On 29th October 1755 a patent was granted to Robert Walker of London for "A new invented medicine, called Jesuit's drops, which is not only an effectual remedy for venereal disease, but also all obstinate gleets or weaknesses in the reins or kidneys, and is likewise a certain remedy for purifying the blood in all scorbutic humours."(1)
Bottles:
In contrast to the relatively abundant and highly variable Turlington's Balsam bottles in the first 'Bottles' post, the known bottles for Jesuit's Drops are comparatively very standardised in size and shape, with only four embossing variants. All bottles recorded to date are small, square, flint glass, with flared lips and ranging in size from 67 to 71mm tall and 25 to 27mm across the base. This is probably the 2s.6d. size, the smallest of four sizes that were advertised during an 80-100 year period. Three main variations of this size have been recorded, with one additional address variation. All are hinge moulded and pontilled, probably all pre-dating 1850. No later, smooth base, examples of any kind of Jesuit's Drops bottle has so far been recorded.
Types recorded to date:
Type 1. Wessells // Genuine // Jesuits // Drops //
Date: After c.1770 – 1804 (2).
Type 2a. Wessells / Genuine // Jesuits / Drops // Shaw & / Edwards // No 66 / St Pauls //
Date: Circa 1804 - 1825.
Type 2b. Wessells / Genuine // Jesuits / Drops // Shaw & / Edwards // No 67 / St Pauls //
Date: Circa 1825 – 1850+.
Type 3. DR / WALKERS // GENUINE / PATENT // JESUITS / DROPS // - // .
Date: Circa 1775 (or, just possibly, 1755/6) – 1850+.
The three main types of Jesuit's Drops bottles recorded so far. From left to right: Wessells' by Shaw & Edwards (Type 2); Wessells' (Type 1); Dr Walker's (Type 3). The bottle on the left is 71mm tall. (private collection)
History:
1755. 29th October. Patent No 706 granted to Robert Walker for “A new-invented medicine, called Jesuits’ drops, which is not only an effectual remedy for the venereal disease, but also obstinate and inveterate gleets or weaknesses in the reins or kidneys, and is likewise a certain remedy for purifying the blood in all scorbutic humours” The medicine is formed by the combination of Venice soap, the balsams of Peru, Tolu, and Gillead, oil of sassafras, volatile salt of tartar, Chio or Strasbourg turpentine,” gum guaiacum, and the balsam of capivi. The whole are put into a stone or glass vessel , and are digested for several days in rectified spirits of wine. The vessel is to be well stopped and occasionally shaken. The fine liquor which is drawn off is the above mentioned medicine.” (2)
1756. First newspaper adverts (3) for Jesuit’s Drops, sold by Robert Walker at his warehouse, the Bible & Crown, Old Bailey, London.
1760. January. Robert Walker died. His will (4) stipulated that “my patents for Jesuit’s Drops and all other medicinal things whatsoever and all the profits arising from the sale thereof […] be divided by way of partnership after my decease in manner following (to wit) one full fourth part to my wife Judith Walker and the remaining three equal fourth shares to my present servant Joseph Wessells during his natural life and my three daughters (namely) Judith Burling […] of Banbury in Oxfordshire Elizabeth [Croft, of London …] and Ann Walker at this time unmarried equally between them share and share alike”.
1762. First adverts appear for Wessells' Jesuit’s Drops sold by J. Wessels & Co (i.e. Joseph Wessels in partnership with one or more of the wife and daughters of Robert Walker) “at our warehouse, the Bible and Crown, the upper end of Fleet Lane, Old Bailey”.
Ann Walker, daughter of Robert Walker, married Temple Ravenscroft, son of John Ravenscroft, in Bloomsbury, London, 22nd March 1762.
1763-66. Richard Rock of Ludgate Hill advertised his own ‘Jesuit’s Drops’. During this time adverts for Wessells’ and Rock’s Jesuit’s Drops frequently appear on the same page of various newspapers (5). None of Rock’s bottles are so far recorded. They may have been unembossed, although Rock is known to have used embossed bottles for at least one of his other medicines (Rock's Viper Drops) at around this time.
1765-66. The address of Wessel’s warehouse changed from the Bible and Crown to the King’s Arms, both in the Old Bailey. It’s unclear if it’s a change of location, or a change of name at the same location.
1767. By July John Ravenscroft, formerly employed by both Robert Walker and Joseph Wessels, was advertising his own version of the Jesuit’s Drops. It is unknown how long this continued, and no ‘Ravenscroft’ marked bottles have been recorded. Wessels’s advertising cited a sworn affidavit by the daughters of Robert Walker that Ravenscroft had been a 'menial servant' with no knowledge of how to prepare the medicine, and that Joseph Wessels was the only person Robert Walker had given that information to.
1770. June. Joseph Wessels of No 45 Old Bailey advertised that every bottle of his "Dr Robert Walker’s Patent Jesuit’s Drops, and specific Purging remedy" bore the wrods "J. Wessels, and Co" (9). This appears to be a reference to embossed bottles. No bottles bearing this wording have yet been recorded.
1774. July. Joseph Wessels of the King’s Arms, No 45 Old Bailey, co-partner with Thomas Croft, Elizabeth Croft, Temple Ravenscroft (son of John Ravenscroft), and Ann Ravenscroft (nee Walker), was declared bankrupt. There was no significant disruption to Wessels’s advertising so it appears that his bankruptcy problems were short-lived,
1776. Some time between mid-1774 and mid-1776 Temple and Ann Ravenscroft decided to part company with Wessels and sell their own Jesuit’s Drops. By July 1776 they were advertising their Drops from No 5 Great Old Bailey. Advertisements continue until at least 1804 (Temple Ravenscroft died in 1808). Bottles marked 'Dr Walkers Genuine Patent Jesuit’s Drops' are probably theirs (6).
From mid 1776, and possibly earlier, Joseph Wessels claimed in his advertising that the ‘Dr Walker’s Jesuits Drops' of Temple and Ann Ravenscroft were spurious. Wessels continued to include this warning in his advertising until 1803. From this year onwards his advertising refers to his Drops as “Wessels”, dropping the “Dr Walker’s” wording, possibly to differentiate his medicine from that of the Ravenscrofts.
1800. At around this time Joseph Wessels’ business address changed to No 4 Ludgate Hill.
1803. In late 1803 or early 1804 Wessels' Jesuit's Drops business was transferred to Shaw & Edwards of 66 St Pauls (7).
1804. Last mention of Temple Ravenscroft by name in newspaper advertising.
1808. August. Temple Ravenscroft died. The date of Ann Ravenscroft’s death is currently unknown.
1823. The first appearance of the 67 St Paul’s address in advertising for Shaw & Edwards.
1825 – 30. Jesuit’s Drops advertisements gradually stop using Shaw & Edwards' name, instead referring to “Joseph Wessels, St Paul’s” on the (tax) stamp.
1829. December. Last use of the 66 St Paul’s address, in a long list of suppliers in a regional newspaper (i.e. it may be old copy, and so not a reliable indicator of an actual address at this date).
1840-42. A number of advertisements for Wessels’ Jesuit’s Drops at Shaw & Edwards' St Paul’s address refer to the wrappers being “signed by Mrs Smithers”. This was almost certainly an error, mixing up copy of different advertisements: 'Mrs Smithers' was a name associated with Widow Welch's Female Pills (another successful patent medicine sold by Shaw & Edwards) not with Jesuit's Drops.
1841. References to ‘Dr Walker’s Jesuits Drops’ being spurious continue to appear in Shaw & Edwards advertisements for Wessels’ Drops until at least 1841. This is possibly an indication of continued sales by Ann Ravenscroft or her direct successor.
1844. Up to this year there are abundant St Pauls adverts, indicating that Edwards was still the proprietor, or at least the principal wholesaler.
1844 – 45. Around this time references to St Paul’s address in advertisements disappears, as does mention of Joseph Wessels‘ full name.
1859. Mention of ‘Dr Walker’s Jesuit’s Drops’ disappears c. 1859 (up to which time it appears in general lists of medicines for sale).
1860s. Mention of ‘Jesuit’s Drops’ drops off dramatically after the mid-1860s and seems to disappear entirely from advertising during the 1870s.
Two Shaw & Edwards address variations: 66 St Paul's and 67 St Paul's. The address change occurred around 1823, but changes to the bottle moulds may not have been made for several years, or until new moulds were needed. The flatter shoulder profile on the 66 St Pauls bottle tends to be characteristic of earlier small bottles generally. But, as with so much else, it's a tendency rather than a hard and fast rule. (private collection)
Bottles described in advertising or elsewhere but not yet recorded:
No bottle(s) matching that described by Joseph Wessels in some 1770 newspaper advertisements (e.g. The Chester Courant, 5th June 1770), bearing the words "J. Wessels and Co.", have yet been recorded (9).
Between 1756 and about 1804 two sizes of bottles were advertised by Robert Walker, and then by both Wessels and Ravenscroft. Until the 1790s these were priced at 2s.6d., and 5s, but by 1795 Wessels’ bottles had increased in price (but probably not in size) to 2s.9d. and 5s6d., while Ravenscroft raised the price of the smaller bottle to 2s.9d. but kept the larger bottles at the original 5s. price. These remained unchanged until around 1804, when Wessels’ business was taken over by Shaw & Edwards of St Paul’s Church Yard, who dropped the 5s.5d. size but advertised two new larger sizes: 11s. and 22s. (one guinea).
The examples so far recorded are probably the 2s.6d. and, later, 2s.9d. size, so there are probably at least three larger sizes of Jesuit’s Drops bottles still to be recorded:
- 5s. or 5s.6d. size (pre-1804).
- 11s. size used by Shaw & Edwards from c. 1804 onwards.
- 22s. size used by Shaw & Edwards from c. 1804 onwards.
Taking bottles used for other medicines of the period as a starting point, we can say that the 5s. and 11s. sizes were probably colourless flint glass, but that the 22s. size was probably in shades of green bottle glass and possibly, during the period circa 1845-60, in ice-blue glass.
There may well also be Jesuit's Drops bottles named from other manufacturers (Richard Rock, amongst others), as well as generic, unnamed, examples for use by any druggist or apothecary who wanted to make and bottle their own versions of the medicine (8).
Dr Walker, Hart Wessels, and the Marischal College of Aberdeen.
Some time before 1767 a London doctor by the name of Hart Wessels recommended to the Marischal College of Aberdeen that a Dr Walker, also of London, be awarded a medical degree in absentia. The request was turned down when it became clear that ‘Dr’ Walker was in fact a vendor of patent medicines. Hart Wessels died in 1767, and the coincidence of a Wessels, a Dr Walker, and the vending of patent medicines suggests that Hart Wessels and Joseph Wessels were probably linked, perhaps as father and son, and that Joseph Wessels wasn’t the only Wessels to have had a professional relationship with Robert Walker. Currently no further details are known and further research is required to clarify the relationships between the three.
N.B. Marischal College and the awarding of medical degrees in absentia is a recurring and contentious issue in the world of 18th and early 19th century patent medicines. We will be revisiting this in future.
Notes and References.
1. Abridgements of specifications relating to Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry. A.D. 1620 – 1866. 2nd Edition. Office of the Commissioners for Patents and Inventions, Holborn, London. 1872.
2. There are of course caveats : Wessells' name was so associated with Jesuit's Drops that It's possible - although in my opinion unlikely - that this was in fact a generic form of Jesuit's Drops bottle that could have been used by anyone making Jesuit's Drops from published recipes, and so with a longer lifespan than Joseph Wessells' business (see note 8, below). Reasons to doubt this include the lack, so far, of any significant evidence that the Drops were widely made by anyone outside the Walker / Wessells / Ravenscroft families until well into the 19th century (the style of the bottle illustrated is typically 18th century or, at most, early 19th century). Those who did, such as Richard Rock, tended to claim their version of the Drops as their own, 'Rock's Jesuit's Drops', rather than retaining the Wessells label.
3. According to Rennie (1829) in the New Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris, Jesuit's Drops "are precisely the same as Compound Tincture of Benzoin".
3. The earliest accurately datable advertising found so far is in the Oxford Journal, 20th March 1756, in which Robert Walker's address is given as "The Bible and Crown in Fleet Lane, near the Sessions House Gate, Old Bailey, London." Accessed via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 5th July 2018.
4. Probate copy of Will of Robert Walker, doctor of physic. Public Record Office/The National Archives. PROB 11/869-51.
5. E.g. The Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, July 22nd 1762. Accessed via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 18th September 2018.
6. Although it's possible that bottles with the same or very similar embossing were also used by Robert Walker himself during the period 1756 - 60.
7. The date of Joseph Wessells' death hasn't yet been pinned down. It may have been as early as the mid 1790s, but from advertising it appears that he was still alive in 1800. See, for example, use of the first person (not itself a cast iron guarantee of his continued existence, back in the day) in advertising, in the London Gazette 6th December 1800, p1377.
8. Knowledge of the ingredients of the medicine would have become publicly available from the patent specification as early as 1755, and legitimately usable by anyone wanting to do so once patent protection expired 14 years later, unless the patent was renewed (there are some caveats, such as some patent specifications perhaps being deliberately inaccurate in order to preserve secrecy). Recipes for Jesuit's Drops were published in various druggists and chemists books and pharmacopoeias throughout the 19th century.
9. Page update, 29th September 2024. Added the 1770 reference to marked bottles, from The Chester Courant, 5th June 1770.
© Jeremy Kemp, 2020.
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