Everitt, Dudley Wootton (1901 – 1972)

Dudley Wootton Everitt M.P.S. (13 February 1901 – 18 June 1972), Honorary Associate Member of the Faculty of Homeopathy, was the head of Nelson’s Homeopathic Pharmacy, and a Trustee of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

In April, 1924, Dudley Wooton Everitt married Marjory Winifred Dora Nelson (11 May 1902 – 18 June 1972), granddaughter of Ernst Louis Armbrecht, the founder of Nelson’s Homeopathic Pharmacy.

Everitt died with his wife, Marjory (Margot), in the Staines Trident plane crash in June, 1972.

Homeopaths and homeopathic supporters Isabel Campbell, Marjorie Golomb, Elizabeth Sharp Hawthorn, Sergei William Kadleigh, sisters Kawther Theresa Kandalla and Ludi Marylone Kandalla, Joan Mackover, John Robertson Raeside, Mary Stevenson, Elizabeth Somerville Stewart and Thomas Fergus Stewart, also died in that fatal crash.

Dudley Everitt was a close friend of John Bertram Leslie Ainsworth, Evelyn Eglington, Donald MacDonald Foubister, John DaMonte and very many others.

Dudley Everitt contributed to homeopathic provings, and wrote for the British Homeopathic Journal. He also served as Social Secretary for the International Homeopathic League Quinquennial Congress held in London from July 23rd – 27th, 1956.

Dudley Everitt donated boxed homeopathic remedies to every graduate of the London Missionary School of Medicine, but this ceased after his tragic death in June, 1972.

 

Dudley Wooton Everitt’s Obituary was provided by John Bertram Leslie Ainsworth in the British Homeopathic Journal vol. 61, no. 4  (October 1972), page 252:

Mr. D. W. Everitt, M.P.S. who, with his wife, died in the recent Trident air disaster, was a leading figure in homeopathic pharmacy, both nationally and internationally, and he will be sadly missed by his many friends and colleagues throughout the world. They leave two daughters.

I came to know him well during 26 years of business association at A. Nelson and Co. Ltd., for I joined the Company in 1946 immediately on my discharge from the Army.

It is to him that I owe my knowledge of Homeopathy, for he spent many hours and days explaining the detail of this specialized branch of medicine which calls for a true understanding of pharmacy in the most complete sense.

His varied interests were undoubtedly stimulated by his contact with the profession of pharmacist, especially in homeopathic pharmacy which retains so many traditional medicaments, holding steadfastly to that which is good despite many new innovations in pharmaceuticals which have increasingly displace the older drugs in standard practice.

He was born in Croydon in 1901, was educated at Whitgift School, and then took a course in civil engineering. He did not take this up as a career and entered banking for a time.

Nearby the Croydon home lived the Nelson family and in 1942 he married Marjory, eldest daughter of Ernest L. N. Nelson, son of the founder and then owner of “Nelson’s” Homeopathic Pharmacy. Ernest’s father, Armbrecht Nelson, founded the Company in London in 1860. Mr. Everitt joined the firm in 1926 and qualified in 1929. At that time the Pharmacy was engaged in the preparation of homœopathic medicines and nostrums, as well as producing Coca wine and Pyrethrum powder and liquid.

Mr. Nelson was perhaps the first pharmacist to procure radium for use in the preparation of Radium Water, a speciality found most effective in the treatment of rheumatism and allied complaints. Bottles were sold at £3 3s. 0d. each, even at that time.

The Coca wine necessitated adequate cellarage for the large pipes of burgundy wine which were infused with Coca leaves, and space was found at 73 Duke Street, which building was the third home of the Company and was built by the founder.

The homeopathic side of the business steadily developed under Mr. Everitt’s guidance, and reached a standard of excellence which persuaded the late Royal Physician Sir John Weir, G.C.V.O., to entrust to the Pharmacy the dispensing of homeopathic medicines for his illustrious clientele, and it was this action that probably brought about a very considerable increase in prescription dispensing activity from that time onward. In 1930 the Limited Company was formed.

After the War international connections were developed steadily, and when I joined the firm it was to be in an era of expanding activity.

Mr. Everitt’s hobbies were stamp collecting (he had a very large collection from correspondence all over the world), and gardening. He grew many plants used in homeopathic pharmacy in his Maidenhead garden. He was a keen motorist and travelled a great deal on the Continent. He was interested in anthropology, and had made a pre-war world trip taking in a visit to a coconut plantation in New Guinea which he owned at that time. He was also an active Freemason.

He will be sadly missed in homeopathic circles, he had been a Council Member of the British Homeopathic Association for many years; latterly he was Hon. Treasurer of the Homeopathic Research and Educational Trust of the Faculty of Homeopathy, and was the first Honorary Associate Pharmaceutical member of the Faculty of Homeopathy.

Mr. Everitt had been a member of the Comite International Des Pharmaciens Homeopathes since 1955, holding the office of President twice, the last occasion being in 1971 when the Committee met at Strasbourg in the Council of Europe building. Regretfully his unfulfilled trip to Brussels would have continued the work started at Strasbourg, and would have had an important bearing in relation to Common Market Affairs.

Fortunately, just prior to this trip he had seen the fulfillment of four years’ work in relation to the regulations to be made in the Medicines Act concerning homeopathic medicines. In this work he had the able assistance of F. W. Adams, B.SC., F.P.S., F.R.I.C., former Secretary and Registrar of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and a few days before they left for Brussels, the Company was advised that all the homeopathic products it produces had been granted a Licence of Right. In addition the necessary Manufacturing Licence was in hand with the Department of Health and Social Security following a valuable visit from the licensing officers at the D.H.S.S.

The double tragedy is that Mr. Adams and his wife perished in the same aircraft, thus cutting short what had developed into an extremely valuable association with Homeopathy, and which would undoubtedly have developed greatly in the future.

A. Nelson and Company Limited is continuing operations in this specialized field, and it is to be expected that it will be called upon to play an increasing role in the field of medicine, for despite lingering doubt relating to the unusual concept of the infinitesimal dose modern preoccupation with pollution and ecology will find in this system of medicine an exquisite concept of conservation of material which will be, perhaps, the most important contribution to be made to our global existence for the future.

Memorial Address, given by Dr. Llewelyn Ralph Twentyman, at the Memorial Service commemorating those who died in the aircraft disaster. Held at the church of St. George the Martyr, Queen Square, London W.C.1, on Thursday, 29 June, 1972. Printed in the British Homeopathic Journal vol. 61, no. 3 (July 1972), pages 130-133:

“… And then, DUDLEY EVERITT, perhaps more widely known in the world of Homoeopathy, and really it is a world, in the five continents, than anyone else perhaps from this country. Whoever came to congresses when we had them in this country, found that the wheels worked smoothly, found that all the strife and conflicts which are part of the activities of this world, had by Dudley Everitt’s self-effacing tact been smoothed away. I know from his colleagues on the Continent, how grateful they were, that this man, who looked so modest, who looked so gentle, had the capacity of justice in their Councils in Europe where they met. The more we learnt to know him, the more we experienced and saw his wisdom in our Councils, the more I think we learnt to honour him. And there was with him Margot, his wife, always so full of good-natured humour...”