William Ransom and Sons Limited (est.1846)

The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in future:

Records covering the foundation, management, financial administration and manufacturing and distribution activities of William Ransom and Sons Limited. Includes business records, ledgers, recipe books, research notebooks, cash books, waste books, correspondence, minutes of meetings, general and extraordinary general meetings, financial, sales and trading records, annual accounts, supplier records, profit and loss statements, records relating to shareholders, director's and chairman's reports, legal records, price lists, advertising records, tax records, and order books.

c.1850-1960

Uncatalogued: 47 transfer boxes, 13 archive boxes, 16 oversize volumes, 4 oversize bundles

Transferred from the company's premises in Hitchin to the library at Wellcome Collection by Michael Ransom, 14 January 2004. Additional material (previously stored at his home) was delivered to the library at Wellcome Collection by Michael Ransom on 5 October 2012.

William Ransom & Son was founded by William Ransom, a Quaker philanthropist and botanist. He was the first of four generations of Ransoms to run the business.

After serving a pharmaceutical apprenticeship in Birmingham during the early 1840s, William Ransom established, in 1845, his own pharmacy in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and in 1846 began to manufacture herbal preparations using raw materials grown at the Ransom home farm in Hitchin along with material imported directly from overseas. In 1849 he sold the pharmacy and began to concentrate on manufacturing drugs, tinctures and essences, operating from premises in Bancroft, Hitchin. In 1885 he was joined in partnership by his son Francis and the business was named William Ransom & Son. In 1913 the business was incorporated as William Ransom & Son Ltd, with Francis Ransom as chairman. Francis was an active researcher and promoted research and development work by the business. The firm was the first in the UK to manufacture chlorophyll on a commercial scale. in 1914 William Ransom died and in 1927 Francis Ransom's son Richard joined the company.

During the 1920s through to the 1950s the firm expanded, developing its manufacturing premises at Bancroft and acquiring and selling in turn a series of farms in Meppershall, Bedfordshire, Little Wymondley, and Wiggin Hill Farm at St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Richard Ransom became director of the firm in 1932 and chairman on the death of his father Francis in 1935. In 1968 the company the company was converted to a public limited liability company and the Wiggin Hill Farm became an independent private partnership although it continued to supply William Ransom & Son Ltd with lavender and camomile.

In 1969 Michael Ransom (son of Richard) became chairman. In 1981 further building works took place to enable the company to expand its range of manufactured ethical medicines for worldwide export. At this time half of the company's turnover was accounted for by exports and it had overseas agents in 50 countries. In the UK the majority of William Ransom & Son plc's pharmaceutical products were purchased by wholesale chemists. By the 1990s it was one of the few UK companies still to manufacture plant-based drugs, even though that accounted for less than 10 per cent of the company's output. By the end of the 20th century the main products of the company were drugs extracted from vegetable sources and liquid medicines.

The company is now known as Ransom or the Ransom Group and owns a range of consumer healthcare brands with a focus on natural. It specialises in the manufacture of finished products for itself and contract customers and produces and develops botanical extracts for use as active ingredients in pharmaceuticals and in food and drink products around the world.

Much of this information is based on the more detailed company history can be found on the British Archives Council / Wellcome Trust Database of the Historical Records of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Britain, available at the Wellcome Library (access limited to on-site users).

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.