Survivors of Time: Smith Stocking and Co. — Stocking medicine down the decades

Chennai's oldest pharmacy, the first to sell insulin, continues its operations in its original location, says Anusha Parthasarathy

Among the old businesses of George Town, some of which have a surreal quality, is a small shop opposite the towering domes of the High Court. Its air-conditioned interiors are a respite from the glowering heat and the wooden cupboards and shelves are bursting at their seams with stocked medicines. K.M. Siddique, up at front, is coping with a busy day at the oldest surviving pharmacy in the city: Smith Stocking and Co.

Among the earliest pharmacies in the city were Spencer's, W. E. Smith and Co. (who came to Madras in 1868 and, in 1897, inaugurated the Kardyl Building, now known as the Bharath Insurance building), Allbutt and Co (which began operations in 1881) and Appah and Co (started in 1894 by Madras' First Family' in Black Town). None of these shops have survived.

According to Southern India Its History, People, Commerce and Industrial Resources' by Somerset Playne, (1914), Smith Stocking and Co began operations in April 1913, as a partnership between W. Smith and R. Stocking, who both had about 20 years of experience as dispensing chemists and druggists.

Siddique, who now runs the shop, has another story to tell. They say the shop was started in 1908 by Smith, who, a few years later, entered into a partnership with Stocking. When they left India, they transferred the ownership to Guntur Narasimha Rao. Back then, Andhra Pradesh also came under the Madras Presidency, he says.

Smith Stocking and Co's office, which continues to survive in its original location on NSC Bose Road, was said to have a dispensary, an office, and showrooms with elaborately constructed interiors. It stocked drugs of all variety and Playne notes the presence of perfumes and toiletries as well.

Family of chemists

Siddique's father, K.M. Mohideen, took over the shop in 1962. We come from a family of chemists, who mainly serviced the medical needs of ships, before we came into this business, says Siddique. When his family finally settled here, there was Hale and Co., which was considered the oldest in the area. But they too eventually closed down. We're the oldest in this area now, says Siddique.

It is said that Smith and Stocking even began a soda-water factory next to the shop. But now, only the 300 sq. ft. pharmacy remains. One of our customers, Shabbir Rangwala, has an invoice from 1945, which he came and showed us once. Smith Stocking and Co was the first in the city to sell insulin (which was then made by Abbott) and we even supplied medicines to the High Court, Siddique says. They've been catering to the needs of George Town area since they started.

Not much is clear about the history of J. F. Letoille, the second oldest pharmacy in the city, and the oldest on Mount Road. Set in an innocuous corner and flanked by swanky restaurants, Letoille is unassuming until you step into it. With its arched rooms, carved pillars, turquoise rafters and rosewood shelves, the pharmacy looks like a picture out of a history book, distorted only by a telephone and a lone desktop computer at the corner table.

Read the rest here:
Survivors of Time: Smith Stocking and Co. — Stocking medicine down the decades