The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7486 p96
26 January 2008

Society summary

DEATHS

TRIBUTES

Haigh On 10 January, Harold Douglas Haigh, MRPharmS, aged 90, of Parklands, Welcomes Road, Kenley, Surrey CR8 5HH. Mr Haigh registered in 1939.

Margetts On 6 January, Janet Lesley Margetts (née Sharp), aged 69, of 44 Broomfield Drive, Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 9TN. Mrs Margetts registered in 1961 and retired from the Register in 2003. (See tribute)

Shah On 13 January, Jayantilal Nagji Shah, MRPharmS, aged 79, of 78 Longmore Avenue, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 1JY. Mr Shah registered in 1956.

Smith On 13 January, Thomas Fred Smith, MRPharmS, aged 92, of 66 Southwestern Crescent, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset BH14 8RR. Mr Smith registered in 1937.

Tributes

Margetts In a tribute to the late Janet Lesley Margetts, PATRICIA THOMPSON writes:

It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Janet Margetts.

Janet was active for many years in our local Crawley, Horsham and Reigate branch and was a familiar figure at meetings. She also attended a number of conferences representing the branch and was for a considerable number of years a staunch branch committee member.

Janet graduated in 1960 from Chelsea College, London. Through the 1960s Janet was a preregistration trainee and then pharmacist at University College Hospital (UCH), then worked at the Middlesex Hospital, and was deputy chief pharmacist at the Brompton Hospital. She was well regarded in pharmacy with high professional standards.

Janet was the widow of Dr George Margetts (PJ, 19 November 2005, p649), whom she met while at UCH. They moved to Hastings and had a community pharmacy there for a short time before increasing family commitments took over and the family moved to Billingshurst. Janet later returned to pharmacy working part time for some years at Horsham Hospital.

Janet made many long-standing friends over the years and is remembered particularly by fellow pharmacist Lucille as a warm friend and calm adviser. She will be sorely missed by all her friends and colleagues. We send our condolences to her family.

Jackson In a tribute to the late William Arthur Jackson (PJ, 19 January, p64), ARTHUR WILLIAMS writes:

Bill Jackson was a truly remarkable pharmacist and a vibrant personality. I count it an enormous privilege to have been able to share in his love for our profession and, in particular, his passion for the history of pharmacy. His knowledge, expertise and wisdom inspired many pharmacists, including myself, to begin a collection of pharmaceutical antiques.

Bill did not just collect the obvious drug jars and pill machines; he saw true value in such diverse items as a bedpan of four inches in diameter (a traveller’s sample) and pap boats. His collection of the latter, ranging through silver to plastic via pewter and fine ceramics must be definitive.

To spend an evening with Bill and his collection (and the odd glass of Newcastle Brown Ale) was a delight. I shall long remember his description of Hiram Hooker’s “inhaler” and an enema pump that must have been an antecedent of a 1939–45 war stirrup pump. Always generous with his time and specialist knowledge Bill delighted his readers and audiences at branch meetings with his humour and expertise.

On one memorable occasion I asked Bill to help me to sort out the cellar of a long-established pharmacy. He was full of cheerful energy for the task and was delighted to find under a mound of dusty debris a small unevenly worn wooden dish (the original till).

Hints on collecting were always freely available based on Bill’s hard-won knowledge. Collecting was his forte, but he did not just consider monetary values as many collectors may do, rather he looked for the historical interest and special features of the item and what he could learn from it.

I have been lucky over the years to bear out Bill’s philosophy that if you give an antique a good home and appreciate it you may well be surprised by the generosity shown to you. My sincere sympathies are extended to Audrey and family at this sad time. We shall not see Bill’s like again but his work and contribution to the wider world of pharmacy will live on.