From Apothecaries to Innovation: The Story of Pharmacy in Ireland

"From Apothecaries to Innovation: The Story of Pharmacy in Ireland"

Join RCSI as we launch the Hayes, Conyngham & Robinson Pharmacy archive for Heritage Week 2025, a remarkable and newly digitised collection chronicling the story of one of Ireland’s most iconic pharmacy chains.

Founded in 1897, Hayes, Conyngham & Robinson group grew from a family-run shop into one of the country’s largest Irish-owned pharmacy chains. This extensive archive provides an extraordinary window into over 100 years of Irish medical, commercial, and social history.

From hand-written formula books and Materia Medica to photographs, ephemera, and personal papers, the archive captures the essence of Irish pharmaceutical practice—from its grassroots origins to modern times. The collection reveals the people, politics, and pioneering science that shaped the industry—through times of peace, war, rebellion, and modern-day innovation.
Join us in RCSI for this fascinating talk revealing the story of Pharmacy in Ireland which will take place on Tuesday 19 August from 12.30pm-13.30pm.

We will also be running a series of guided tours of our historic buildings on St Stephen's Green on Monday 18 and Wednesday 20 August from 12.30pm.
Tours will explore the role RCSI has played in both local and international history, from its formation in the eighteenth-century to the 1916 Rising, through two pandemics and two world wars.
Monday tour - 18 August, 12.30pm-1.30pm
Tuesday lunchtime talk - 19 August, 12.30pm-1.30pm
Wednesday tour - 20 August, 12.30pm-1.30pm

For further information visit www.rcsi.com/heritageweek