Allen & Hanburys, Ltd.
Pharmaceutical company Allen & Hanburys Ltd
Allen & Hanburys Ltd., a distinguished pharmaceutical, baby food and medical devices company, was founded in 1715 by Silvanus Bevan, a Welsh apothecary and Quaker, at Plough Court, Lombard Street, London. Bevan's commitment to integrity and quality quickly established the firm's reputation. In 1792, William Allen, FRS, a prominent scientist and philanthropist joined the company, becoming a partner with Samuel Mildred in 1795 and afterwards trading as Mildred & Allen. In 1797, Allen brought in Luke Howard as a partner. A later partner was Daniel Bell Hanbury, father of the botanist Daniel Hanbury. This partnership with the members of Hanbury family led to the firm's rebranding as Allen & Hanburys in 1856.
Throughout the 19th century, the company expanded its operations. In 1892, it opened a factory in Ware and Hertfordshire, specializing in infant foods, malt preparations, and medicated pastilles. Products like Allenburys No. 1 and No. 2 milk foods catered to infants up to six months, while No. 3 targeted older infants. The Ware facility also produced malt extract combined with cod liver oil, marketed under names like Bynol and Torch. Allenburys claimed to be pioneers in Great Britain in the production of pastilles, and thus the Ware factory also produced Allenburys Glycerine and Black Currant Pastilles, amongst another 80 different kinds of medicated and crystallised pastilles.
Simultaneously, the Bethnal Green factory in East London focused on research, analytical control, and the production of galenical preparations, pills, tablets. Moreover, the Bethnal Green plant also produced surgical instruments, mainly in stainless steel, and included "Barts" operating tables. Another product was the Cromwell House Super Sensitive Baby Scale (weighing scales made from cast iron) designed for accurately weighing babies during test feeding or research.
Allen & Hanburys maintained a presence at 48 Wigmore Street, London W1, serving as a showroom and retail outlet for their surgical instruments and appliances. The company's international reach included branches in Canada, India, Australia, and Argentina, and agencies in numerous other countries. The company also established cod liver oil production facilities in the Lofoten Islands (Norway), Hull, and Aberdeen, sourcing cod directly from the North Sea.
In 1958, Allen & Hanburys was acquired by Glaxo Laboratories Ltd., which later became part of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The Allen & Hanburys name continued as GSK's specialist respiratory division until it was phased out in 2013.
Allen & Hanburys' legacy endures through its contributions to pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical research, and product innovation over more than two centuries.
References
Tweedale, Geoffrey. At the Sign of the Plough: Allen and Hanburys and the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 1715-1990. J. Murray, 1990. ISBN 10: 0719547865 / ISBN 13: 9780719547867
Addresses and Important Dates
There are known the following addresses of the company:
1715. The company was founded at 1715.
1795. The company was trading as Mildred & Allen
1856. The company's new name Allen & Hanburys
Address Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, E.2., England considered to be the main address of the company and was mentioned in the early catalogues till (1900-1910).
Address at 48 Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, W. 1, London was mentioned in the catalogues from 1911 till 1953.
One of the non-dated catalogues provided address at 37 Lombard Street, E. C. 3, London (Organotherapeutic Products; 36 pp)
1955. The last known to us Veterinary Surgical Instruments and Equipment was printed in 1955. The last known to us published General surgical catalogue was dated 1953. It was reprinted in 1957 and there were regularly printed supplemented price-lists to it (1963, 1965).
1958. Allen & Hanburys was acquired by Glaxo Laboratories Ltd. (later a part of GlaxoSmithKline, GSK)
2013. The Allen & Hanburys name continued as GSK's specialist respiratory division until it was phased out in 2013.
Remarks
Interestingly, it was also here, in Plough Court of Lombard Street where in 1688, Alexander Pope was born – and he was to go on to become one of the greatest of English poets, and certainly the leading poet of his lifetime. You might remember a quote Pope’s poem An Essay on Criticism, written in 1709:
"Good nature and good sense must ever join;
To err is human; to forgive, divine."
Even though the phrase comes from has Latin origin attributed to Seneca (though exact phrasing varies):
Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum.
(To err is human; to persist [in error] is diabolical.)
The famous book on preventable medical errors published by US Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 was titled "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System". It was estimated that up to 98,000 people die each year in hospitals due to preventable medical errors. The report was a seminal moment in the modern patient safety movement.
