Donald E. Francke Medal lecture. The transition from apothecary to pharmacist in British hospitals

The transition from hospital apothecaries to contemporary hospital pharmacists in Great Britain is reviewed, beginning with the monk-apothecaries associated with the monastic infirmaries as early as the 12th century. Briefly reviewed is the use of the title Apothecary, from about the mid-1500s to about the mid-1800s, at three Royal Hospitals--St. Thomas's Hospital, St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the Bethlehem Hospital. The responsibilities, pharmaceutical and otherwise, of persons who held this title over the years are discussed. Pharmaceutical duties were eventually entrusted to the dispenser (or, at St. Thomas's, the pharmaceutist) and then to the pharmacist. The history of hospital apothecaries is also traced at the voluntary hospitals, University College Hospital, and hospitals in Scotland, Wales and the British provinces. British hospital apothecaries changed from a pharmaceutical orientation to a medical orientation, but they retained control of hospital pharmacies for about 50 years after this change was sanctioned legally.