Beecham Group
The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Beecham, after having merged with American pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beckman to become SmithKline Beecham, merged with Glaxo Wellcome to become GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). GSK (and later, Haleon) still uses the Beechams brand name in the UK for its over-the-counter cold and flu relief products. Early history Beecham began as the family business of Thomas Beecham (1820–1907), a chemist. (Beecham would become the grandfather of music conductor Thomas Beecham, 1879–1961.) As a boy, Beecham worked as a shepherd, selling herbal remedies as a sideline. He later became a travelling salesman or peddler full time. His first product was Beecham's Pills, a laxative, in 1842. Subsequent success enabled him to open a shop in Wigan in 1847. Beecham opened its first factory in 1849, in St Helens, Lancashire, for the rapid production of medicines. Under his son, Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet (1848–1916), the business expanded, but remained a patent medicine company and engaged in little research. Expansion and diversification In 1924, Philip Ernest Hill (1873 - 1944), who made his money in real estate, acquired control of Beecham. Under his leadership, the company