Silas Burroughs, the Man who Made Wellcome: American Ambition and Global Enterprise

Silas Burroughs was an exceptional entrepreneur who arrived in London from America in 1878 and created an internationally successful firm with his business partner Henry Wellcome. He was a consummate salesman and astute businessman with new ideas for marketing, advertising, and manufacturing. He was also a visionary employer who supported the eight-hour working day, profit-sharing, and social and radical political movements.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 25 August 2022
Publisher: James Clarke & Co Ltd

Silas Burroughs arrived in London from America in 1878 and proved himself an exceptional entrepreneur, taking the pharmaceutical business by storm. He was the brains and energy behind Burroughs Wellcome & Co. With his business partner Henry Wellcome he created an internationally successful firm, the legacy of which can be found in the charity the Wellcome Trust, yet few now remember him and the impact he made in his short lifetime. A consummate salesman, Burroughs was also an astute businessman, with new ideas for marketing, advertising and manufacturing: his writings describe sales trips around the world and the people he met. He was also a visionary employer who supported the eight-hour working day, profit-sharing, and numerous social and radical political movements, including the single tax movement, free travel, Irish Home Rule and world peace. In this first biography of Burroughs, Julia Sheppard explores his American origins, his religion and marriage, and his philanthropic work, as well as re-evaluating the dramatic deterioration of his relationship with his partner Wellcome.

Weight: 530g
Dimension: 155 x 233 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780718895990