Wellcome , Sir , Henry Solomon , 1853-1936 , Knight , manufacturing chemist, patron of science and archaeologist

Born Wisconsin, USA, 1853; educated College of Pharmacy, Chicago, 1872; graduated Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1873; pharmaceutical representative for Caswell, Hazard and Co, New York; pharmaceutical representative for McKesson and Robins, New York, 1876; expedition to Ecuador and Peru to study the cinchona forests, 1878; partnership offer from Silas Burroughs, London, 1879; Burroughs Wellcome and Co head quarters open in London, 1881; Burroughs launched unsuccessful legal action to dissolve the partnership, 1888; Burroughs died and Wellcome gained sole control of the company, 1895; awarded an honorary degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LLD) by Edinburgh University,1928; naturalised as a British subject, 1910; received knighthood, 1932; awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons; awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society; died in London, 1936; memorial plaque erected in St Paul's Cathedral by Wellcome Trustees and ashes interred in St Paul's churchyard, 1987.