Dr William's Pink Pills for Pale People is the story of George Taylor Fulford a self made multi-millionaire from Brockville, Ontario. He bought the formulation for "Pink Pills" in 1880 from the 'inventor' and proceeded to market them world-wide and building his fortune. It's an interesting story.

1. proudly presents:
Dr. William’s Pink Pills for Pale People
brought to you by:
G. T. Fulford & Co
Brockville, Ontario & Schenectady, New York
written & photographed by: Fergus JM Ducharme,
assisted by: Alexandra Gauthier & Sebastian Gauthier.

3. My two helpers. The Grandchildren Alexandra & Sebastien Gauthier

4. 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.

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7. George Taylor Fulford Mary Wilder White Fulford
Mary & George were married in Brockville in 1880 and lived in Brockville

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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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