Les conférences de la BSHP

People, Places and Things: A Compendium of Talks on Pharmacy History

BSHP Conference 2021

Friday 26 - Sunday 28 March

All welcome – free to attend



In light of the pandemic restrictions, this year's annual conference is taking place virtually. Although we are sorry not to be meeting in person, we will be running an online programme of films, talks and discussions in place of our usual gathering. Our theme is People, places and things - a compendium of talks on pharmacy history. 

Friday 26 March, 16:00-18:00 - Day 1: People and Places

Emily Betz - Francis Bernard (1628-1698): A Seventeenth-Century Apothecary and Physician (Burnby Memorial Bursary 2021 talk)
Norma Cox - Drug Stores, 1870-1920
Soh Xi Ken - A holistic view of the evolution of pharmacy education: a case study of the University of Sunderland's School of Pharmacy (Pharmacy History Research Grant 2020 talk)

Register for Day 1 here.

Saturday 27 March, 16:00-18:00 - Day 2: Reflecting on Pharmacy History Through Material Culture

Jemma Houghton - "An unnatural obsession with bottles": the use of Citizen Science and interdisciplinary approaches in researching materia medica collections
Chris Duffin - Early Modern PPE
John Crellin - My Life, written by Luer, an hypodermic syringe

Register for Day 2 here.

Sunday 28 March, 16:00-18:00 - Day 3: Exploring Pharmacy's Global History

Kim Walker & Mark Nesbitt - Just the tonic: quinine cures and cocktails
Nick Wood - All aboard the Prosperous Solomon! The transatlantic trade of Thomas Mayleigh, Quaker apothecary
Sebestian Kroupa - Medical knowledge in transit between Manila and London: Philippine materia medica lost and found in translation (Burnby Memorial Bursary 2020 talk)

Register for Day 3 here.


This year our conference will be accompanied by a series of virtual museum tours. A new Behind the Scenes at the Museum video will be released at 10am on each day of the conference on our YouTube channel:

Friday 26 March: 180 Years of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Join Catherine Walker, RPS Museum Officer, as she explores the history of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Find out where the Society came from, who founded it and how it became the RPS of today.

Saturday 27 March: Pharmacy History at the Science Museum
The Science Museum holds its own collection relating to pharmacy but also has on loan Sir Henry Wellcome's museum collection including some famous medicine chests. Science Museum members of staff will share some of their favourite objects from their 40,000 objects relating to pharmacy history. From materia medica samples from across the globe, tools, signs and shop rounds, many of these objects have never been on public display.

Sunday 28 March: The Apothecary Shop
The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds holds one of the largest collections of English 17th and 18th Century apothecary jars in the world. This collection is beautiful and historically significant but not always accessible to all museum visitors. Our new interpretation focuses on engaging a broad range of audiences with the fascinating stories these jars hold, icluding global trade, slavery, unusual ingredients, professionals and patients. Join us for a short tour of the collection with Project Curator Laura Sellers as we explore some of these stories and how we are trying to bring this collection to our museum audiences.