Catalogue description Records of John Hooper of Reading, pill manufacturer

This record is held by Royal Berkshire Archives

Details of D/EX 1830
Reference: D/EX 1830
Title: Records of John Hooper of Reading, pill manufacturer
Date: 1787-1849
Held by: Royal Berkshire Archives, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Physical description: (4 vols, 1 bdl).
Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented in April 2003 (acc. 7198).

Administrative / biographical background:

[John Hooper (1764-fl.1849) was the grandson of Dr John Hooper of Reading (d.1773), inventor and patentee of Hooper's Female Pills (for "the irregularities" and palpitations of the heart) in 1743, and for a Child Bed Cordial and powder and Strengthening Balsam and powder, 1752. They were among the most popular of patent medicines in the 18th and 19th centuries. The recipe and patent remained in the hands of Dr Hooper's sons, one of whom, John Hooper junior (d.c.1803) remained in business in Reading, with a shop selling the pills (which were manufactured on site) and a midwifery service. His son John, whose papers are deposited in this collection, became a partner in 1787.

 

The business may have been sold in c.1849. The pills continued to be manufactured into the early 20th century.]

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