Pascal Theatre Company announces
A free talk on Friday 4 October 2024 at 4.00pm at Senate House Library
‘The Petticoat Peril’ exploring women in pharmacy history
Today, over 60% of British pharmacists are women, and women’s involvement in pharmacy has a very long history. Briony will explore early examples of women making and selling medicines, but then primarily focus on the role of women in the history of pharmacy as it has developed as a profession in Britain from the mid 19th century. Alongside introducing some of the key pioneer figures, many Bloomsbury-based, she will reflect on changing attitudes towards women pharmacists and step-changes in their roles notably as a result of the First World War, and the significant feminisation of the profession from the late twentieth century. Although the talk will concentrate on community pharmacy, it will also touch on the history of pharmacy education and the role of women in the pharmaceutical industry.
Briony studied History at Cambridge University, and Museums Studies at Leicester University. Having worked at museums as diverse as Hereford Cider Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Wakefield Museum, she was Keeper of the Museum Collections at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society from 2002 to 2010 where her interest in women pharmacists was first piqued. Her publications include books on liquorice, English delftware drug jars, popular historical medicines, and the histories of UCL, Cardiff and Sunderland schools of pharmacy. She is a Past President of the Social History Curators Group, of the London Museums of Health and Medicine network, of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, and of the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Society of Apothecaries. She is the author of seven entries for women pharmacists in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and a recipient of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Medal from the Society of Apothecaries, recognising her interest in this subject area.
Further information: 04 OCTOBER: ‘THE PETTICOAT PERIL: WOMEN IN PHARMACY: BRIONY HUDSON – Pascal Theatre Company (pascal-theatre.com)
or email: events@pascal-theatre.com
This talk forms part of Pascal Theatre Company’s Lottery Heritage Funded project: Women for Women: 19th century women in Bloomsbury.
image credit: Reading Tom from Reading, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
