Temporarily closed for relocation.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum, established in 1842, provides a wide range of services and activities for everyone interested in the history of British pharmacy. Based on our unique collections of around 45,000 objects there is something for everyone whether you are a pharmacist, researcher, family historian, visitor to London, or simply fascinated by the history of healthcare.
The museum collection covers all aspects of British pharmacy history including:
- traditional dispensing equipment
- drug storage containers
- fine “Lambeth delftware” dating from the 1600s and 1700s
- proprietary (brand name) medicines dating from the 1700s to present
- bronze and bell metal mortars
- medical caricatures
- a photo archive.
Ground floor (reception area)
Displays on themes from The Evolving Pharmacy and Lambeth’s Pharmacy Past, to Pharmacy and Nature, and Making Medicines.
Visitors can also find out how pharmacies have changed over time, and compare today’s experiences with how you trained to be a pharmacist in the 1800s.
The objects on display range from 18th century seahorses to current painkillers, and from equipment used to make pills in the 1800s to jars used to hold 16th century medicinal ingredients. There is also an opportunity to see the architect’s model for the 11-storey building that was first planned to house the Society when it moved to Lambeth in the 1970s.
Our Developing Treatments display case focuses on the way that different medical conditions have been treated over time, or how particular areas of medicine have developed over time; from the earliest records to the present day. The display changes in March each year to mark National Science and Engineering Week.
The new display ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ The Development of Veterinary Pharmacy charts the development of veterinary medicine from the 1700s onwards, focussing on medicines for livestock, working animals, and pets.
There are two other Developing Treatments currently on display. Drugs for Pleasure, Drugs for Pain explores how controlled substances such as cannabis, coca, cocaine, opium, morphine, and heroin have been viewed and used throughout history as pharmaceutical treatments. While Going Up In Smoke – Pharmacy & Smoking explores the complex relationship between pharmacy and the smoking of tobacco and other medicinal substances; from the introduction of the smoking of tobacco and other medicinal cigarettes to treat illness, to the development of pharmaceutical products for smoking cessation.
There is no need to book to visit these displays.
Mezzanine and first floors
The current themes of the displays are:
- Healing Science exhibition, that looks at 1000 years of pharmacy history
- Highlights of our English Delftware Drug Jar collection – beautiful ceramics dating from the 1600s and 1700s
- Highlights of our Pharmacy and Medicine Caricatures collection
- Bell metal mortars (The Saville Peck Bequest of Mortars)
