of the realities of life for those
who are permanently unable to absorb vitamin B12 for
a variety of reasons and have to rely on injections for
life.
Tracey Witty
Witty suffered from a number of non-specific
symptoms including memory problems, a sore swollen
tongue and blurred vision. There are many others
symptoms listed on her site which indicate a possible
deficiency and should trigger a test for it but all too often
don’t. These include tremor, numbness, confusion,
dizziness, impotence, IBS, constipation and anaemia.
19

The range of symptoms is wide because being
deficient in B12 can gradually cause very fundamental
damage to the nervous system (loss of the myelin sheath)
as well as problems with repair of DNA and with
making new red blood cells. What that means is that if
the problem isn’t correctly diagnosed and effectively
treated, the long term results can be disastrous. As
patients deteriorate they can be wrongly diagnosed with
conditions such as diabetic neuropathy, bipolar disorder,
Parkinson’s disease, blindness, paralysis and dementia.
(doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g5226)
What Witty claims is that she and tens of thousands
of other patients aren’t being speedily diagnosed or
properly treated. Instead they are ‘at the mercy of
health professionals who are not educated adequately
about this condition and as a result frequently label
those who are deficient as lazy, depressed
hypochondriacs.’
This can happen when patients visit their GP to say
the supplement they have been given is not relieving
their symptoms. The response is often to treat them
with anti-depressants even though depression may be
a perfectly reasonable response to their continuing
symptoms and is also a well documented deficiency
symptom.
(http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s0ggga)
A correct diagnosis and being treated with a
sufficient number of injections usually results in a
seemingly miraculous recovery from such symptoms
linked with a serious deficiency as: becoming mentally
impaired, debilitating pain, being bed-ridden, chronic
fatgue, memory loss and losing the ability to walk.
Yet a recent survey
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24732991)
by the Pernicious Anaemia Society found that nearly
66% of 889 respondents were dissatisfied with current
treatment and that 14% of patients had waited more
than 10 years for a correct diagnosis.
What’s going wrong, according to Witty, is that,
rather than treating symptoms, doctors rely on
unreliable blood tests to decide who is deficient and
guidelines on how frequently injections need to be
given that are not based on any research at all.
Of course her critique can be dismissed as mere
anecdotes, since she is not a medical researcher and
has no clinical background; she trained as a furniture
maker and upholsterer. But with extensive
information available on the internet and increasing
calls for patients to take more responsibility for their
chronic conditions, her voice and those using her
website deserve to be more widely heard. They
provide just the kind of feedback that should be
welcomed.
http://www.b12deficiency.info/what-to-do-next
Witty’s first encounter with B12 deficiency was not
due her own problems but the result of the psychiatric
problems one of her family was having. ‘My online
researches suggested low B12 was a possible factor so
I asked the GP to test for it,’ she says. ‘She refused.
Subsequently I found a reluctance to test or treat was
common. Later many other patients contacting me via
the website reported experiencing the same problem.’
When the test was eventually carried out, the GP
claimed the result showed she was normal. In fact it
showed a deficiency.
When her relative was sectioned the psychiatrist
told Witty that B12 was not a relevant factor. But she
won this battle too and after being given regular
injections of vitamin B12 a dramatic recovery
followed. The psychiatrist later agreed that lack of B12
was the culprit.
This experience allowed Witty to understand that
her own chronic B12 deficiency had been a factor in
her failure to conceive rather than her doctor’s
diagnosis of an early menopause. She arranged a gene
test for herself which revealed several mutations,
including MTHFR and MTRR, which interfered with
absorption and meant she would require
supplementation for life.
20

At first she was reassured by her by her doctor’s
kindly comment: ‘We’ll have to look after you. But it
soon became apparently she and many other patients
weren’t being ‘looked after’ at all. The route to
effective treatment for B12 deficiency was littered with
obstacles.
To start with the routine test is seriously flawed
because measures both the version of the vitamin from
animals that the body can use (holotranscobalamin)
and the version from plants (holohaptocorrin) that is
inert. This problem, known about for years according
to a recent review in The BMJ
(doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g5226), generates a
large number of false positives.
Then the result of the test is compared with the
Serum B12 reference range, which also has a major
flaw. The results it gives varies greatly between UK
labs. One NHS Trust, for instance, rates a test result of
over 110 pg/mL as sufficient, while others define
deficiency as below 220pg/mL. There are other tests
that establish deficiency more reliably, such as ones
for homocysteine and for methylmelonic acid, but
they are not routinely used in the UK.
Even when a patient is diagnosed as deficient there
can still be a problem. Guidelines mandate an initial
series of six injections over two weeks. But then
standard practice is to give everybody, regardless of
symptom severity or individual differences, exactly
the same amount - one injection every three months.
‘For some this is fine,’ says Witty ‘but it is quite
obvious that a great many patients do extremely badly
on 3 monthly injections,’ says Witty. ‘I certainly do
and patients email me regularly with phrases in the
subject line such as; ’Desperate’, ‘Please help’ or ‘Am I
going mad?’
This rationing, one-size fits all, rule seemed to
Witty not just unnecessary - B12 is cheap and has
virtually no toxic side-effects - but also potentially
very damaging. Insufficient replacement significantly
raises the risk of further diagnoses of far more serious
conditions.
When she asked the medical bodies responsible for
guidelines what the evidence base for this ruling was,
none could provide any. The Parliamentary Health
Committee said that unfortunately they couldn’t track
this information, and suggested contacting NHS
England/Department of Health.
But NHS England couldn’t help and suggested
trying the National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE), but a spokesperson said it had no
guidelines because no one had asked them to produce
any. Public Health England said it was outside their
remit. BNF (British National Formulary) said they
couldn’t check what the evidence was as they were
‘unable to access our archives’.
Witty is well aware of the distress this arbitrary
rule can cause. If she has an injection once a week she
remains well. ‘Without it the old symptoms start to
return: my memory fails, my tongue starts to swell, I
bump into things, I can’t sleep. I get the amount I need
because I’m assertive and I know the literature. But
others shouldn’t have to suffer because they don’t
have my advantages. And it’s not just horrible for
them, failing to treat their symptoms costs the NHS a
fortune in the long run.’
Her solution has been to start a campaign to allow
patients to buy injectable B12 at the chemist so they
can treat themselves. That’s what happens in several
countries in the EU,’ Witty says. ‘Patients with
diabetes aren’t rationed in this way, in fact they have
access to all the insulin they feel they need.’
But even if treatment was given with the aim of
reversing symptoms that still wouldn’t mean that
everyone with a deficiency got adequate treatment.
That’s because the common medical assumption about
B12 deficiency is that it always goes hand in hand with
macrocytic anaemia and due to a lack of “intrinsic
factor’ in the stomach.
(http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anaemia-vitamin-
B12-and-folate-deficiency/Pages/Introduction.aspx)
21

So patients with classic symptoms of pernicious
anaemia – pale, thin, with overly large blood cells,
numbness and tingling in hand and feet are very likely
to be tested. People complaining of a different
combination of deficiency symptoms, such as,
memory loss, depression, blurred vision and
constipation, but who have no macrocytic red blood
cells are likely to find it far harder to get a test or
achieve a diagnosis.
My hope is to persuade health professionals to
familiarise themselves with the many surprising
symptoms and causes of this deficiency and to make a
point of ruling it out first. It could save a fortune and
prevent a lot of misery.’ For all the basics please see
(http://www.b12deficiency.info/what-to-do-next/).
By Jerome Burne
Many doctors, in Witty’s
experience, are not aware of
B12’s crucial role in
methylation, a biochemical
process that is involved in a
wide range of essential
functions such as: thinking,
repairing DNA, turning on and
off genes, fighting infections
and getting rid of
environmental toxins. Without
adequate amounts of B12 some
of these will begin to fail,
generating a wide variety of
symptoms.
‘I’m not suggesting that B12
deficiency is at the root of many
common problems that GP’s
have to deal with’, says Witty.
‘But it can be a reversible cause
of conditions such as fatigue,
depression, infertility, balance
problems, widespread pain and
neuropathy.
22

The Centenary of the Society’s Roll
of Honour 1916
Edward Wawrzynczak and Janet Payne
INTRODUCTION
On 18 May 1915, the Court of Assistants resolved:
...that a Roll of Honour be made containing the names of all
those members of the Society employed in active service in His
Majesty’s Navy or Army during the present War...
The Clerk was instructed to address a circular letter
to all members of the Society enquiring whether they
were in any way so engaged. More than a year later, at
the beginning of October 1916, it was proposed that:
... the names and ranks of such members should be engraved
upon a Copper Tablet to be placed in some conspicuous
position on the Society’s premises to be chosen later...
After further consideration, however, the Court
resolved:
...that the preparation of the Tablet and the engraving thereof
should stand over until after the War and the Clerk was
meanwhile directed to add to the list from time to time and to
keep a Type written copy in a Book in the Court Room...
This typewritten manuscript, produced in October
1916 and updated with handwritten amendments up to
1920, was preserved in the Society’s archives and
represents a contemporary record of the service of
Society members engaged in the Armed Forces and warrelated
civilian roles.
On 18 October 1920, the then Clerk, Bingham
Watson, wrote to members inviting them to send
particulars of their rank and any honours held so that
the Roll of Honour could be brought up to date. His
request evoked a mixed bag of letters in response: some
brief, some detailed; many from those who served, a few
from those who did not; the majority confirming entries
in the Roll of Honour, a minority providing new
evidence. There is no record that an updated list was
compiled, however, and it seems that the planned
copper tablet was never commissioned.
The centenary of the first compilation of the Roll of
Honour serves as a fitting anniversary on which to bring
the information contained within the original
manuscript, subsequent correspondence and other
documents in the Society’s archives together with that
contained in readily accessible professional, military
and biographical records to create an updated and more
complete picture of the activities of the Society’s
members. This article aims to describe the varied roles
of those who served the nation during the Great War in
the Armed Forces or as civilians; in particular, to
remember those who lost their lives, to acknowledge
some of those who received special honours related to
their war work, and to highlight a number of the more
memorable contributions.
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
The list of names in the updated Roll of Honour refers
exclusively to the period of the Great War: it includes
any individuals admitted to freedom of the Society up to
1920 but excludes any who may have served in the war
and were admitted later. In the Official Year Book and
List of Members of 1913-14, the members of the Society
numbered 325 in total, comprising the Master, the two
Wardens, eighteen Assistants, 129 Liverymen, 174
Yeomen and one Honorary Freeman. Between 1914-15
and 1920-21, the Society had 45 new members including
thirty-nine admitted to the Yeomanry and six elected to
Honorary Freedom of the Society.
From the potential membership of 370 from this
period there is documentary evidence for the
involvement of 135 members of the Society –
representing more than a third of the total – in warrelated
work. The majority – four-fifths of the total –
served in the Armed Forces, predominantly the Army.
A similar proportion of this group – four-fifths – served
23

in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), Army
Medical Service (AMS) or as Surgeons in the Royal
Navy (RN) and its Volunteer Reserve. Of the civilians,
the majority – again some four-fifths – undertook a
direct medical role. Overall, then, eighty per cent served
in some medical capacity and more than fifty per cent
were commissioned in the RAMC.
A few of the members who served in the Armed
Forces had undertaken military careers prior to the
Great War, often achieving some distinction, and were
part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) which left
for France and Flanders in August 1914. For instance,
Algernon Cautley Jeffcoat (Liveryman) had graduated
from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and entered
the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1897. In 1901, he
received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in
recognition of his service during operations in the South
African War of 1899-1902. He served with the BEF in
France, was Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster
General, 9 th Division, British Armies in 1916 and given
the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1917. Mentioned in
Dispatches five times, he received the Legion of
Honour, Croix de Chevalier and Belgian Croix de
Guerre.
Others enlisted when the Great War began. A
notable example is Ronald Ogier Ward (Liveryman
1918), a urological surgeon who had served with the
British Red Cross during the Balkan War of 1912-13. In
the Great War, he served in a military capacity as Major,
The Honourable Artillery Company, commanding C
Battery, 293 rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. In 1918,
under attack from a German advance, C Battery found
itself on the front line, and was forced to abandon its
five guns. That night, under the cover of a heavy mist
and working as quietly as possible with teams of men
and horses, Ward rescued four of the guns from No
Man’s Land. He was awarded the DSO for his bravery
and ingenuity, having been already Mentioned in
Dispatches and awarded the Military Cross (MC).
Two members commissioned in the Army were
killed in action. Captain Mortimer Fisher (Yeoman) had
joined the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1900 and served
with the 2 nd Battalion in South Africa. He accompanied
the 1 st Battalion (Prince of Wales’s Own) as part of the
BEF and was involved in severe fighting during the
early stages of the campaign. He died, aged 31, on 20
September 1914 at Troyon in France and is remembered
with honour at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial.
Captain Charles Gordon Paramore (Yeoman) enlisted in
September 1914, being commissioned in the 8th
Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was killed,
aged 30, leading his company on 25 September 1915, the
first day of the Battle of Loos. He is remembered with
honour at Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos.
Some of the Society’s more senior members, either in
terms of their experience of military or naval medicine
or through their association with the RAMC Territorial
Force (TF), had their talents used at a high level within
the Army’s medical services. Notably, Benjamin
Bloomfield Connolly (Master 1918-19), Colonel, AMS
(retired) had had a distinguished career as a military
surgeon starting with the Franco-German War of 1870-
71 and including a number of later conflicts for which he
received several decorations. He had retired in 1891 but
was re-employed as principal Medical Officer (MO) at
the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich during the South African
War. During the Great War, he acted as Assistant
Director of Medical Services (ADMS) in the Sussex
District and was brought to the notice of the Secretary
State of War for his valuable services.
Others took on important responsibilities at home
and abroad. Sir George Henry Makins (Liveryman),
who had travelled to South Africa as a civilian
24

consulting surgeon, became an expert on gunshot
injuries. He was commissioned Major in the RAMC
Territorial Force (TF) on its formation in 1908. In
September 1914, he left for France as consulting surgeon
to the BEF and supervised newly established hospital
centres at Camiers and Etaples, He retired in March
1918 with the rank of Major-General, AMS. Sir William
Arbuthnot Lane, Bt. (Liveryman), who had also joined
the RAMC (TF) in 1908, held the rank of Captain at the
2 nd London General Hospital at the outbreak of the war
and was gazetted Colonel, AMS in September 1917. He
worked with the French Red Cross, served as consulting
surgeon to the Aldershot Command and acted as
supervisor of Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, which
pioneered the treatment of facial injuries. He was made
CB and was a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur.
A number of members who served in the Great War
had begun their military careers in the Medical
Department of the Army before the RAMC had been
formed in 1898. Charles Thomas Samman (Liveryman,
Master 1928-31), Lieutenant-Colonel, RAMC had been
commissioned Surgeon Lieutenant in the Army Medical
Department in 1893. He served in France with the 10 th
General Hospital and the 2/2nd London Field
Ambulance. Ernest Carrick Freeman (Liveryman, Master
1931-32) had joined the Army Medical Department in
1887 and served in the South African War. In the Great
War, he was Colonel, RAMC and ADMS, 54 th (East
Anglian) Division (TF), which deployed to Gallipoli in
July 1915 and later to Egypt. He was Mentioned in
Dispatches and created CMG for his work. Robert
James Blackham (Yeoman 1917) had joined the Army
Medical Staff in 1895. He served in France from 1915 as
ADMS, 23 rd Division and was promoted Colonel,
RAMC. Also serving in Belgium, Italy and Russia, he
was made Deputy Director, Medical Services, 11 th
Corps. Mentioned in Dispatches five times, he received
the DSO, CMG, CB, French Croix de Guerre, and made
a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur.
The majority of members commissioned in the
RAMC after the start of the war served abroad on many
fronts. John Oglethorpe Wakelin Barratt (Liveryman,
Master 1933-34), Captain, RAMC (TF) served as
Commanding Officer (CO), 71 st Sanitary Section, 1 st
London (City of London) Sanitary Company. The
Section deployed to Egypt in December 1915 as part of
the 31 st Division. He later served as MO to a variety of
general, base and veterinary hospitals in France and
Italy. Thomas Bramley Layton (Yeoman, Master 1940-
41), Major (acting Lieutenant-Colonel), RAMC (T) had
been mobilised at the outbreak of the war. He served as
CO, 2/4 London Field Ambulance in France from June
1916 and later in Salonika, Palestine and Egypt. In 1918,
he was twice Mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the
DSO for distinguished service in connection with
military operations in Egypt.
25

Three others who served in the RAMC are worthy of
mention. Captain William Linnell Partridge (Yeoman)
was Regimental MO, 14 th Battalion, The Gloucestershire
Regiment in France from January to September 1916 and
later in Egypt and Palestine. He was awarded the MC in
1917 for distinguished service in the field. Captain Eric
Morse Townsend (Yeoman) was commissioned in
March 1915, and served as Regimental MO, 11 th
Battalion, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 1915-17 and 20 th
Division, Royal Engineers, 1917-19. He was Mentioned
in Dispatches and awarded the MC. Major John
Bernard Cavenagh (Yeoman 1915) was awarded the MC
in 1917 for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.
Later, attached to 113 th Field Ambulance in France, he
was awarded a Bar to the MC.
Two members lost their lives while serving in the
RAMC during the war. Lieutenant William
Trengweath Harris (Yeoman), a medical practitioner in
private practice, was commissioned in February 1917
and sent to serve in Egypt though he was never to reach
his destination. He drowned, aged 40, on 15 April 1917
when the transport ship on which he was travelling
HMT Arcadian was torpedoed in the Eastern
Mediterranean. He is remembered with honour at the
Mikra Memorial. Major Percival Thomas Priestley
(Yeoman) completed his medical studies in 1913 and was
commissioned at the end of July 1914. He accompanied
the BEF to France in August and later worked with 25 th
Casualty Clearing Station in Salonika where he died,
aged 30, on 28 September 1918. He is remembered with
honour at Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery.
A number of members had volunteered to serve in
France under the British Red Cross Society and Order of
St. John before accepting a commission in the RAMC.
Hugh Lett (Yeoman, Master 1937-38), a general surgeon,
served in France as MO, the Anglo-American (Lady
Hadfield’s) Hospital, Wimereux, France from
November 1914 to March 1915. He was also visiting
surgeon, The King George Hospital, Waterloo from May
to October 1915. He later served in Belgium and Egypt
and was promoted Major, RAMC. He was made CBE in
1920. John Prescott Hedley (Yeoman 1915, Master 1944-
45) was an obstetrician and gynaecologist who served as
MO and Captain, RAMC (TF) at the Duchess of
Westminster’s (No.1 British Red Cross) Hospital, Le
Touquet from November 1914 and was later surgical
specialist to the 5 th London General Hospital.
26
A significant proportion of those commissioned in
the RAMC served in military hospitals at home, often
though not exclusively in London. Captain Reginald
Whiteside Statham (Liveryman, Master 1927-28) was in
charge of No.4 War Hospital at Topsham Barracks,
Exeter. Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thackray
Parsons (Liveryman, Master 1946-47), formerly medical
superintendent of the Fulham Infirmary, acted as CO of
the Fulham Military Hospital, Hammersmith and also
served in Mesopotamia from July 1916. Captain Robert
Lauder Mackenzie Wallis (Yeoman) was MO in charge
of Fishmongers’ Hall Hospital for Officers from October
1914 to June 1915 and then served in France, Egypt and
India.
Sanitation was another important role on the home
front. At the beginning of the war, Sir Shirley Forster
Murphy (Master 1920-21) was commissioned
Lieutenant-Colonel, RAMC (TF) and made Senior
Sanitary Officer to the London Command, organising
the billeting of troops, ensuring the hygiene of quarters,
and dealing with problems caused by cerebrospinal
fever and other contagious diseases. He was appointed
KBE.

A small number of members served as Surgeons in
the Navy. For example, Gerald Roche Lynch (Yeoman,
Master 1951-2) acted as Surgeon-Lieutenant
(Temporary) to the RN Hospital in Malta, RN College in
Greenwich and RN Depot at Crystal Palace. He was
awarded the OBE for valuable services in 1919.
Among those engaged in civilian roles, some of the
more experienced members had volunteered to work in
hospitals abroad at the beginning of the war. Samuel
Osborn (Master 1919-20) was a general surgeon who
had experienced several conflicts including the Greco-
Turkish War of 1897, the South African War and the
Balkan War. In August 1914, accompanied by three
dressers and three nurses, one of whom was his
daughter, he took charge of a Belgian hospital in a
private house in occupied territory before moving to the
English convent at Bruges. For his work with the
Belgian Red Cross he received the Croix de Chevalier de
l’Ordre de la Couronne. He later served as MO in charge
of the Countess of Dundonald’s Hospital, attached to
Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital, Millbank.
The majority of civilian members who volunteered to
help with the war effort acted as physicians or surgeons
attached to military or auxiliary hospitals at home. For
instance, William Frederick Richardson Burgess (Court
of Assistants, Master 1921-22) acted as civilian surgeon
attached to the Royal Field Artillery Military Hospital,
Preston Barracks, Brighton and as civilian MO, Grove
Hospital, Tooting. He was awarded the OBE.
There were various other wartime roles that civilians
fulfilled. For example, Reginald Hewett Hayes
(Liveryman, Master 1938-39) was a member of the
Emergency Surgical Aid Corps of the Royal Society of
Medicine, which had been created to offer volunteer
surgical assistance in the event of air raids striking
London or the East Coast.
Finally, between 1915 and 1919, the Society elected
six Honorary Freemen who had made outstanding
contributions in the medical field, both in the Armed
Forces and in public life. Prominent among them was
Sir Ronald Ross (1915) who as Lieutenant-Colonel
(Temporary), RAMC acted as consulting physician on
tropical diseases to the Mediterranean Expeditionary
Force based in Alexandria in 1915. Later he was
consultant to the Southern, Eastern and Aldershot
Commands and the London District, including the
Malaria Department at the 4 th London General Hospital.
He was appointed KCMG in 1918.
27

CONCLUSION
A high proportion of the members of the Society of
Apothecaries who served during the Great War did so
in some medical capacity. The brief biographies
included in this overview underline the many and
diverse roles that members undertook in wartime: frontline
duty with regiment, casualty clearing station, field
ambulance or sanitary company; general and specialist
surgical roles in stationary hospitals and on hospital
ships; high-level administrative and advisory roles; the
running of military and auxiliary hospitals involved in
treating and rehabilitating casualties at home; and a
variety of supporting roles.
It is evident that there was wide spectrum of
expertise among the membership. Some of the senior
members already had extensive experience of battlefield
medicine, either as part of the Army’s medical staff or
by having acted as consulting surgeons in previous
conflicts. The lack of a commission in the military was
no obstacle to those determined to contribute their skills
in France and Flanders by working in Red Cross
hospitals, several of whom were later absorbed by the
RAMC. Others left their established medical positions to
serve with the RAMC, sometimes with tragic
consequences, as noted above. It is also clear that
civilian physicians and surgeons made an important
contribution supporting the war effort at home.
This short summary can only hint at the extent of the
contributions made by the members of the Society who
performed war-related work. Many did their bit but
received no special honours owing to their youth, a
short period of service or the routine nature of their role.
In some instances, the records are brief because
members did not volunteer the relevant information
perhaps out of modesty or a reluctance to dwell on the
past. Lastly, there is an unheralded group beyond the
ordinary age of enlistment who took on the day-to-day
work of general practitioners, hospital physicians and
medical officers of health in order to free their younger
colleagues to join the Armed Forces.
The authors wish to thank Dr. John Ford for his advice,
encouragement and comments on the manuscript. Members
with additional information or enquiries are invited to contact
the Archivist@apothecaries.org.
28

A Sabbatical in Italy
Dr Simon Read
Rigoletto was the catalyst. It had been 12 years since
I last lived in Italy and sitting in Covent Garden
listening to this opera, I suddenly really wanted to go
back. I closed my eyes and was back among the
Umbrian hills with my wife, singing opera in our Mini
while driving to Assisi. The town had glimmered on
the side of Monte Subasio like a gold coin.
Singing in our Mini
In 2002, between finishing 80 hour a week hospital
jobs and starting the GP registrar year, we had driven
down to Italy to live in Perugia. We had rented a tiny
14 th century monolocale (bedsit) in the heart of the old
town and signed up at the University for Foreigners.
In the mornings we learnt Italian with views of the
Umbrian hills and in the afternoon sipped espressi on
the Corso Vannucci, pondered our competi (home
work) and went home to cook. It was fabulous. We
returned to London half decent in Italian, full of
enthusiasm for GP training.
For that sabbatical, we had no big commitments
but we now had six small children. Logistics should
never get in the way of a good plan. My cousin, a
respiratory consultant, had done it with his own
family and gave the idea a resounding “DO IT.” Most
surprisingly for me was the similar reaction of my GP
partners.
We returned to Perugia having found a house to
rent in the centro storico. We didn't do any other
planning as our Italian friends had told us that trying
to organise anything in Italy in advance would be
futile. This approach was validated by some early
failed phone calls to the local schools. When the time
came, we packed up our red transit van as if we were
heading off for a week in the New Forest, adding in
the guinea pig, my sourdough starter and some bikes.
The girls finished school for the summer holidays, and
off we went.
Setting up home was fun: re-familiarizing
ourselves with Perugia’s maze of medieval streets, its
hill top views from every corner, cooking over an
open fire and enjoying the evening passeggiata. We
swam in the warm seas around Ischia, visited the
capital of Umbrian truffle hunting and loved
revisiting old haunts with our new brood. To keep us
on our toes the school admissions procedures were
suitably challenging. It took numerous visits to
different offici, which all had slightly different very
narrow morning-only opening times which are
different for each day of the week. We grew
accustomed to never quite having the right document,
‘Yes I have my daughter’s birth certificate and
passport photocopied and paper-clipped to the
application form with her photo signed by our local
GP, I didn’t realised I would also need her tax code,
would my tax code be sufficient?’ Of course not, I
29

Sabbatical in Assisi
will have to come back tomorrow with the documents
and large family. But we got all six children into the
best local schools.
Now for “sabbaticalling”, visions of long bike rides
and then lazing around in the Italian sun? Not quite.
Family life in many ways remained unchanged: the
organising (very slow or no internet connection),
shopping (no Tescos round the corner), cooking (don’t
use the kettle at the same time as the oven or the lights
fuse), sorting (all school children must wear a white
jacket uniform and have a named glue stick etc) has
the same dose of fun, happiness, joy, frustrations,
tears and tantrums as in London. There are some
broad differences of course. And much of what gives
Italian life its charm has on the flip side of the coin its
frustrations.
The world revolves around
the family in Italy, and
children in particular.
Children are welcomed everywhere,
and indeed expected to
be present and taking centre
stage of attention. There are no
bedtimes. Everyone is late.
Lifestyle takes precedent over
work and priorities of family
life and food are evident in
opening times (late opening,
long lunches), school drop off
(more dads than mums), and
pace (obligatory mid morning
coffee at the bar). The school
day finishes at 1pm when the
town comes to a stop for
several hours for the long
lunch.
The emphasis on family and
eating together is refreshing.The
overbearing nature of
parenting, however, is less charming. I like our
children to play with bare feet, go swimming in cold
water, head out into a head wind with wet hair, wear
shorts and t-shirts if they feel warm in autumn, and
then get cold and wet and dirty knowing that there is
a hot shower and cosy fire at the end of the day. Italian
parents seem so anxious about any possible freddo
(cold) or sporco (dirt) for their children. Italy is
beautifully beguiling but at the same time the culture
is somewhat over protective.
London has the advantage of anonymity when you
want it and huge diversity. It has made me value
London even more as a place to live. Our girls have
gained in confidence: the ability to welcome change
and set up their bedrooms in a new country. For me
the biggest pleasure of the sabbatical has been having
time with my family - volumes of time. I have had the
space to re-evaluate my life. The performance of
Rigoletto seems like a long time ago now. But I am
pleased we brought those tickets…
30

Registrar’s Report
Mrs Jennifer Maclean
2015-16 has
been another
busy year in the
Examinations
Department.
Twelve examination
diets
were held: four
Medical Care of
Catastrophes,
i n c l u d i n g
two staged in
the Netherlands
to fulfil the contract
with the
Dutch Ministry
of Defence, two
each of Genit
o u r i n a r y
Medicine and HIV Medicine, and one each of Medical
Jurisprudence (Pathology), History of Medicine,
Philosophy of Medicine and Forensic Medical Sciences.
Apart from the DMJ (Path), the London-based
examinations, written and practical, are held in the Great
Hall; the photograph shows the Hall when set up for an
objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).
There were 205 candidates over the seven diplomas,
resulting in 175 diplomates. The weather held on the day
of the annual Diploma Ceremony, and some 170
diplomates and their guests enjoyed the Society's
hospitality, mingling with members of the Court and
taking tea in the courtyard. Some had travelled from the
Netherlands while others came from as far afield as
Malaysia.
An important part of the Society's quality assurance
procedures involves assessing the psychometrics of the
examinations. This is achieved via the good offices of Dr
John Patterson, Liveryman and Honorary Senior Lecturer,
Centre for Medical Education, Barts and the London
School of Medicine and Dentistry, who provides reports
on the examinations and attends examination committee
meetings to explain the outcomes to the examiners.
The GMC’s “Standards for Curricula and Assessment
Systems” requires, inter alia, that those who examine are
trained and regularly updated in the appropriate
assessment techniques. Although not all of the Society's
examinations are accountable to the GMC, the
Examinations Board observes the standards as best
practice. Thus, every year to 15 months we stage a
training day for newly-appointed examiners, attendance
at which is compulsory before they are permitted to assess
in a practical examination. The day provides an
opportunity for examiners to learn of the theory of
assessment and to take part in discussions and mock
assessments. Refresher training focuses on the theory and
practice of standard setting and blueprinting, as the
rationale behind those aspects of examination preparation
tends to fall into place more readily once examiners have
been actively involved with their examination committee.
CPD credits are sought from the RCP on each occasion.
A large number of people each play their part towards
the whole examination effort, and I am grateful to them
all, not only for their efforts but also for helping to make
my role so enjoyable. The three groups are: the
Examinations Board, which oversees the Department in
its entirety, and whose advice and broad range of
expertise is so valuable; the Society's 150+ examiners, and
particularly the conveners, deputies and panel chairs,
who voluntarily contribute vast amounts of their "spare"
time to set, support and assess their respective
examinations; and last, but by no means least, my
assistants Maria Green and Rita Pulga, who decided to
return home to Italy after 10 years in London and who
was succeeded by Smita Shah. The dedication, patience
and good humour of all these contributors are an asset to
the Department and to the Society.
31

Faculty of the History and Philosophy of
Medicine and Pharmacy
Fantasy Faculty
Tina Matthews – President
There’s a lot of it about; fantasy this and
fantasy that, teams and leagues and so on.
What about a fantasy Faculty then? ‘Well,
yes’, I hear you say ‘That’s never going to be
mainstream is it? A bit too esoteric perhaps?’
But if you were going to play, how would it
go for you? Take some dreaming spires in
an ancient university city, (too obvious), or
maybe a 17 th century Livery Hall in the city
of London hidden in a narrow cobbled lane
through an arched double wooden door into
a neatly proportioned courtyard.
Then take more tall wooden doors
straddled by a carved coat of arms, leading
into a wood-panelled atrium with sweeping
stairway to a first floor adventure in history
through rooms quaintly termed The Parlour
and The Court Room. These rooms, lined by
antique furniture and fine paintings, could
host lectures for the finest diploma courses
in history, philosophy, ethics of medicine
attended by students, the retired and all between, and
once a year, these studious ones would take
examinations, writing essays to the slow clock tick in The
Court Room, and they would all pass. The Faculty would
be ambitious, and work towards higher qualifications
such as a Masters in Medical History.
There would be entertainment in the evenings
throughout many months of the year; tales of historic
daring-do shared by echoing oration in that classic Hall,
sometimes by a well-known figure, thanked and feted
and rewarded with a medal to rival the Olympics. Follow
this with feasting, wine and passionate debate with new
and old friends.
A sparkling reception in the courtyard
Sometimes there could be the intense exchange of
information, an oasis for those with a thirst for
knowledge in places named Apothecaries’ Hall and
Wellcome Collection with many learned scholars
imparting their colourful threads of information. We
would call them Fellows, some philosophy and some
history, and the latter would creep through the
archives extracting juicy tidbits of the Society’s past.
Once a year, in June when the weather is clement, they
would assemble a glittering symposium to entertain
and inform, with a sparkling reception in the
courtyard.
32

Short courses bursting with information would be
scattered through the academic year, and there would
be development of new ones such as the History of
Pharmacy and the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Does all this sound wonderful? Such a beautiful
fantasy, but wait; this is all true, this is the Faculty of
the History and Philosophy of Medicine and
Pharmacy, of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
of London - my fantasy is real! Many real human
beings have been involved in making my dream
reality, and I would like to thank them. Maria Ferran
and the inhabitants of the offices upstairs for
administering, co-ordinating, organising, greeting and
being super friendly and helpful, all the hall staff for
preparing for lectures, symposia and courses. Thanks
also to the support team that constitutes the Executive
Committee, to Edward Wawrzynczak and his band of
followers for producing the symposium in June;
“Doctors and Medicine at the time of the Great War:
Changes, Challenges and Consequences”. Thanks to
Briony Hudson for development of the new short
course in History of Pharmacy and the Pharmaceutical
Industry to debut in November 2016, and for hours of
hard slog and brain storming by Hilary Morris and
Christopher Gardner-Thorpe to devise a Masters in
Medical History. The “bread-and-butter” of the
Faculty are its diploma courses, now definitely at the
level of deli speciality bread, admirably directed by Dr
Andrew Papanikitas (Philosophy) and Dr Christopher
Gardner-Thorpe (History). The Eponymous lectures
continue as a staple of the Faculty educational
offerings, with programmes arranged in a timely
manner by the Meetings Secretary, Dr Andrew Hilson.
Congratulations are in order for those who have
passed the examinations for our diplomas; especially
those awarded distinctions with the Selwyn Prize
going to Daniel Di Francesco and Maccabaean prizes
winners to be confirmed. Also to Dr Ruth Richardson
and Dr David Misselbrook who became Honorary
Fellows of the Faculty in recognition of their work for
the Faculty.
Finally I would like to thank the Faculty members
and lecture audiences for their continued support, and
I hope enjoyment of the programme we offer and for
making this Faculty my fantasy come true!
33

Curator’s Notes
Nicholas Wood – Curator and Past Master
Work in the Society’s collections has continued for
another year, with progress being made on
cataloguing the collection of photographs, images and
engravings. General cataloguing has continued as
well, an example being the transfer to our Archives
from the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of a number of
our Licences from the 19th century. We have also
continued to provide a few more discreet labels where
possible but one piece of important news is that the
Court has agreed to new lighting in the two main
display cases: the Fairleigh Collection drug jar case in
the Entrance Hall, and the large display cases in the
Parlour. Better lighting will improve the displays and
also, being cooler, will be safer, especially to some of
the more delicate wooden items that we would like to
have on display.
Our Adopt a Book scheme to support conservation
and restoration of the some 250 rare books in the
Society’s library is now in place and a number of
volumes have been restored following generous
sponsorship from a number of individuals and also
from the Friends of the Archives. Of special note is the
restoration of two 1809 Pharmacopoeias Londinensis,
one of which is interspersed with the 200-year-old
working notes from our laboratories. This is a great
resource of 18 th and 19 th century laboratory practice
and has already been consulted by one of our
researchers. We are grateful to the many who have
given this financial support and hope that others will
feel encouraged to make a contribution to our
conservation efforts through the Adopt a Book
scheme. Details of the scheme, including a
sponsorship form, are available around the Hall
during various events, on the web site, and when the
Library is open, now a regular event prior to Faculty
and Friends lectures,
Work continues to index the Court Minutes, and to
review the data base of medical and other artefacts.
We have also hosted a number of researchers, some of
whom have produced books (including a children’s
mystery thriller!) using material supplied by the
Archives. One researcher, Marion Mackonochie from
UCL has written her MSc. dissertation on the Society’s
Materia Medica cases, the largest of which stands on
the Hall landing.
Perhaps the most welcome news is the gift of a “400 th
Birthday Present” from the Royal College of General
Practitioners of the services of their archivist, Sharon
Messenger, for one day a week during our anniversary
year of 2017. We are very grateful to the College and
look forward to having Sharon work with us.
Finally, I am grateful to all the volunteers who
have enthusiastically given of their time this year to
assist in the archives, library and around the Hall
including Roy Sinclair, Liz Wood, Peter Homan, Fiona
Davidson, John Ford, Ann and Norman Smith, John
Ferguson, and Brian Matthews with a special mention
to Janet Payne who keeps the whole show on the road
answering e-mails and undertaking archival
researches.
34

The Anniversaries Committee
Charles Mackworth-Young
Our 400 th Anniversary is not far away. James I
granted us our Charter on 6 December 1617, and we
are hoping that members of the Society will enjoy
celebrating this great moment in our history. The
Anniversaries Committee has been preparing a wide
range of events. They will include:
• The Master’s Day Service: instead of being held
in September, as is usual, it will take place
immediately after the Election Court on
17 August. This will be followed by dinner in
the Hall.
• Evensong in St. Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday
20 September, which will include a specially
commissioned anthem by the celebrated
composer Michael Berkeley.
Much of the focus of the Committee has been on
the 400 th Appeal. We are particularly grateful to
Members of the Society and to others who have so
kindly contributed to this very worthwhile cause, or
who have taken part in the 400 Club. Thanks to
everyone’s generosity, the Appeal has so far raised
over £200,000; and it is of course still open to
donations. We plan to use this fund for three
purposes: an annual scheme to provide bursaries for
medical student electives abroad; an annual
academic prize for junior doctors at pre-consultant
level; and – in view of our crest, and the prestige that
we have derived from the animal – a grant towards
saving the rhinoceros. If you have not had a chance
to contribute to the Appeal and would still like to do
so, please contact the Clerk’s Office.
• A Banquet in the Guildhall on 6 December.
Details of these and other celebratory events are
given on page 37.
We are also extremely grateful to the Livery
Committee for generously funding the repair and
repainting of the clock in the Courtyard, which will
look very fine indeed, particularly in the context of
the newly restored and decorated walls and
windows.
The Society helps to save the Rhino
35

The Charity Committee
Simon Bailey
I have just taken over the chairmanship of the
Charity Committee from Derek Adams, our current
Master. There has been a decline in direct giving to the
charity and I am sure that this relates to members
giving to the 400 th Appeal and also to assist in the
restoration of the Hall. The charitable giving is so
central to the ethos of the Society and I hope, after our
400 th Celebration, we can look at new ways to increase
the amount of money we have to support the many
worthy causes that come to our attention.
Grants of £1000 were made this year to 32 medical
students and three pharmacy students. Because of
historic funding, seven awards are designated Society
of Apothecaries Colman Kenton Educational Grants,
four awards as Society of Apothecaries Lord Tanlaw
Educational Grants and six awards Society of
Apothecaries Ruth Hoffman Educational Grants. The
remainder were styled Society of Apothecaries
Educational Grants. The recipients of these awards are
in their final two years of training and have been
recommended to the committee by the Deans of their
medical or pharmaceutical colleges. The committee
chooses from the Deans' suggested candidatures. Most
are doing medicine as a second degree and are
carrying a heavy weight of debt.
Additionally £3,500 was given to the Faculty of
History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy to
assist undergraduate students who are doing our
diploma course. £400 was given to St Paul's Cathedral
Foundation and £650 to the Sheriff and Recorder fund.
£400 was given to St Paul’s Cathedral Foundation
36

Anniversary Year Events
As we prepare for the 400 th Anniversary of the
granting of our Charter on 6 December 2017, here's a
reminder of some of the Anniversary events.
Up to and throughout the year, we're raising money
for our Apothecaries’ charities, supporting medical
education and rhino conservation. For more details
about any of these events contact the Clerk’s Office.
Instant Sunshine Concert
17 February, 2017
The brilliant witty all-singing doctors group "Instant
Sunshine," of BBC Radio 4 fame, will be live on stage
at the Cadogan Hall to celebrate their 50 th
Anniversary, our 400 th , and the baby charity,
Tommy's, 25 th . The band are very generously
performing for free, with all proceeds going to the
Apothecaries' and Tommy's charities.
This should be a fabulous evening, and a great
opportunity to raise money for great charities. Tickets
£15 to £75 from Cadogan Hall.
Advertise, send a message of support in the
programme, or donate direct – all donors of £100 or
more will have their name listed in the programme!
Master's Day Service and Dinner
17 August, 2017
In a change from our usual routine, the Master's Day
Service 2017 will be held immediately after the
Election Court on 17 August, followed by a dinner
rather than the usual lunch. All Guardant Members
are welcome to attend the service and/or dinner.
Provisional timings are 5.30 pm for the service, 7.00
for 7.30 pm for dinner, with booking details to follow
later in the year.
Anniversary Evensong at St Paul's
20 September, 2017
The Society is honoured to be holding a special
evensong at St Paul's, where we will be joined by
Masters and Clerks from other Livery Companies,
invited guests, and the Members of the Society.
The service will see the first performance of a newly
commissioned anthem by Michael Berkeley, which
will become a firm fixture of future Apothecaries
events.
Following the service, there will be a reception at the
Hall, with free entry for Guardant Members.
Booking details later in the year.
Guildhall Banquet
6 December, 2017
400 years to the day, the Society will celebrate the
Charter with a magnificent Banquet at the Guildhall.
After a Reception in the Old Library, there will be a
four-course white tie dinner in the magnificent
surroundings of the Great Hall, in the presence of key
figures in the life of the Society: Royal Freemen, the
Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, Presidents of the Medical
Royal Colleges, the Grocers, the Barbers, and the
Patrons of the 400 th Appeal.
37

Due to the demand for additional tickets, and in a
change to the original dates, "early bird" tickets will
now only be available until March 1 2017, and will
remain limited to two per Guardant Member - this is
to ensure that as many Members as possible are able to
attend, at the special price of £100 per ticket.
From 1 March 2017, tickets will cost £120 per person,
and all Members (Guardant and Couchant) may book
as many tickets as they need for their parties for the
evening. You may apply now to the waiting list (but
please don't send money yet), and receive your
allocation after 1st March.
Tickets from assistantclerk@apothecaries.org
Other Anniversary Year events:
6 February 2017
The Rose Prize is a biennial award presented jointly
by the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of
Medicine and Pharmacy and the Royal College of
General Practitioners. The prize commemorates
William Rose and Fraser Rose. Submissions now
welcome.
23 February 2017
“Keats and Medicine – An Exploration of their
Relationship” with Professor Sean Hughes, Emeritus
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Imperial College
London.
22 November 2017
The Fitzpatrick and Copeman Lectures, in conjunction
with the Royal College of Physicians, presented by Sir
Paul Nurse and Dr David Starkey. Lecture at the RCP,
supper afterwards at Apothecaries Hall. Details to follow.
38

Faculty of Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine
Air Vice-Marshal Aroop Mozumder
CB FRCGP FFPH MSc DTM&H DAvMed DMCC
Last year I opened by mentioning that the relevance of
what we teach and examine in this Faculty has perhaps
never been so starkly exposed, highlighting the brutal
civil war in Syria. The world now is, if anything, in an
even worse position than last year, with a larger number
of humanitarian emergencies, fragile and failing states,
and mass movements of refugees and internally
displaced people than in recent memory. Although
some progress has been made worldwide in the
Millennium Development Goals (now the Sustainable
Development Goals) and towards the control of diseases
such as malaria, TB and polio, it is still shocking to think
that 15 of the 20 poorest
countries in the world are
still affected by significant
conflict. We are being
daily exposed to pictures
of suffering on our TV
screens. This is perhaps
one of the reasons for the
popularity of our course
and why more medical
schools have also
expressed an interest in
this area of medicine.
Care of displaced
populations and the
wider health issues facing
societies dealing with
health emergencies, is a
core part of what we teach
to doctors and nurses on
the Conflict & Catastrophe Medicine course. Indeed, so
popular has the course become, that last year we had to
very reluctantly declare the course numbers at capacity
for the first time. We introduced a ceiling of 50 new
students for each course year starting in January. With
39
over 280 students enrolled, the Saturday lectures are
lively and busy, with often around 70 students
attending. We are now full at the time of writing for the
courses in 2017 and 2018 and the waiting list on the 2019
course is also significant and well over 30. Although
gratifying, in one sense this is also deeply worrying, in
that we are clearly not able to fulfill the demand among
young and enthusiastic healthcare professionals for
teaching in this area.
Due to the importance of evolving the syllabus to
keep up with the requirement to deliver a relevant and
up-to-date course, we increased the number of teaching
days to 13 Saturdays per
year. Course days are
lively and busy and it is
wonderful to see so many
motivated students in
our venerable Hall. This
success is once again due
to the very hard work of
our Course Director Dr
Tim Healing and our
Faculty administrator
Goldy Gullo.
Our evening public
lectures have been once
again excellent this year.
In May we had an
innovative three-part
briefing on the Ebola
Briefing in the Great Hall
crisis in West Africa last
year, given by three of
our distinguished Apothecaries, Dr Tim Healing
(Course Director), Professor Richard Williams (DMCC
Convenor) and Dr Gordon Gancz (DMCC Examiner).
They spoke eloquently and knowledgeably on the
epidemiology and control of the disease, the

psychosocial effects on those affected and those treating
the victims and, lastly a personal view on what it was
like to be treating the patients in the field. In October we
heard a lecture from Sir Mark Walport, the Government
Chief Scientific Advisor, himself an Apothecary, on
Advising Government on how to deal with
Emergencies. It proves to be fascinating and
informative.
This year we are again conducted a 4-day
introductory course in Ireland in the principles and
practice of conflict and catastrophe medicine, which has
been well received in the past two years, and perhaps
even more so this year.
We again awarded the medical student prizes this
year, to support elective year projects in developing
countries. The short-listed contributions continue to
impress with their quality and innovative thinking, we
hope to further expand this support in future. This year
we awarded prizes for an elective to two medical
students studying low-cost prosthetic limb replacement
for amputees after natural disasters in Bangladesh,
which was innovative and inspiring. We also supported
another student who supported mental health problems
amongst the Karen refugees from Myanmar, who have
sought asylum in the Minnesota area of the US. These
excellent projects were selected having been whittled
down from over 30 original applications. We as a
Faculty have agreed to support at least two such
projects a year at £750 each.
Our collaboration with the Conflict & Catastrophe
Section at the Royal Society of Medicine is developing,
with their focus being symposia and wider academic
debate, with our Faculty concentrating more on
teaching and examining in a more practical sense.
Although the RSM C&C section is being subsumed into
their larger Global Health programme, we hope to
develop increasing synergy with them and indeed
hopefully host a symposium in the Hall in 2017.
Lastly the financial health of the Faculty remains
good and improving year-on-year, largely due to the
success of the diploma course. Our problem seems to
be that we even more urgently need more capacity to
teach, perhaps remotely broadcast, and we are
looking at innovative web-based or recorded learning
methods to allow the teaching to be more widely
available. The issue, as ever, is finding enough
capable volunteer staff to move these time consuming
projects on further.
I am very pleased to report that the Faculty remains
in good health and good heart and we look forward to
our final few months with this year’s students and to
welcoming our next batch of students in 2017.
Sir Mark Walport addresses members of the Society
40

Livery Committee Chairman’s Report
2015-2016
Last year’s report was the valedictory report of my
predecessor, Simon Bailey, who served as Chairman
with such distinction. I personally owe him a huge debt
of gratitude which I acknowledge now and I thank him
for his thoughtful and hardworking stewardship of the
previous three years.
The work of the Livery Committee continues as
before, with an interesting programme of events,
varying in location, diversity and length.
Space limitations prevent anything but the barest
bones of individual reports on events, but to continue
the narrative from where Simon’s report finished, our
Secretary, Jane Carey-Harris organised a tour of East
Malling Research Centre and Bradbourne House in
September 2015. Two guides related their talks to the
Society. In October, Chris Khoo and Simon Bailey
organised a visit by Bampton Opera to the Hall for a
lively and engaging performance of Joseph Haydn’s
opera “Lo Speziale”, (The Apothecary ). The two had
just returned from the Livery Committee’s annual
“away trip”, which they had organised, to the
Peloponnese. 32 travellers enjoyed a week visiting the
majority of the most famous sites of the region including
Nafplio, Salamis, Corinth, Mycenae, Epidauros, Tiryns,
Sparta, Mistras, Olympia and Delphi. October
concluded with a visit organised by Ibby Ibrahim to the
annual Regent Street Motor Show.
In November, Brian Matthews and Alan Collett
organised a visit to Spencer House, restored by Lord
Rothschild to one of London’s most splendid residences.
The visit concluded with lunch at the nearby Mark
Mason’s Hall. Later that month, John Harcup organised
the annual UK “away trip”, this time to Bath for two
nights. The packed programme included tours of the
city, the Roman baths, the Pump Room and new
thermal spa, the Royal Mineral Water Hospital and the
Old Theatre Hall, rounded off by seeing a production of
An Inspector calls. The final visit in November,
organised by Judith Dixon and Vanessa Jenkins, was to
the Parliamentary Archives in the Houses of Parliament.
Two groups were given escorted tours of the Well and
Original Act Room. The Apothecaries Act of 1815 and
other relevant documents had been specially prepared
for the visit.
In December we had our AGM when I had the
honour and privilege to be elected Chairman for the
next three years. Eight members of the Committee were
due to rotate off, another resigned for personal reasons
and yet another changed roles. Our current Master had
relinquished his position as our long term Treasurer
earlier in the year to become Senior Warden. I thank him
for the tremendous amount of work he has put in over
about nine years, in getting and keeping our accounts in
such good order before handing over to Harry Crook
(an appropriate name for a treasurer perhaps?). Celia
Palmer, due to rotate off the Committee anyway,
became Mistress before the year end, having
contributed massively to the activities of the Livery
Committee as did Ibby Ibrahim, Tony Taylor and David
Verity. Others were later co-opted back onto the
Committee following vacancies after the elections. We
therefore started 2016 with a very strong Committee
consisting of new blood and experienced “old” hands –
an ideal situation. As ever, our annual Carol Service
followed by supper, organised this time by Nicholas
Cambridge, rounded off a busy year.
The events of 2016 started in mid-January with a
wonderful four day trip to Venice for 24 Apothecaries
and partners organised by Celia Palmer. Entitled
“Music and Medicine”, the group enjoyed visits to sites
41

of historical medical interest, Venice having been at the
forefront of Apothecary evolution. We enjoyed La
Traviata in a Palazzo and visited the world renowned
La Fenice Opera House. At the end of January, 72 people
enjoyed a traditional Burns Night Supper organised by
Mike Gibson who also played the pipes and recited Tam
o’Shanter. Sir Christopher Colville toasted the lasses
and was skilfully rebutted by Agnes Ibrahim.
Apothecaries in Venice
In February, the first visit was to the Bethlem
Museum of the Mind, organised by Brian Matthews.
The Museum Archivist gave a talk on the history of
Bethlem Hospital followed by a viewing of patient
ledgers and an exhibition of paintings by the renowned
Richard Dadd. The second event, organised by Frank
Wells, was a visit behind the scenes at the Royal Albert
Hall. Two groups explored this iconic building and saw
the props set out for a performance by Cirque du Soleil.
The final event of the month, again organised by Brian
Matthews was a visit to the Museum of London
Archives. The tour visited many areas of the facility
which houses the largest archeological archive in the
world.
In early March, Susan Horsewood-Lee organised a
trip “Behind the scenes at Glyndebourne” where we
learnt about the history of Glyndebourne and how
operas are produced there. Our guide, Richard Joiner,
took us on stage as well as behind the scenes. In mid-
March, the busy Brian Matthews organised a fascinating
if slightly macabre visit to the Crime Exhibition at the
Museum of London. The curator gave a talk about the
selection of crimes and artefacts for display, and
about the ethics and potential effects such a
display may have on victims, their relatives, the
investigators and the perpetrators. The final
March event was organised by Mike Gibson. We
met at the Gurkhas base in Winchester where
we had a talk from the Curator of the Museum
about the history of the Gurkhas, their selection
and training and their many campaigns, after
which we had a curry lunch prepared by the
Gurkha wives.
The first April event, again organised by
Brian Matthews, was a visit to 2 Temple Place.
The building was commissioned by William
Waldorf Astor in the early 1890s.The result was
“a little masterpiece” ( Betjeman) and “a perfect
gem” (Pevsner) and was Grade II listed in 1960.
The second was a visit to the Greenwich
Museum and Naval Complex organised by
Colin Gillespie. Two dozen met at the Cutty
Sark. They were given a history of the ship and
then walked along the Thames to the three main
attractions namely, the education centre, the Painted
Hall and the Naval Chapel.
Three events in May commenced with a tour of
Kenwood House and Gardens. This trip was organised
jointly by me and mainly by Alan Nathan who took the
tour of the House. The Adams architecture and
paintings by, amongst others, Gainsborough, Turner,
Vermeer and Rembrandt were astounding and
plentiful. After lunch in the old kitchen, we had a tour
of the gardens with the Senior Gardener and of the old
dairy. The second was a visit to the Phytochemistry
Lab at Kew, organised by Wanda Jay. Lunch preceded
a stroll through Kew Gardens where the Director of
Economic Botany gave a brief history of the
42

development of Kew on the way to the Jodrell
Laboratory. Here, talks on the various aspects of their
work were given by staff members. Concluding the
May trips was a Talk and Tour of the Dulwich Picture
Gallery organised by Alan Collett. The museum
educator gave an illustrated talk on Rubens, his life
and work both as a painter and a high level diplomat.
The group then moved to the gallery to view the
current exhibition.
One week tour of Puglia
The solitary event in June was a visit to Rochester
organised by Omar Khan. 22 Apothecaries enjoyed a
visit to the Huguenot Museum and heard about the
history of their arrival (including our founder Gideon
de Laune). After lunch, the visit moved to Restoration
House which derives its name from a visit by Charles II
on his way from Dover to London for his restoration to
the throne.
Three July events started with a visit to the Langdon
Down Museum and Normansfield Theatre organised by
Brian Matthews. 15 Apothecaries were given a talk
about Langdon Down and his career at the Royal
Earlsfield Asylum. The group visited the restored
Normansfield Theatre and the Museum of Learning
Disability. The next was a visit to the Museum of Army
Music organised by Wanda Jay. A talk by the Archivist
was followed by a rehearsal for the Last Night of the
Proms and then a tour of the Museum. The final July
event was a visit to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
organised by Brian Matthews and Jane Carey-Harris. 25
Apothecaries visited the home of the Chelsea
Pensioners. Our tour guide was a redoubtable Inpensioner
named Dave Thomson, a real character. We
visited the “show” living quarters, the Hospital, the
Chapel, the Hall and part of the grounds. There was a
talk from the Matron on the Thatcher Infirmary and the
work of the medical staff.
Our event in August was a visit to the Houses of
Parliament organised by Mike Gibson. Fifty
Apothecaries and guests in two groups had a
comprehensive tour of Westminster Hall, St Stephen’s
Hall, the Central Lobby, the Robing Room, the Royal
Gallery and Prince’s Chamber, the Lord’s Chamber and
the Commons. Tea was taken in the splendid setting of
the Terrace Pavilion.
In September, Brian Matthews organised a tour to
the Fire of London Exhibition at the Museum of London.
Following an introductory talk by the Curator,
individuals were free to visit the Exhibition at their own
pace. 36 had a one week tour of Puglia, the “bread
basket“ or garden of Italy. Organised by Chris Khoo,
ably assisted by Simon Bailey, it was a wonderful and
comprehensive tour which covered the geography,
geology, agriculture, religious connections, art and
architecture and gastronomy of this lovely region. It
culminated with a three night stay in Lecce – the
“Florence of the South”. A fuller account of the visit to
Puglia can be seen in an accompanying article.
In October, Jane Carey-Harris organised a visit to the
Military Intelligence Museum. The role of the SOE,
intelligence activities from the Cold War to the present
day in the Middle East and the role of photographic
intelligence were viewed and discussed in three
sessions. These were followed by lunch at in the
Officers’ Mess at Chicksands and this in turn was
followed by a tour of the Priory. Busy Brian Matthews
organised two visits to the Chocolate Factory in Brixton.
All aspects of producing chocolates were covered, from
pod to mouth. Each individual had the opportunity to
design and make their own chocolates.
43

In November, Simon Bailey organised a three-day
trip to Cambridge, Ely and Newmarket. 21 participants
thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Round Church, Trinity,
St Johns and Sidney Sussex. After evening service at
King’s College Chapel, we visited the Parker Library at
Corpus Christi College where we dined the first
evening. The following day we visited the Fitzwilliam
Museum and Peterhouse after which we were punted
up to Magdalene Bridge and visited the College. After
lunch and free time, we had an early evening tour of the
Scott Polar Research Institute. On the last day we visited
Ely Cathedral and then had lunch in the beautiful
dining room of the Jockey Club in Newmarket before
going our separate ways. Also in November, Simon
Bailey organised a talk given in the Hall by Henrietta
McBurney on an exhibition in the Hall of Mark
Catesby’s watercolours from the Royal Collection. The
viewing of the paintings was followed by a buffet
supper. The event had been organised earlier in the year
to celebrate the Queen’s 90 th birthday but had had to be
postponed.
As a gift from the Livery Committee to our Society to
commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the granting of
our Charter, and after much discussion of a number of
options, it was decided that we would have the
Courtyard clock refurbished with a new, Apothecary
blue face which has been agreed by English Heritage. A
new PAR (a “pendulum arrestor regulator”) will be
installed to give the clock excellent accuracy over the
next 400 years! Following a suggestion by Dr Robert
Bethel, the Private Court has agreed that the Livery
Committee should be allowed to commission a small
stained glass window to commemorate the
refurbishment of the Courtyard Clock.
At the time of writing this report, Simon Bailey,
Judith Dixon, Mike Gibson, Colin Gillespie, John
Harcup, Susan Horsewood – Lee, Wanda Jay and Brian
Matthews are due to rotate off the Livery Committee. I
would like to thank them for all the hard work they
have put in during their time on the Committee, their
ideas and execution of events and most importantly for
the enjoyment they have brought to members of the
Society. Owing to a dearth of applicants to join the
Livery Committee this year, I expect we may see some
of them back on the Committee by the time Apothecary
comes out!
Mike Spencer
Chairman of the Livery Committee
44

The Friends of the Archives
Paul Simmons
The Friends support the Society’s Archive
financially by raising funds for its conservation and
also by undertaking research and cataloguing projects
while working as volunteers. We work closely with
the Curator, Past Master Nicholas Wood who is now a
full Committee member.
Our long-serving Chairman, Dr John Ford,
demitted at this year’s AGM but he will continue to
volunteer in the Archives. He deserves a special
mention for his dedicated work in cataloguing the
Society’s 400 years of paperwork as well as leading the
Committee from the front and reporting twice yearly
to the full Court on the Friends’ affairs. Dr John
Moore-Gillon has joined the Committee and kindly
took the chair whilst I was out of action for the early
part of the year.
The lecture after the AGM was given by Caroline
Shenton, Parliamentary Archivist and author of The
Day Parliament Burned Down, who took us hour by
hour through the day of 16 October 1834 as the awful
catastrophe enveloped our seat of government of 800
years.
The Friends’ Spring lecture was given by Helen
Wakely, Archive Project Manager, Wellcome Library:
Making space for different voices in the archive; her title
disguising a very interesting presentation to a smaller
audience than normal.
Our Summer Party in June in glorious sunshine
was probably the most well–attended ever and
squeezed into the Courtyard before the major works
started in earnest.
Mrs Janet Payne continues to reply to archival
queries. Progress has been made in sorting and
naming the vast collection of photographs in the
archives. We supported the research by those involved
in the bicentenary symposium of the Apothecaries Act
1815, and are girding up for the archival support for
the 400 th anniversary celebrations in 2017.
Following the Curator’s launch of an ‘Adopt a
Book’ scheme, the Friends supported the conservation
of the 1809 Pharmacopoeia Londinensis volume,
interspersed with the 200 year-old working notes from
our laboratories and which is now back in the
Archives.
We asked Bridget Mitchell of Arca Preservation to
proceed with conservation of the 1722 Charter (with
Shellac/wax seals) which has been damaged by
rodents; but will only ‘make safe’ a 1676 copy of the
ordinances which is heavily infected with mould until
such time as repair techniques improve.
The Friends were prominent at Open House Day in
September when nearly 1400 members of the public
visited the Hall and they too were able to appreciate
the nature of the treasures possessed by the Society
and supported by the Friends.
Some Friends went on a private tour of the new
Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in East
Smithfield kindly arranged by Briony Hudson in
association with the British Society for the History of
Pharmacy.
If you haven’t yet joined, there is always a welcome
for you. Just £10 per year for our subscription.
Contact friends@apothecaries.org
or write to us at the Hall.
45

Apothecaries on Vacation
by Gillian Nicholson
This was our first excursion abroad with the
Apothecaries and what a treat it was. We met our
fellow travellers and Tony the tour agent at the lovely
home of Chris and Naomi Khoo one Sunday in
August. This was not just an introduction to each
other but also to southern Italian food and wine. The
occasion set the tone for a series of delicious meals
when we arrived in Puglia, the high point of which
was dining in a beautiful restaurant under the harbour
walls in Trani. Organised, like the trip itself, by Chris
Khoo, the weather was perfect, 24 to 25 degrees
centigrade most days. With a geographical position
that meant successive settling or invasion by all
peoples active in the Mediterranean throughout
history, we visited the site of the battle at Cannae
where Hannibal defeated the Roman army
with a classic pincer movement strategy. We
also admired evidence of successive
civilisations stretching from pre-Roman and
Roman, through to Byzantine, Sicilian
Norman, Angevin and Aragonese – all layered
on top of one another. This was especially
obvious in Lecce, a Baroque masterpiece,
where we admired both extravagant church
facades and interiors as well as the private
excavations of a family who had noticed the
damp in their home and dug down to a Roman
cistern with evidence of earlier habitation!
Successive Apulian/Puglian builders have
been able to use the plentiful local limestone
for their buildings many of which, for
example, the Castel del Monte, had just had or
were under recent repairs. The Castel was built
in 1240 by Frederick II in a perfect octagonal
shape with trapezoid internal rooms. Now a
UNESCO World heritage site and very
impressive in location and construction,
46
nobody was very sure why he built it and what it was
for! We had ample opportunity to see the Adriatic
coastline, generally rocky and a stunning colour with
flat terrain nearer the coast rising to the tail end of the
Appenines centrally where we stayed in Martina
Franca. A pool at our hotel there attracted only two
ladies for early morning swims before we set off for
our days sightseeing. Puglia produces much of Italy’s
olive oil, different in taste across the country as we
were interested to discover. The fish, fruit and
vegetables were all delicious as were the ice creams! A
high point for many of us in our sightseeing was the
visit to Alberobello to see the trulli. These are dry
stone constructed dwellings made of limestone with
no mortar. They have conical roofs and inside have a
Lovely roofs of the true dwellings in Alberobello

oof space upper floor accessed by ladder.
Now mainly for tourist rental, these houses
were once local homes for all. Whitewashed,
they were extraordinarily picturesque in this
little town and surrounding countryside. A
further highlight was a visit to the ancient city
of Siponto where the basilica (according to
legend the gospel had been preached here by
Saints Peter and Mark) had been ‘realised’ by
a wire construction which was superb as it
allowed visualisation of remains and helped
us to imagine it as it once was. Conducted
throughout Puglia by Rosanna who made
sure we ‘paid attention’ and primed each day
by Chris’ newsletters (produced overnight
with pictures from the day before) this was a
memorable trip and apparently we are at the
forefront of trendy places to holiday!
A wire construction, helps us imagine the long gone basilica at Siponto
A church on our travels
47

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