APRIL NEWSLETTER

 

Next meeting: Monday 13th May 2013   :  Rarities of the Shilling series – Mr G Oddie.   .   Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, Reading, commencing at 8.00 pm, doors open at 7pm.

NOTICES:

 

 

 

April Meeting:  As debated in Committee, and announced at the meeting, the intention was to do away with the club night sign-in, sheet since their purpose is lost in the mists of time. However, a valid point was raised in that it provides an evacuation checklist in the case of fire. However, this raises another problem as the number of signatures rarely tallies with the total attendees. Thus the topic needs to be further debated at the next Committee meeting.

This month we were to welcome David Powell talking about ‘Collecting 17th Century Tokens by Feature’. Unfortunately, he was taken poorly so club member Mick Martin filled in and gave an illustrated talk entitled ‘Professor Holloway- A modern man from Victorian times’. The talk opened with a picture of a Holloway token. The obverse has the portrait of Professor Holloway while the reverse depicts ‘Hygenia’, the goddess of health, and the words ‘Holloway’s pills and ointments’.

 

 

Michael then explained that close to where he lives the words Holloway and pills, when together, mean just one thing – the flamboyant and truly magnificent pile known as ‘Royal Holloway College’ at Virginia Water.

 As a gift to the nation it was the inspiration of the Mrs Holloway to provide a college for girls. But Holloway wanted the best, a building that surpassed the magnificent colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. Thus he looked at the Chateau’s of the Loire, and in particular the chateau ‘Chambord’, as his model. The chosen architect was William Crossland who also designed many of the grand Victorian civic buildings in the northern textile towns, such as in Leeds, Halifax & Rochdale. The college was opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria, 3 years after Holloway’s death, so the wished for knighthood in recognition of his philanthropic exploits went to his brother. Today the college is part of London University.

For good measure he also financed another grand building, namely the Sunningdale sanatorium. The building, again by Crossland, is architecturally based upon the original ‘Cloth Hall’ at Ypres in Belgium.

 

 

 He spent much of his time on the sanatorium project and travelled extensively to visit numerous institutions which resulted in his vision of spacious airy rooms and good service logistics for maximum efficiency. According to his wishes it was primarily for the lower middle class, since he argued that both the rich and the very poor were already catered for. However, shortly after his death a lack of funds due to a lost endowment, and rising costs, forced a change of policy to admit persons from all classes. Having latterly been a hotel the building is now partially converted into private flats.

So who was this philanthropist who could afford to spend around ¾ of a million (Victorian) pounds on such grand buildings, and how did he become one of the richest men in England?

 He was born near Plymouth around 1800 to a family of bakers, who later also ran an inn in Penzance. He may have received some training as an apothecary in his early years, but by the 1820’s he was in France working as a secretary/ interpreter for an import/export firm, returning to the UK circa 1830. It is possible that this commercial experience, and connections with an Italian apothecary, were the incentive for Holloway to start his own business, as by 1837 he was making and marketing pills and potions, reputedly started in the family kitchen.

He claimed his pills (for ingesting) and potions (for external application) cured everything from head to toe. However, the medical fraternity hated him because he was not of their professional status, and they doubted the benefits of his prescriptions. He, like many others, probably was a charlatan since subsequent tests have shown his ointments were mostly Bees Wax and Lanolin and his pills were mainly Ginger, Soap and Aloes. Thus his reasoning for diseases and claims for cures are dubious to say the least.

So why did so many have such faith in his remedies? It was probably due more to his guidance notes on healthy living, diet and exercise – just like today. Holloway was also obsessed with bowel movements and it is now recognised that the South America plant Aloes is an effective purgative- so he did achieved some positive results.

So how did this apparent fraudster make so much money? The fact that his products were quite expensive does not alone account for his phenomenal wealth. It was by being a superb salesman and fully embracing the power of celebrity endorsed advertising that set him apart. He recognised the power of endorsements in telling people how good his products were – just like today. In 1842 his advertising budget was £5000 per year, quite a significant sum at that time. However, by 1875 this had risen to a staggering £50,000 per annum – a huge sum by any measure. In terms of celebrities he went for the top. Queen Victoria was an avid supporter, as was the British Army hierarchy.

 

 

But he also targeted high ranking officials of state, government and the professions. He then produced appropriate advertisements and endorsements, not just conventional advertising but he conjured up all sorts of advertising gimmicks around education, historical events, testimonials and notables. At this point Mick showed many examples of his advertisements, testimonials and education cards with political & social commentary all leading to the need to take Holloway’s remedies. And all this effort produced results because business boomed. He really was what we would recognise as a modern day entrepreneur, just like today’s Sugar or Branson.

So what next? After much success in England, just like the business buzzword of today, he went global (mostly the Empire & Americas countries). He recruited agents though business connections & correspondence and just as before, he made sure his advocates were the upper echelons of the empire, including royalty. Once again Mick showed several examples of his global advertising.

 

For many years the Holloway’s lived at Tittenhurst park in Sunninghill, later to become the home of John Lennon & Yoko. He died in 1883 and is buried in Sunninghill churchyard. After his death family members managed the company that was eventually purchased by Beechhams in 1930.

 

Having given away much of his vast fortune Holloway was very much a true Victorian philanthropist. One cannot but admire the man who created such a successful commercial business and made a huge fortune pioneering marketing methods that are still very much in the fore of today’s advertising world.

And what of the tokens?  Most were exported to Australia where they were used as tokens.

 

Upcoming Events

 

                                                                                                                               Club Secretary  21/4/2013.