Fennings Pharmaceuticals

Fennings Pharmaceuticals was founded in 1840 when Alfred Fennings (d 1900) opened the Golden Key Pharmacy in Hammersmith Broadway, London. Fennings sold medicines for the treatment of typhoid and cholera as well as for more minor ailments such as coughs and colds. However he was not a member of The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries and there is no trace of him in the Medical Register. In 1850 the business moved to Cowes, Isle of Wight and went into manufacturing. While the general management of the business, including advertising, correspondence, book-keeping, manufacturing and publishing was carried out at the Cowes office, manufacturing, packing and supply of various medicines was also carried out, under agreement, by Sanger and Sons (Seymour Works, 47 Lime Grove, Shepherds Bush London) and G.F. Sutton, Sons and Co. (Osbourne Works, Brandon Road, Kings Cross, London). These two firms collected all acounts due for goods supplied by them. After the death of Alfred Fennings in 1900 Fennings Pharmaceuticals became a Trust, with all profits going to Shaftesbury Homes, a children's charity. In 1948 the main office moved from Cowes to Horsham, West Sussex. From 1964 some medicines were being manufactured and distributed by J. Waterhouse and Co Ltd, (Church Street, Old Square, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire). There was also a manufacturing plant in Mabelthorpe, Lincolnshire. The company ceased trading in 1996. Fennings Pharmaceticals sold products across the Commonwealth, mainly in the area of child proprietary medicines.