Prizemen: Botany, and Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 2130 E/8/1/2
Held at	: Society of Apothecaries   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.apothecaries.org/charity/history/enquiries-access ›
Full title	: Prizemen: Botany, and Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Date(s)	: 1830-1894
Level of description	: Sub-series
Extent	: 3 volumes and 1 folder
Name of creator(s)	: The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Prizes were first awarded to male medical students for botany in 1830. The top prize was a Gold Medal, which was given annually with the exception of the years 1862, and 1888-1891 inclusive. It was last awarded in 1893. The runner-up was awarded a Silver Medal between 1830-1861, excepting 1831 and the years 1854-1856, but two were given in 1861. No awards were made in 1862, but between 1863-1887 books were presented with the Silver Medal, followed by a gap of four years until 1892 when the last joint prize was awarded. Books alone were awarded from 1838 but more sporadically, and none given between 1861-1876. In 1877 Charles Pardey Lukis of St Bartholomew's Hospital was awarded books and, uniquely, a Bronze Medal. Two years then elapsed before the final book prize was awarded in 1880.

Separate prizes were instituted in 1841 in Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and competition was open to male medical students. The earlier 1840 title of this examination and prize had been Materia Medica and Therapeutics, but it was altered before any candidates had sat for it. This was probably to highlight the Society's continuing investment in the knowledge and skills of pharmacy in its medical curriculum and examinations, in view of the formation in 1841 of the Pharmaceutical Society. In fact, William Thomas Brande, the Society's Professor of Chemistry and Superintending Chemical Operator, had urged the establishment of such an examination and prizes in a letter to Robert Brotherson Upton, the Society's Clerk, in 1838. These prizes also comprised gold and silver medals and books. The Gold Medal was awarded 1841-1853, excepting 1845, then from 1862-1889, excepting 1873-1874 and 1888, and lastly in 1892 and 1894. The Silver Medal was awarded 1841-1853, excepting 1845, then two were given in 1891 and the final medal in 1892. Silver medals and books were awarded 1863-1890, excepting 1873 and 1888, and finally in 1893 and 1894. Books only were awarded in 1879, 1880 and 1890.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Society of Apothecaries of London: Prizemen in Botany and in Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Chemistry collection, 1830-1894, comprises records relating to the two prizes offered to male medical students by the Society of Apothecaries and include various registers detailing entrants and prizewinners, press notices, the Clerk Robert Brotherson Upton's letter to the Royal College of Physicians regarding Willam Wyon's design for the Galen Medal and his letter to Joseph Hooker at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew requesting his assistance in editing a press notice and Hooker's reply, 1862, prizewinners' bookplates (blank) and copies of examination papers, 1893 and 1894.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:

English

System of arrangement:

The loose material was originally in bundles and is to be re-arranged by the Archivist.

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

At the discretion of the Archivist.

Finding aids:

Temporary list available in the Archives.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Internal acquisition.

Allied Materials

Related material:

William Thomas Brande, the Society's Professor of Chemistry and Superintending Chemical Operator, letter (E/8/10/1/6) to Robert Brotherson Upton, the Society's Clerk, 1838, in which he urged the establishment of an examination and prizes in Materia Medica and Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Source: temporary list compiled by the Archivist.
Compiled by Dee Cook, Archivist.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
May 2008