Howards and Sons was a pharmaceutical business established in 1797 by Quaker chemists William Allen and Luke Howard under the name 'Allen & Howard'. The business consisted of a dispensing pharmacy in Plough Court managed by Allen and a laboratory in Plaistow, Essex managed by Howard. Allen and Howard amicably dissolved their business in 1805 with each keeping their respective sections.[1][2][3]
As Howard's chemical manufacturing business grew, new premises were needed and he shifted the laboratory to City Mills, Stratford where it flourished over the 19th century becoming Howards and Sons in 1858.[1] It was under this title that it became a well-known supplier of quinine and aspirin.
Notable partners include John Eliot Howard, son of Luke Howard, who became a specialist in cinchona bark identification and quinine-related research, and Joseph Jewell (1763–1846).[4][3]
Manufacture of chemicals ceased in 1975.[1]
The business-related archives are located at the London Metropolitan Archives, Redbridge Heritage Centre and John Eliot Howard's cinchona archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- ^ a b c Richmond, Lesley, ed. (2003). The pharmaceutical industry: a guide to historical records. Studies in British business archives. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-3352-5.
- ^ Hudson, Briony; Boylan, Maureen (2013). The School of Pharmacy, University of London: Medicines, Science and Society, 1842-2012. Amsterdam, Boston, Heidelberg u.a: Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-407665-5.
- ^ a b Slater, A. W (1855). Howards chemical manufacturers 1797-1837 (MSc. Econ thesis). University of London.
- ^ Walker, Kim; García Guillén, Esther; Allasi Canales, Nataly; Medina, Leopoldo; Driver, Felix; Rønsted, Nina; Nesbitt, Mark (2022-09-02). "Reconnecting the Cinchona (Rubiaceae) collections of the "Real Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú" (1777-1816)". Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid. 79 (1): e119. doi:10.3989/ajbm.2613. hdl:10261/288607. ISSN 1988-3196. S2CID 252060785.