Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Society of Apothecaries was incorporated by royal charter in 1617; previously apothecaries had belonged to the Grocers' Company in the City of London. The Society's members included apothecaries, chemists and druggists, as well as those unconnected with the trade. Following the Apothecaries' Act of 1815 many medical practitioners, particularly those from outside London, were licenced by the Society after a course of training.
The Society established the Chelsea Physic Garden (see Mss 8228-9, 8234-7, 8268, 8270, 8287). The Society's records also contain those of the Friendly Medical Society, established c 1725 "to establish and preserve a good understanding and friendship" amongst the members of the Society of Apothecaries, (see Mss 8278-80A). The Society's hall in Blackfriars Lane was destroyed in the Great Fire, but re-built shortly thereafter.