The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 263 No 7065 p511
October 2, 1999 News

Society advised producers on television reconstruction of Victorian life

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the president of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy (Dr John Hunt) recently acted as advisers to Channel 4 on the production of their television documentary series The 1900 House, which is to be screened weekly until mid-November. In an experiment intended to show how a modern family would cope with the living conditions of a century ago, the Bowler family from Taunton was installed in a Victorian house in south London. All the facilities of modern living had been removed and correct late 19th century features installed. For three months Paul and Joyce Bowler, with their son and three of their four daughters, lived the late-Victorian life. From the coal-fired kitchen range to the gas lighting and galvanised wash-tub, the family contended with the absence of electricity, telephone, television and all modern labour saving materials and devices. Their reactions and experiences were recorded. Pharmacy was not neglected in the quest for historical accuracy.

Paul Bowler washes his daughter Joyce's hair using traditional ingredients

In order to restrict pharmaceutical supplies to those that would have been available in the late-Victorian medicine cupboard, the Society’s museum staff used wholesalers’ lists of the period to ensure that only medicines and druggists’ sundries commonly available in 1900 were candidates for inclusion. Syrup of figs, brimstone and treacle, senna pods, castor oil and various other laxatives pressed upon their long-suffering children by generations of mothers, together with tincture of iodine, camphorated oil, friar’s balsam, smelling salts, calamine lotion and other familiar remedies were included in the candidate list. Aspirin, although identified in Germany in 1897, was not generally available in Britain in 1900 and so was excluded. A medicine cupboard was duly assembled and installed in the reconstructed Victorian bathroom.
Dr Hunt told The Journal on September 29: "Particularly during the early weeks of filming I was answering questions almost every day about the medicines and their use. The production team took great pains to ensure historical accuracy. With four young people from age eight to 16 being involved, a local general medical practitioner was standing by in case of serious illness, when a rapid return to 1999 would have been arranged. Fortunately, the Bowlers are a very healthy family and nothing occurred which was more serious than an infestation with head lice, imported from the local school. This was effectively dealt with by traditional combing methods. The most intractable problems involved toiletries and cosmetics, chiefly the problems Joyce Bowler and her three daughters experienced in caring for their hair in the absence of modern shampoos, made worse by being in a hard water area. Soap spirit was suggested and the family tried recipes from old books, involving egg yolk, borax, vinegar and various other ingredients. Nothing equalled the most basic modern shampoos, which were not allowed."
"The family earned the respect of all concerned by adhering rigidly to the rules of the experiment, although Mrs Bowler did admit to one lapse — the purchase of some modern shampoo and conditioner which she tried to hide in a rubbish bin. Unfortunately, she was caught red-handed by her husband."
The experiences of the Bowler family in their 1900 house can be seen on Thursday evenings at 9pm on Channel 4.

Correction (PJ, November 20, p838)

BSHP Dr John Hunt is currently vice-president of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy and not president as stated; the current president is Mrs Enid Lucas-Smith.