George Fulford and Victorian patent medicine men: Quack mercenaries or Smilesian entrepreneurs?
In the early twentieth century, a time when patent medicine men were stereotyped as evil and dishonest, G. T. Fulford of Brockville, Ontario made his fortune from an iron pill called Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. Once successful, Fulford remained in Brockville where he served on the town council and gave generously to charities. In 1900 he was appointed by Laurier to the Senate. When he died in 1905 he was remembered as a kind and ethical man. His story, like that of several other prominent patent medicine men, conforms more with the ideals of Samuel Smiles than with the popular image of disrepute.
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Department of History, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
D002170:Canada; D017850:Economics, Pharmaceutical / Q000266:history*; D016520:Entrepreneurship / Q000266:history*; D004994:Ethics, Pharmacy / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000266:history*; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000266:history*; D011781:Quackery / Q000266:history*
D004366:Nonprescription Drugs