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32<br />
and in 1924 the firm was sold to entrepreneur<br />
Philip Hill.<br />
Offices at the Beecham Pill Factory - courtesy of <strong>St</strong> <strong>Helens</strong> Archive Service<br />
The Beechams products continued to expand<br />
both at home and overseas and the factory<br />
was further extended in 1934 and again in<br />
1947 and 1956. Under Philip’s leadership the<br />
business began to buy up other companies<br />
acquiring products and brands such as<br />
Lucozade, Macleans and Brylcreem. Philip<br />
took the company forward by improving their<br />
research and development, after building<br />
a laboratory in Surrey the company was<br />
renamed Beecham Group Ltd.<br />
That pioneering spirit was never far away<br />
where Beechams was concerned and they<br />
hit the headlines again in 1959 when their<br />
scientists discovered a new penicillin nucleus,<br />
This discovery allowed them to focus on<br />
pharmaceutical development and eventually go on to sell<br />
antibiotics worldwide.<br />
In 1989 the Beecham Group and SmithKline Beckman<br />
merged to form SmithKline Beecham and in 2000<br />
they merged again to form what we now know as<br />
GlaxoSmithKline. So embedded is the Beecham brand,<br />
that GSK still uses its name for their over-the-counter cold<br />
and flu products.<br />
Beechams was a major employer for the people of <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Helens</strong>, for well over a century and the <strong>St</strong> <strong>Helens</strong> site<br />
continued to produce pharmaceutical products until the<br />
factory finally closed its doors in 1994.<br />
Laboratory at Beechams Pills Limited - courtesy of GlaxoSmithKline plc<br />
With thanks to <strong>St</strong> <strong>Helens</strong> Archive Service. The Archive Service collects, preserves and provides access to unique historic<br />
materials that relate to different aspects of life across the borough of <strong>St</strong> <strong>Helens</strong>. Find out more information here -<br />
www.sthelens.gov.uk/libraries/archive-service/