The Mighty Healer : Thomas Holloway's Victorian Patent Medicine Empire

Verity Holloway's Nineteenth-century Cousin Thomas Holloway's Patent Medicine Empire Was So Ubiquitous, Charles Dickens Commented That If You'd Murdered Someone With The Name Holloway, You'd Think Their Spirit Had Come Back To Torment You. Advertising As Far Away As The Pyramids In Giza, It Was Said Holloway's Ointment Could Cure Lesions On A Wooden Leg. Bottling Leftover Cooking Grease In The Kitchen Of His Parents' Cornish Pub, Thomas's Dubious Cure-alls Made Him One Of The Richest Self-made Men In England. Promising To Save Respectable Victorian Invalids 'from The Point Of Death' (his Capitals), The Self-proclaimed 'professor' Holloway Used His Millions To Build The Enormous Gothic Holloway College And Holloway Sanatorium For The Insane. But Thomas Was A Man Of Contradictions. To His Contemporaries, He Was Simultaneously 'the Greatest Benefactor To Ever Live' And No Better Than A General Who Led Millions To Their Deaths. Aware Of The Uselessness Of His Own Products, He Believed The Placebo Effect Was Well Worth The Subterfuge And Never Ridiculed His Customers. A Ruthless Businessman, He Was Deeply In Love With His Wife And Cared For The Education Of Young Women. The Mighty Healer Charts Thomas's Rise And The Realization Of His Worst Fear - That Rival Company Beechams Would One Day Take Him Over - Plus The Very Victorian Squabbling Over His Fortune By His Respectable And Not-so-respectable Relations. It Draws On Primary And Secondary Sources To Ground Thomas's Life In The Social Issues Of The Day, Including Women's Education, Victorian Mental Healthcare, Contemporary Accounts Of Debtors' Gaols, And Of Course The Patent Medicine Trade Of The Mid-victorian Period; The People Who Took The Medicine, And Those Who Fiercely Opposed It.--publisher Description. Verity Holloway. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "Verity Holloway's nineteenth-century cousin Thomas Holloway's patent medicine empire was so ubiquitous, Charles Dickens commented that if you'd murdered someone with the name Holloway, you'd think their spirit had come back to torment you. Advertising as far away as the pyramids in Giza, it was said Holloway's Ointment could cure lesions on a wooden leg. Bottling leftover cooking grease in the kitchen of his parents' Cornish pub, Thomas's dubious cure-alls made him one of the richest self-made men in England. Promising to save respectable Victorian invalids 'FROM THE POINT OF DEATH' (his capitals), the self-proclaimed 'Professor' Holloway used his millions to build the enormous Gothic Holloway College and Holloway Sanatorium for the insane. But Thomas was a man of contradictions. To his contemporaries, he was simultaneously 'the greatest benefactor to ever live' and no better than a general who led millions to their deaths. Aware of the uselessness of his own products, he believed the placebo effect was well worth the subterfuge and never ridiculed his customers. A ruthless businessman, he was deeply in love with his wife and cared for the education of young women. The Mighty Healer charts Thomas's rise and the realization of his worst fear - that rival company Beechams would one day take him over - plus the very Victorian squabbling over his fortune by his respectable and not-so-respectable relations. It draws on primary and secondary sources to ground Thomas's life in the social issues of the day, including women's education, Victorian mental healthcare, contemporary accounts of debtors' gaols, and of course the patent medicine trade of the mid-Victorian period; the people who took the medicine, and those who fiercely opposed it."-- Publisher description

Verity Holloway's nineteenth-century cousin Thomas Holloway's patent medicine empire was so ubiquitous, Charles Dickens commented that if you'd murdered someone with the name Holloway, you'd think their spirit had come back to torment you. Advertising as far away as the pyramids in Giza, it was said Holloway's Ointment could cure lesions on a wooden leg. Bottling leftover cooking grease in the kitchen of his parents' Cornish pub, Thomas's dubious cure-alls made him one of the richest self-made men in England. Promising to save respectable Victorian invalids 'FROM THE POINT OF DEATH' (his capitals), the self-proclaimed 'Professor' Holloway used his millions to build the enormous Gothic Holloway College and Holloway Sanatorium for the insane. But Thomas was a man of contradictions. To his contemporaries, he was simultaneously 'the greatest benefactor to ever live' and no better than a general who led millions to their deaths. Aware of the uselessness of his own products, he believed the placebo effect was well worth the subterfuge and never ridiculed his customers. A ruthless businessman, he was deeply in love with his wife and cared for the education of young women. The Mighty Healer charts Thomas's rise and the realization of his worst fear – that rival company Beechams would one day take him over – plus the very Victorian squabbling over his fortune by his respectable and not-so-respectable relations. It draws on primary and secondary sources to ground Thomas's life in the social issues of the day, including women's education, Victorian mental healthcare, contemporary accounts of debtors' gaols, and of course the patent medicine trade of the mid-Victorian period; the people who took the medicine, and those who fiercely opposed it.

Table of contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Chapter 1 Spoiling Mother’s Coppers......Page 14 Chapter 2 To Quack Oneself......Page 22 Chapter 3 Rogue’s Gallery......Page 39 Chapter 4 Crafting the Professor......Page 46 Chapter 5 From Pills to Penury......Page 58 Chapter 6 ‘Ha! Ha! Cured in an instant!’......Page 64 Chapter 7 Prosperity and Other Curses......Page 75 Chapter 8 Quacks, Plague Take Them......Page 86 Chapter 9 ‘Good God; in England, in this country?’......Page 106 Chapter 10 The Handsomest College in England......Page 133 Chapter 11 Bold Beggars......Page 151 Chapter 12 Man Proposes, God Disposes......Page 173 Chapter 13 Picking the Bones......Page 199 Chapter 14 He Being Dead Yet Speaketh......Page 213 Acknowledgements......Page 218 Bibliography......Page 219 Index......Page 223