Patent Medicine/Drug Vendor

[alfietcs]

Hello

I really hope that someone can help me. I am trying to find what the difference is between a Patent Medicine/Drug Vendor and an actual Chemist/Druggist.

My gt gt gt grandfather James Morris is listed in the Leicester 1891 census as being a patent medicine vendor and in the 1901 census as a patent drug vendor ( the medicine having been crossed out and replaced with drug). James previously lived in Great Glenn and was an Ag Lab in the 1861/71/81 census forms and he seemed to have become a patent drug vendor ( working from home) when he moved to the city of Leicester.

Would a patent drug vendor be a legitimate profession?  It's not a snake oil salesman is it?
I've tried googling but there doesn't seem to be much out there about this particular branch of herbalism and I can't find any reference to James Morris on the sites i've looked at.

I would be so grateful if anyone could enlighten me further.

best wishes
alfietcs

[youngtug]

Snake oil salesman would probably fit;   
     https://www.rpharms.com/museum-pdfs/10-proprietaries.pdf

[alfietcs]

 

Ah well, I did think it was a bit of a leap from Ag lab to legit chemist.
Thank you so much for posting the link. It was a very interesting read.

I would love to know what he sold.

thanks again

[stockman fred]

My great grandad was a farm worker, then became a small farmer in his own right, but helped to pay the bills by hawking patent cattle medicine round the shows. The stuff he sold was called "Curechiline" and it was claimed to cure all cattle diseases, so it must have been some potent stuff. I still have an empty bottle on the shelf

[alfietcs]

   Our ancestors certainly were inventive.
That's great to hear that you have the name of your great grandfather's cure-all and the bottle. Sadly, I have nothing like that for James, although James's son George ( my great great grandfather) was a warehouseman and then became an apprentice pill maker and then a herbalist himself. Again, he doesn't seem to have been registered anywhere, so I don't know how legit he was. His brothers also appeared to keep up the tradition as well and we found an inventory from 1939 where the brothers and other Morrises are listed as dealers in Smallware, Hardware, Toys & Fancy Goods and Manufacturing Chemists, which seems like a big claim.
Anyway, in their vast and eclectic inventory, alongside three piece suites, hair nets, candles, enamel ware, dresses, shovels and chamois leathers and anything else you can name…. we found Morris's Powders, Neu Flu Powders, Havarub Linament, Poppy Powders and Victory Powders. Whether they were their own invention or a brand that was already out there ...we can only guess
best wishes
Alfietcs