Family background in Danzig and Berlin – The Royal German Spa – First wife, Rebecca Atkins – Ann Hunter’s will – Success as Brighton Pharmacist – Second marriage and life in London.
Carl Adolph Herman Schweitzer, pharmacist, lived and worked in Brighton from about 1833 until 1876. During that time, he became friends with Mrs Ann Hunter, widow of Amon Wilds, and previously known as Mother H, night house keeper of Covent Garden. Ann Hunter made Herman one of her executors and left a most generous legacy to Rebecca, Herman’s wife.
Herman was born in about 1810 in Danzig. Probably owing to the siege and occupation of Danzig at the time, his baptismal record has not survived, but in other records such as his marriages in England and his application for naturalisation, he gave his father as Johann Schweitzer, physician, of Danzig. While his family were still young, Johann Schweitzer had moved to Berlin. As a young man, Herman was trained in the business of his maternal uncle, Wilhelm Rose, pharmacist, at the White Swan Apothecary, Spandauer Strasse. Also working for Rose were Herman’s cousin, Edward Gustav Schweitzer, and Conrad Heinrich Soltmann. Soltmann joined with Friederich Struve and set up a mineral water factory in Berlin, being granted a patent in 1823. Struve and Soltmann sought to replicate not only the taste, but also the efficacy of the famous health giving spa waters such as Karlsbad and Marienbad, and make it available at resorts lacking their own mineral springs. Struve set up spas in Dresden, Leipzig, Brighton, Königsberg, Warsaw, St Petersburg and Kiev. The Brighton Spa took water from a well sunk at Queen’s Park, and various minerals were added to achieve the desired constituents of natural spa waters. An extra addition was ‘Extractum Graminis’ or couch grass extract. Theodore Fontane , (who later became a writer), when training in the pharmacy of Wilhelm Rose, was given the task of boiling the couch grass to produce the extract for export to Brighton in large quantities. [i]Theodore Fontane: Von Zwanzig bis Dreizig. Hofenberg 2016. Some spa waters were known for their purgative function, and it was probably to achieve this quality that the couch grass extract was added.
© Society of Brighton Print Collectors
The Royal German Spa at Brighton was successful in attracting Brighton visitors to take the waters, and Struve had returned to Dresden by 1833. A number of Directors succeeded him, among them Edward G Schweitzer, assisted by his brother, Wilhelm. Wilhelm also returned to Germany with his wife to be, Elizabeth Atkins, sister of Robert Atkins who was Clerk at the German Spa. Elizabeth died in Berlin in 1848 ‘after a long illness’ Edward Gustav Schweitzer was a well-respected analytical chemist, who wrote frequently in the press on the scientific basis for and benefits of ‘factitious mineral waters’, although he neglected to mention the couch grass ingredient! Herman, his cousin, in partnership with Thomas Archer Brew,pharmacist, at 71 East Street, Brighton, manufactured and sold the ‘factitious mineral water’ which by this time was bottled and made more widely available.
Rebecca Atkins and Herman Schweitzer married at Broadwater, Worthing on 1 September 1839. Rebecca was the younger sister of Elizabeth, who married Wilhelm Schweitzer, Herman’s cousin in Berlin. Also on 1st September 1839, Rebecca’s brother, Robert, married, but at St Nicholas, Brighton, witnessed by his father, John Wesley Atkins. It is strange that Rebecca and Robert, brother and sister, chose to marry on the same day, but in different churches. It may have been that their father was unhappy about his younger daughter, Rebecca marrying another Schweitzer and that she might also emigrate. At the time of the 1841 census, Herman and Rebecca were staying with Robert and Harriet his wife at Patriot Place, Brighton, but moved to 22 Devonshire Place, probably in the same year. While at Devonshire Place, Herman became friends with their neighbours, John and Mary Philadelphia Merrifield. Mary acknowledged the expertise of Herman in helping her with her scientific writing, and later, in 1852 when Herman was negotiating the financial settlement of Ann Hunter’s will, their son, Frederick Merrifield, who like his father, was a lawyer, assisted Herman in drawing up the legal indenture.[ii]ESRO 6811/8-42
Schweitzer and Brew’s pharmacy at 71 East Street is at the bottom on the right named ‘Hardcastle’. It is now a well known Brighton vegetarian restaurant, and the layout of the shopfront is still recognisable. Gibson’s pharmacy above was Schweitzer’s later shop at 86 King’s Road.
In 1844, Brew & Schweitzer, Chemists, were in partnership at “The Medical Hall” 71 East Street Brighton. Thomas Archer Dorville Brew was remembered [iii]The Chemist and Druggist, July 29th 1905, as ‘physically and intellectually a striking man, being over six feet high, and as keen in business as he was alert to scientific progress’. Herman recounted that he learnt most of what he knew about pharmacy from Brew. The same periodical reported that ‘Mr Herman Schweitzer and his pharmacy as one where many in the trade have gained experience.’ The article lists their names, including James John Field, who later became a successful ink manufacturer, and named his first son ‘James Herman Field’. Herman Schweitzer remained in partnership with Brew until 1857, at first remaining at 71, East Street, but subsequently moving his business to new premises at 86, King’s Road, Brighton.
Herman and Rebecca’s only son, Herman Molyneux Maximilian Schweitzer was born at 22 Devonshire Place on 7 Apr 1847 and baptised at the Chapel Royal, North Street, Brighton. Sadly, young Herman did not survive his first year, and died at Upper Rock Gardens on 8th March 1848. This may have been at Rebecca’s parents’ house, as there was a John Atkins running a boarding house in Upper Rock Gardens at this time.
The Schweitzer family continued to live at Devonshire Place, where daughters Ann and Marie were born in 1848 and 1851. Sarah Atkins, Rebecca’s mother was staying with them at the time of the census in 1851. Their third daughter Minna was born in 1856.
On 13 August 1852, Herman applied for probate[iv]PCC 11/2157/216 on the will of Ann Hunter, previously known as ‘Mother H’, widow of Amon Wilds, architect, and wife of Thomas Hunter. Herman was named joint executor with Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, surgeon of Saville Row.
Under Ann’s will, a complicated listing of legacies and bequests, Rebecca Schweitzer was left property in Doncaster, and the house of Amon Wilds, No 9, [v]later renumbered as No 13 Richmond Terrace, Brighton, which was Ann Hunter’s own home at the time of her death. Rebecca was also left a vast quantity of personal effects, including the furniture at No 9 Richmond Terrace. In addition to property, Herman personally received from Ann Hunter “the oil portrait of myself in the parlour of my present residence my Grandmother’s diamond brooch my large ruby ring set round with diamonds and the gold watch and chain I always wear with it” I do not know what had led Rebecca Schweitzer to receive such bounty from Ann Hunter, who as I have previously told, was one time proprietor of the notorious 13 Brydges Street, Covent Garden, and otherwise known as ‘Mother H’.
Herman was left 20b Hanover Street, and Thomas Archer Brew 20a Hanover Street. It seems that surgeons and pharmacists were among Ann Hunter’s most valued friends, possibly indicating a preoccupation with her own health.
In 1859, Herman was in business as ‘Schweitzer, Holder and Broughton: Agricultural Chemical Works, Scabes Castle, Lewes Road’, but the venture was not a great success, and there were complaints from the neighbours. Although Joseph Holder went on to develop a less noxious method of producing artificial manure, Herman appears to have withdrawn from the business by 1860.
By 1861, The family had moved to a new premises at 86, King’s Road, where they lived over the shop and let rooms. In 1861, as well as Herman and Rebecca and their three daughters, they also had an apprentice, an assistant, and a servant. A newspaper report[vi]Brighton Guardian 25 Jan 1860 tells that “Madame” Rachel Levison (or Jacobs) who had rented rooms at 86 King’s Road, complained about the smell of the chemicals from the shop. Actually. It appears that this tenant was more trouble than she was worth, as she was running a dubious ‘beauty’ business, itself responsible for noxious fumes, and was later prosecuted for fraud, because her beauty treatments damaged her clients’ skin.
It appears that although he was working hard on developing his new food product, later marketed as ‘Cocoatina’, Herman was still having difficulty in raising enough cash to set up a production facility.
In 1864, he mortgaged a third of his property to the Bank. This involved an annuity of £32 from Thomas Hunter plus all estates and interests due to him from Ann Hunter’s estate. In 1866, he transferred the mortgages to Joseph Price, a Birmingham banker who had an office in London.[vii]ESRO 6811/8-42
Although Herman was listed in the 1867 Post Office Directory at 86 King’s Road: ‘Dispensing and analytical chemist,’ this was his last period in Brighton, and in the same year, the family moved to 17, Cantelows Road, Camden, leaving the pharmacy in Brighton in the hands of Herman’s nephew (or cousin), Julius.
In August 1867, Herman’s wife, Rebecca, at the age of 54, died of a heart condition at 17 Cantelows Rd, leaving Herman with two daughters, his London business, and the property she had inherited from Ann Hunter in Richmond Terrace, Brighton. In the same year Herman was obliged to bring a case in Chancery against Edward Hunter Atkins (nephew of Rebecca) and Otto Schweitzer for selling an inferior product resembling ‘Cocoatina’ under their own name. It appears that the pair had worked with Herman in Brighton, and decided to benefit from his hard work by imitating his product.[viii]TNA 16/530/S160. 1868
On 20th February 1868, he married Frances Jane Ellerby, sister in law of his creditor, Joseph Price, and on 21 Nov 1868 Frances gave birth to a daughter, Franceska Helena Maud at 17 Cantelows Rd.
By 1870, H Schweitzer and Co. 10 Adam Street Strand, Cocoatina Manufacturers, were advertising in the national press. This business address is that of Thomas Edward Symonds, RN, with whom Herman had entered into a business partnership. The hot chocolate product proved a great success, famously marketed as a favourite bedtime drink of Queen Victoria. A factory was built at 35A King’s Road, which continued into the 20th century. The business became the property of Symonds and his heirs.
By 1871, Herman and family had moved to 29 Godolphin Rd, Hammersmith and acquired further property in Hammersmith. On 11 May 1880, Herman died at 14 Godolphin Road, Hammersmith, leaving his estate to his widow, Frances Jane Schweitzer, but his lasting legacy was in his daughters and their descendants.
Marie Louise Rebecca, the eldest, and daughter of Rebecca née Atkins, married Wilhelm Alexander Koch, a Swiss architect settled in England. Wilhelm Koch and Rebecca had 3 sons: Edward Hermann Alexander, who became a clergyman and writer, and Hugo William Martin-Kaye and Martin Niel Douglas Martin-Kaye, both of whom continued in their father’s architectural practice and publishing.
Her sister, Minna Ottolie Rose, married Alfred Greenwood, performer, writer, and teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. Their elder son John Danforth Hermann Greenwood composed the music for over 50 films. His brother, Edwin was an author, screenwriter and film director, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock.
Their half-sister, Helena Francesca Maud was a writer, who had published her first poetry anthology, ‘The Love-Philtre and other poems’ when she met the composer Granville Bantock in 1897. She accepted a commission from him to write 36 poems for his song cycles, ‘Songs of the East’. After they married, Helena continued to write for Bantock, including the words for several choral works, and ‘Sappho’ a suite with text based on Wharton’s translation of the ancient Greek poet.
And so it came about that the success of Brighton’s artificial mineral water, the largesse of an ex-brothel owner from Covent Garden, and Queen Victoria’s favourite hot chocolate, all contributed to the flowering of a creative family into the 20th Century…..
I would like to thank Father Raphael Hawkes and Jane Kaye for sharing their family histories.
