W HARRISON MARTINDALE, A PHARMACY STUDENT IN 19C MARBURG

The Martindale family

William Harrison Martindale was the son of William Martindale, the famous British pharmacist who
first published his Extra Pharmacopoeia with Dr WW Westcott in 1883. The book is now known in
its 37th edition as Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference and is published by the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society.

William Martindale (1840-1902) Martindale 37th edn 2011

William Martindale was born in 1840 near Carlisle in northern England to a farming family. When he
left school at 14 he became a railway clerk, but at 16 became an apprentice with his pharmacist great-
uncle William Robinson Martindale in Carlisle market place. When William Robinson died he had to
complete his apprenticeship with a nearby rival pharmacist. At 21 he moved to London and while
working in London pharmacies took the Pharmaceutical Society’s exams. He became the first
pharmaceutically qualified dispenser at University College Hospital, where he met many famous
medical men. (1)

William married a Yorkshire farmer’s daughter in 1872 and bought the London pharmacy of Hopkins
and Williams in New Cavendish Street in 1873. He had four children who survived infancy: Mary
(1873); William Harrison, known as ‘Harri’ (1874); Elsie (1877); and Leonard (1884). The pharmacy
and book flourished and like any father William surely looked to his sons following him into the
family business. He sent ‘Harri’ to the nearby University College School, while Mary and Elsie went
to a boarding school in Folkestone and Leonard to Uppingham School.(1)

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 The Martindale pharmacy, 10 New Cavendish Street, London W1

Descendants of William Martindale

William Mariah Hannah

Martindale Harrison
1840 - 1902 1841 - 1907
b: High House, b: Rokeby, N
Hesket in the Yorkshire
Forest, Cumberland m: 14 Aug 1872
in St Luke, Oseney
Crescent, Kentish
Town, London NW

Mary Martindale William Isabel Mary De Elsie Martindale Ford Hermann Olive Martindale Ruth Meralda Leonard Clarissa Rogers
1873 - 1953 Harrison Morgan 1876 - 1949 Hueffer/ Ford 1880 - 1880 Martindale Martindale 1886 - 1957
b: 10 New Cavendish Martindale 1878 - 1934 b: St Marylebone Madox Ford b: St Marylebone, 1881 - 1882 1884 - 1932 b: Holloway, 4th qr,
Street, Marylebone 1874 - 1933 b: Cardiff, Glamorgan 1873 - 1939 Middlesex, England b: New Cavendish St, b: Marylebone, Islington vol 1b p 302
3rd qr Marylebone vol b: 10 New m: 07 Aug 1901 b: Merton, Croydon London London m: 29 Jun 1908
1a p 466 Cavendish Street, in Parish church, m: 17 May 1894 in St Jude, Grays Inn
London W1 [now Kennington in Gloucester Rd, St Pancras
75]

William Male Christina Katherine Mary Charles Lamb Clarissa Albert H Fuller
Harrison Martindale Margaret Hueffer Hueffer 1893 - 1964 Martindale m: Apr 1935
Montague 1915 - 1915 1897 - 1984 1900 - 1984 1909 - 1969 in Islington
Martindale b: Icklesham b: Elham, Kent b: Elham, Kent b: Islington, London
1908 - 1976
b: Kilburn, London

John Lamb Peter Lamb Mary Lamb Eileen Lamb Christina Lamb
1928 - 1929 - 1931 - 1933 - 1933 - 1942

Part of the Martindale family tree

William Martindale became well known in the London medical scene and collaborated with many
famous researchers like Lord Lister. He was often referred to as Dr Martindale as a courtesy title,
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though he had no medical qualifications. At this time Germany and Britain were close and there were
many German immigrants living in London. At some stage William conceived the idea of sending his
son Harri to Germany to study for a PhD and become a real ‘Dr’. It would be interesting to know what
influenced this decision. Several influences could be considered: chemistry teachers at the London
School of Pharmacy; meeting European pharmacists at the British Pharmaceutical Conference; or
doing business with German manufacturers. His daughter Elsie was also involved with the Anglo-
German Ford Hermann Hueffer (later known as Ford Madox Ford) and eloped and married him in
1894.(2)

The Martindale Private Ledger

Besides keeping records for his business such as cash books and prescription books, Martindale kept
‘Private Ledgers’ that covered his family expenses, the Extra Pharmacopoeia and Cocaine books,
investments, loans, travel and holidays, wages of shop staff and servants and much more. Fortunately
his private ledger for the period 1889 to about 1900 survived in the Museum of the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society until it was transferred to the Wellcome Library’s Archives and Manuscripts
in 2001.(3)

William
Martindale’s
Private
Ledger 1889-
1900

Private ledger

Income and expenditure is recorded in ink in sterling pounds, shillings and pence (£sd), the currency
used in the UK until 1969. There were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. The guinea
(21s) and half-guinea (10s6d) were often used by professionals such as for doctors’ fees. The dates of
payments shown in the accounts may not be the exact date of the relevant events, and there are
occasional sums in pencil.

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 Sterling conversions

Pounds, shillings and pence were used in UK

until decimalisation in 1969.
12 d (pence) = 1s (shilling)
20 s (shillings) = £1 (pound
One guinea (21s) and half-guinea (10s6d or
10/6) were often used by professionals such
as for doctors’ fees.
So in 1969, £2.12s.6d became £2.65

Folios
69-70

House
expenses

Examination of the nearly 300 handwritten pages and loose papers in the ledger allows us to study the
cost of the education of Harri Martindale from his schooldays, where he started extra German
lessons,(4) through his apprenticeship to CB Allen, a prominent pharmacist, and his period of study in
Marburg University under Professor Schmidt (1895-98), to his qualification as a Pharmaceutical
Chemist and starting to take over the Martindale business from his father. William Martindale was in
poor health and in February 1902 he committed suicide by taking hydrocyanic acid. Harri was already
running the business and working on the Extra Pharmacopoeia by then and he continued until he died
in 1933 with no suitable family successor, as his only son was unqualified and his trained but

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unqualified brother Leonard had died in 1932. So the business was sold to Savory and Moore and the
copyright of the Extra Pharmacopoeia to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

Studying in Germany

Folio 113, 1889

School Expenses
Mary (left) Harrison
(right)

We do not know when the idea that Harri should study pharmacy in Germany arose and whether it
was a long-term plan. There are no diaries from the period and we can only speculate on when
William Martindale took steps to prepare to send Harri to Germany. The Private Ledger starts in
1889, when Harri was 15, but there are sums carried forward from an Old Ledger (OL) that has not
survived.

The record starts with Harri at University College School in January 1889, aged 14.5 years. Among
additional school fees for Drawing, Chemistry, and Music is a payment of 10s/- for German. Then in
April 1889 a regular payment for ‘German Dr Stern’ of £2/12s/6d starts and continues three times a
year until July 1891. Hermann Stern, teacher of languages, appears in the 1891 Census for London.
Harri then appears to leave school at 17 and start taking courses in Botany and Materia Medica with
lecturers and professors at the School of Pharmacy, while becoming apprenticed to Mr Charles B
Allen of Kilburn. Harri registered as a Student with the Pharmaceutical Society for 10s/6d a year for
seven years to 1898, meaning that his apprenticeship was officially recognised. In December 1892 a
payment of £1/14s/0d for ‘Fluckiger (German)’ probably refers to the Principles of Pharmacognosy
textbook. In 1893, aged 19, Harri received £6/0/0 for a ‘Holiday in Germany’, possibly on his
bicycle.(5) There is a single payment of 6s/8d to Frau ‘Nolda (German)’ in May 1894, as well as fees
to Kings College London of £3/16s/0d in October. Although Harri is shown in a list of Alumni he is
not known to have taken any degree there.

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Marburg University

In July 1895, when he became 21, he was receiving an allowance of £1 per week, and showed signs of
preparing to study in Germany. His father bought a German Dictionary in July, gave him a new
bicycle for his birthday, and bought new clothes. The Baedeker Germany Guide cost 6s on 8
October,(6) and a passport 5s/1d, just before Harri and his father travelled to Marburg. The ledger
shows that they travelled to Marburg with tickets from Thomas Cook (£6/13/3), hotel coupons
(£2/12/6) and ‘Expenses in Germany for Harri and self for 7 days’ (£9/9/3) between 10-19th
October.(7)

Travel expenses
to Marburg
October 1895

Marburg expenses 1895

University fees £8
Expenses £9
Monthly expenses £8
Monthly Extras £2-£4
Jaeger combinations £2.15s.6d

Total spent for or in Marburg c. £40

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In Marburg the fees of £8 and expenses of £9 were followed by expenses of £8 each month and
‘extras’ of £2 to £4. Harri evidently felt cold in Marburg as he paid £2/15s/6d on November 26 for
Jaeger combinations.(6) In 1895 his father spent £117/3s/4d in total on Harri, of which preparations
for or living in Marburg accounts for about £40.

Marburg
expenses
1896-97;
Pharm J
articles

1896

From Pharmaceutical Journal 1896 (Reference 9)

In January 1896 Harri returned to Marburg (fares £4) and the series of payments of expenses and
extras was replaced by a monthly allowance from March. He returned to Marburg in April but fares
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and fees were now recorded as included within his allowance, which therefore varied monthly. Some
payments were made in addition for clothing and dental fees. On 18 July 1896 (6) and in November
1897 (8) Harri received fees of £1/14/0 and £2/2/0 for two articles he wrote about Marburg for the
Pharmaceutical Journal (9) and these were set in red against the account. Fares paid on 12 August
and 18 October 1896 probably indicate a stay in London, but he does not appear to have returned
home over Christmas. A payment of 16/- for Aristolochia in September is surprising, as the subject of
his research was the alkaloids of Corydalis. In total the father spent £168/12/6 on Harri in 1896.
1897
In 1897, Harri seems to have been in London in February and March, as evidenced by amounts for
cycling clothing and golf clubs in February, and return fares to Marburg at the end of March. There
are indications throughout the accounts that he may have taken his cycle to Marburg. Harri’s sister
Mary visited Marburg in June and his expenses relating to the visit were £2/19/11. In August there is
an entry for Arzneimittel 7/-, which could be for the journal. By the Autumn there were large
expenses of £40 and £30 as well as an exam fee (£5/5/0) in December. The fact that his allowance
was paid weekly from the end of December indicates that Harri had returned home to await his PhD
results. The total cost for 1897, including clothes and some extra chemistry tuition (£2/10/0), was
£253/3/10.(8)
1898
From January 1898 it appears that Harri was in London, receiving tuition from Mr Wilson, the family
lawyer, and paying exam fees of 1/6. It is known that he took and passed the Minor exam of the
Pharmaceutical Society to register as a Chemist and Druggist and later in the year the Major exam to
become a Pharmaceutical Chemist. One last entry on 28 February 1898 for ‘Hanill Marburg’ totals 6
pencilled items to £15/4/6.(8) The Marburg certificate is dated 23 February 1898 and these may be the
costs of printing his thesis. He later published the results of his Corydalis studies in the
Pharmaceutical Journal.(10)

William Harrison Martindale

Certificate of PhD and
Master of Liberal Arts for
study on Beitraege zur
Kenntnis der Corydalins from
Philipps University Marburg

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Marburg Records

In 1992, Dr Rosemarie Dilg-Frank found details of Harri’s time at Marburg University (11), showing
his inscription for the winter term 1895-96 for studying mainly pharmaceutical chemistry with Prof.
Ernst Schmidt. His paper on Corydalis research was given in November 1897 and his oral Examen
Rigorosum the next day.(12) His thesis was printed in 1898 and his MA and PhD awarded in the
Philosophical Faculty on 23 February.

The cost of studies

For his time in Marburg from October 1895 to December 1897 his father spent a total of £477/0/10.
But what does this mean in today’s terms? Price inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of
goods and services in an economy over time. The inflation rate is normally calculated from an
annualised percentage change in a general or consumer price index. In the long term, inflation is said
to be caused by increases in the money supply. The Bank of England’s Inflation Calculator for the UK
indicates inflation of 110 times between 1897 and 2012, an average of 4.1% a year.(13)

Costs 1895-1898
1895 Going to Marburg £40. 0s. 0d
1896 Marburg studies £168.12s.6d
1897 Marburg studies £253. 3s.10d
1898 Marburg PhD £15. 4s. 6d
Total £477. 0s.10d
UK Inflation 1895 to 2012 = x 110
Current value about £52,470

Applying this multiplier to William Martindale’s payments for Harri shows a current value of about
£52,500. But he was well able to afford it as the calculations in the Private Ledger show that his
estimated capital value from the pharmacy business, property, investments and the Extra
Pharmacopoeia had increased from about £18,600 in 1889 to £24,850 if goodwill in the business,
copyright and work on the Extra Pharmacopoeia and life assurance are included. In his will in 1902
he left £15,665 (perhaps about £1.7 million).

William Harrison Martindale went on to expand the manufacturing and analytical businesses
and produce ten more editions of the Extra Pharmacopoeia. He introduced an analytical
supplement which became Volume II of the Extra Pharmacopoeia. His increasing deafness
meant that he took less part in public affairs than his father, though he became mayor of
Winchelsea, East Sussex in 1923. He died in 1933, leaving £24,533 in his will, the equivalent
of nearly £1.5 million at 2012 prices.(13)

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 William Harrison
Martindale
c. 1914

Courtesy East Sussex Record

Office, ACC 8489-3C

William Harrison c.1914. Courtesy East Sussex Record Office (14)

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Dr Christiane Staiger for suggesting the subject, to the Wellcome
Library Archives and Manuscripts who now hold the private ledger, to the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society Museum and and the Martindale Editorial Office for their help, to East Sussex Record Office,
Lewes (now at Moulsecombe), and to Dr R Dilg-Frank for information from Marburg University
archives.

References and Endnotes

1 Wade, A. The Martindales: The men and the books.Pharmaceutical Historian 1999; 29: 24-
32; Wade, A. The Martindales and their books. Pharmaceutical Journal 1992; 248: 787-788.

2 Wade, A. William Martindale (1840-1902) and Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939). 40th ICHP,
Berlin, September 2011. Accessed at www.histpharm.org/40ishpBerlin/L85F.pdf

3 Martindale, William. Private ledger. Wellcome Library Archives and Manuscripts,

GC/26/B/1.

4 Reference 3: WHM Expenses, f113v.

5 Reference 3: WHM Expenses, f116r.

6 Reference 3: WHM Expenses, f243v, col 1.

7 Reference 3: WM Travelling Expenses, f233v, col 2.

8 Reference 3: WHM Expenses, f244r, col 1

9 Martindale, William Harrison. The Pharmaceutical Chemical Institute at Marburg.

Pharmaceutical Journal 1896 (June 20); 56: 485-487; idem. The Behring Institute at Marburg.
Pharmaceutical Journal 1897 (Oct 23); 59: 357-359.

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10 Martindale, WH. Researches in Corydaline. Pharmaceutical Journal 1898; 60 (June 18):
571-3.

11. Dilg-Frank, R. Personal communication, 23 April 1992; ‘Inscriptionslisten, Anfang Winter-

Sem 1895/96, Schluss Winter-Sem 1897-98, Sig. Hess. Staatsarchiv Marburg. Bestand 305 a. Acc.
1950/9 Nr. 739’. Martindale see Nr..88. Day of inscription “24/10 1895”.

12. Dilg-Frank, R. Personal communication, 23 April 1992; ‘Akten Königlicher Universität

Marburg. Betreffend: Promotions-Akten O.P. Winter-Semester 1897/98. Dekanat Prof. Ludwig v.
Sybel. Sig. 307 Univ. Marburg der Phil. Fakultät Nr. 151.’

13. Bank of England Inflation Calculator at

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/inflation/calculator/index1.aspx accessed 29
August 2013.

14. Martindale family records. East Sussex Record Office, The Keep, Woollards Field, Falmer,
East Sussex. ACC 8489-3C.

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