proudly presents:

Dr. William’s Pink Pills for Pale Peoplebrought to you by:

G. T. Fulford & CoBrockville, Ontario & Schenectady, New York

written & photographed by: Fergus JM Ducharme,

assisted by: Alexandra Gauthier & Sebastian Gauthier.

My two helpers. The Grandchildren Alexandra & Sebastien Gauthier

While at home in Canada on vacation, recently, I was reacquainted with the fascinating

story of Dr. William’s Pink Pills for Pale People. They became insanely popular in the

late 1800’s and early 1900’s and made a multi-millionaire of its proponent, a young

pharmacist and marketing genius George Taylor Fulford of Brockville, Ontario.

I was interested in revisiting Fulford’s story after seeing his mansion for the ‘umpteenth

time’ (now a Canadian National historic site) on Millionaire’s Row along the shores of the

St Lawrence River, at the far Eastern End of the World Famous 1,000 Islands..

The Fulford family occupied Fulford Place from 1900 to 1987.

George Taylor Fulford II, assumed responsibility for Fulford Place in 1946, after the

death of his mother, Mary Wilder White. George II’s children lived there as well: George

Taylor Fulford III, Martha Charlotte Fulford and Dwight Wilder Fulford. George Taylor IV,

the great-grandson of George Taylor Fulford I, often visited Fulford Place.

© historicphilippines.com 2014. All Rights Reserved

George Taylor Fulford Mary Wilder White Fulford

Mary & George were married in Brockville in 1880 and lived in Brockville

George Fulford, Sr., operated a drugstore business, which was modest at first, and later

found wealth in patent medicines, particularly "Pink Pills for Pale People." The Fulfords

then built an elegant home called Fulford Place.

The Fulfords were Liberals and were friends of Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier (The 1st

French Canadian Prime Minister of Canada). Laurier arranged for Mary to be presented

to Queen Victoria in 1899, and he appointed George, Sr. to the Senate in 1900. Five

years later, George, Sr., aged only 53, was fatally injured in a car accident, leaving Mary

to care for their young son and adult daughters.

In 1904, Fulford bought a 138-foot (42 m) long steam-powered yacht. Originally named

The Cangarda, he rechristened it The Magedoma after his family (MAry, GEorge,

DOrothy, MArtha).

They entertained many guests on this ship, including several Canadian Prime Ministers,

and, in 1927, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Kent, and the British Prime Minister.

The Fulfords lent the Magedoma to the Canadian Navy during World War II as a training

vessel in the St. Lawrence. It was returned to them in 1947 heavily damaged, and with

$13,000 in lieu of repairs. They sold the boat shortly after, and it has changed hands

several times since then, and it is now being restored. Magedoma Drive, a street in

Brockville, was named after the famous boat.

Mackenzie King met Mary Fulford through the Lauriers. In 1907, Sir Wilfrid and his wife

made an attempt at matchmaking between Mackenzie King and the Fulfords' daughter

Martha, who had recently been widowed, but this effort was not successful.

In 1927, when King was Prime Minister, and the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII

and then Duke of Windsor) and the Duke of Kent visited Canada, George Fulford, Jr.

suggested that the royal visit include Brockville. King made the necessary

arrangements, and he travelled with the princes to Fulford Place and aboard the

Fulfords' steam yacht Magedoma.

Correspondence between Mary Fulford and

Mackenzie King began in the 1920s and, by the

early 1930s, she is regularly mentioned in his

diary. She and King were both interested in

spiritualism.

In February 1932, Mary Fulford introduced King

to the Detroit medium Etta Wriedt. King attended

seances with Mrs. Wriedt at Fulford Place. Mary

Fulford visited King in Ottawa on several

occasions and attended seances with him there.

On vacation in 1937, King stayed at the Fulfords'

winter home in Florida. For the opening of the

Thousand Islands International Bridge in 1938,

he stayed at Fulford Place.

Even after the death of Mary Fulford in 1946,

King remained on friendly terms with the family.

Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People was a late 19th to early 20th century patent

medicine containing iron oxide and magnesium sulfate. It was produced by Dr. Williams

Medicine Company, the trading arm of G. T. Fulford & Company. It was claimed to cure

chorea, referenced frequently in newspaper headlines as "St. Vitus' Dance," as well as

"locomotors ataxia, partial paralyxia, sciatica, neuralgia rheumatism, nervous headache,

the after-effects of la grippe, palpitation of the heart, pale and sallow complexions, and

all forms of weakness in male or female."

In 1890, G. T. Fulford & Company obtained the rights to produce Dr. Williams' Pink Pills

for Pale People, and began marketing it through Dr. Williams Medicine Company.

Reverend Enoch Hill of M.E. Church of Grand Junction in Iowa, endorsed the product in

many 1900s advertisements, saying that it energized him and cured his chronic

headaches. Eventually, the product came to be advertised around the world in 82

countries, including its native Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In the

late 19th century, the pills were marketed in the UK by the American businessman John

Morgan Richards.

The Pink Pills were widely used across the British Empire and, as the historian of

Southeast Asia, Mary Kilcline Cody, puts it, "If the invulnerability magic of the solar topi,

the spine pad and the cholera belt failed, Europeans could always rely on the Pink Pills

to alleviate the pressures of bearing the white man's burden".

In the early 1890s, the publicity for the product was written by John MacKenzie, the

editor of the daily newspaper in one of the nearby towns. In 1892, he was made

manager of the medicine company, and held that position until his retirement in 1929.

When George Taylor Fulford, Sr., the Canadian senator that founded G. T. Fulford &

Company, died in 1905 in an automobile accident, George Taylor Fulford II became

involved in the family business.

Today, the home of George Taylor Fulford, Sr. in Brockville, Ontario, Fulford Place, is a

tourist attraction that showcases the success of patent medicine products. It was

acquired by the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 1991.

Early in our presentation we mentioned that George I was a marketing genius…why was

that, and what is it that made his marketing strategy so powerful.

Fulford went to business college in Belleville, Ontario, and apprenticed with his brother,

William, who was a dispensing chemist in Brockville. He took over his brother’s modest

apothecary in 1874 and eventually built on it to form a successful patent medicine

company.

He was elected to the town council in 1879 and served as an alderman for 12 terms. He

was involved with the Liberal Party of Canada and became a friend of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

He was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1900 representing the senatorial division of

Brockville, Ontario. He served until his death in 1905.

George Taylor Fulford is reported to be the first Canadian fatal automobile accident

victim on record. He was on a trip in Newton, Massachusetts with his business associate

W. T. Hanson and their wives, when the chauffeur-driven car the men were riding in was

sideswiped by a streetcar. Fulford died two days later, on October 15, 1905, at age fifty-

three. His widow never remarried.

Fulford was a philanthropist, giving considerable donations to institutions such as the

Brockville Rowing Club, the Wall Street Methodist Church, the Brockville General

Hospital, and the YMCA; in his will, he left a large sum of money to establish a home for

indigent women.

In January 1887, Fulford registered G. T. Fulford & Co. in the Leeds County Registrar, as

a vendor and manufacturer of patent medicines.

In 1890, a local McGill-trained physician, Dr. William Jackson, sold him the rights to Pink

Pills for Pale People for $53.01. This patent medicine would make him a millionaire.

Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People were marketed in 87 countries worldwide,

including Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and

China. Fulford was an innovative advertiser.

He relied heavily on testimonials, submitted by customers, of miraculous recoveries.

He would have these printed in newspapers in a way that it was difficult to differentiate

news articles from the advertisements, so readers would see headlines proclaiming

these miraculous recoveries, and read on to learn that they were saved by Pink Pills. By

1900, he was spending £200,000 yearly in Britain alone on advertising.

Dr William’s Pink Pills for Pale People were sold in Canada for fifty cents per box, or

$2.50 for six boxes. Essentially, they were an iron supplement, containing mostly sugar,

starch and an iron sulphate. While not the cure-all they were marketed to be, in an age

where anaemia was common, the pills truly did make people feel better.

The Business Strategy

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