Brandreth's Pills
date: label: Date made
content: c.1868
name: label: Associated Name
content: Brandreth Pill Works
label: maker
content: Allcock Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: An inscription on the package reads in part “BRANDRETH PILLS / PROPRIETARY B. BRANDRETH” AND “ALLCOCK’S POROUS PLASTER” AND “BRANDRETH’S V.U. PILLS.”
label: Description
content: Benjamin Brandreth (1809-1880) was an Englishman who moved to the United States in 1835, hoping to find a market for the “Vegetable Universal Pill” invented by his grandfather, William Brandreth. According to his obituary, he was “the first of the family to conceive the idea of enlarging the business by the free use of printer’s ink.”
label: Description
content: Thomas Allcock (1815-1891) was an Englishman who moved to the United States in 1845, opened a drugstore in New York City and, in the mid-1850s, acquired the rights to a recently invented porous plaster for the relief of pain. After serving with the Union Army during the Civil War, Alcock returned to New York, and joined with Benjamin Brandreth in the manufacture and sale of patent medicines.
label: Description
content: Ref: “BENJAMIN BRANDRETH,” New York Times (Feb. 20, 1880), p. 2.
label: Description
content: “GEN. THOMAS ALLCOCK DEAD,” New York Times (Dec. 28, 1891), p. 2.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Ossining
topic: label: Subject
content: Laxatives
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Balm of America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of William H. Helfand
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0678.29
label: accession number
content: 1980.0678
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0678.29
objectType: label: Object Name
content: otc preparation
label: Other Terms
content: Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.5 cm x 5.2 cm x 1.5 cm; in x 2 1/16 in x 9/16 in
label: Measurements
content: box: 2 1/2 in x 1 1/8 in x 7/8 in; 6.35 cm x 2.8575 cm x 2.2225 cm
label: Measurements
content: tin: 1 in x 2 in x 5/8 in; 2.54 cm x 5.08 cm x 1.5875 cm