Robinson's Fever Cure

[Steerforth]

"Robinson's Fever Cure"

Circa 1950, my mother used to give me and my sister a dark syrupy liquid from a bottle when we were ill with a cold. I think this was the name, but I am not positive.

It tasted like Jaegermeister liquor.

I can find nothing whatsoever via Google, so I am wondering if it was only a local product sold in the Accy area.

Any help?

Thanks!

[Margaret Pilkington]

I was growing up in the 1950's....I cannot recall Robinsons Fever Cure....I can remember Fennings Fever cure, but never had it...so I would not know what it looked like or what it tasted like.

I can remember Bile Beans,Fennings Cooling powders, Fennings Little Lung Healers, Scotts Emulsion, Indian Brandee(nothing at all like Brandy)Dr Collis Brownes Cholodyne, Carters Little Liver Pills, worm cakes...but not Robinsons Fever Cure.
Could you perhaps have got the name wrong?
The only thick brown gloopy stuff that was ever given to us was sulphur and treacle(nasty stuff) to purify the blood.
I know this does not answer your question,there may be others a bit older than me who have the answer

[pifco]

I too remember all the patent "cures" that Margaret remembers but I did once partake of Fennings Fever Cure but I think that was quite thin and colourless. I wonder if Robinson's Fever Cure was made by one of the local chemists, many did bottle their own concoctions.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I also wondered that too...but would it have a brand name?

Those were the days....when the chemist mixed their own medicines.
I can remember Ma getting us a tonic from Thornbers .chemist at the corner of Higher Antley St and Ormerod St.
It came in a large glass bottle with a real cork....it was apple green and tasted vile.
We recovered so that we did not have to swallow more of the horrible stuff.

[Steerforth]

We think that Mum had two bottles. One was a bottle of nasty-tasting stuff, and that may have been the "fever cure", but it wasn't "Robinson's". If I do a search on "Robinson's (cough or cold), all I get is "Robitussin". I am perplexed that we cannot come up with the name.

[pifco]

Yes Margaret I remember bottles we used to get from Thornber's and they used to just have a hand written label. But when I left school was an apprentice printer and one of the first jobs I had to set was a label for some mixture for Emrick Eccles in Union Road I forget the full name of the concoction but it was something Balsalm. I remember the job mainly because I thought the chemist was called Henry Kettles and when the boss saw the proof he bust out laughing.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Steerforth

We think that Mum had two bottles. One was a bottle of nasty-tasting stuff, and that may have been the "fever cure", but it wasn't "Robinson's". If I do a search on "Robinson's (cough or cold), all I get is "Robitussin". I am perplexed that we cannot come up with the name.

Maybe that is the modern name for this cough mixture.
Your Robinsons Fever Cure....how you describe the appearance and the taste, sounds much more like a cough medicine.
And this trade name Robi (from the Robinson name) tussin is the Latin word for cough...whooping cough is medically called pertussis....so maybe that is the answer....but only an educated guess.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by pifco

Yes Margaret I remember bottles we used to get from Thornber's and they used to just have a hand written label. But when I left school was an apprentice printer and one of the first jobs I had to set was a label for some mixture for Emrick Eccles in Union Road I forget the full name of the concoction but it was something Balsalm. I remember the job mainly because I thought the chemist was called Henry Kettles and when the boss saw the proof he bust out laughing.

Maybe the labels were for Friars Balsam....the proper name for this is Compound Tincture of Benzoin....but everyone knew it as Friars Balsam.

I have used this many many times in my career....in a Nelson's inhaler with hot water. Then inhaled....excellent for clearing mucus from chests...used after surgery....and for patients with bronchitis....a dark runny treacle consistency

[Steerforth]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Maybe that is the modern name for this cough mixture.
Your Robinsons Fever Cure....how you describe the appearance and the taste, sounds much more like a cough medicine.
And this trade name Robi (from the Robinson name) tussin is the Latin word for cough...whooping cough is medically called pertussis....so maybe that is the answer....but only an educated guess.

I don't know about the UK's choices, but I don't think Robitussin comes with the "Jaegermeister" flavor. Vick's formula 44 does, but that came into existence in the U.S. in the 1960s or 1970s.

I am fairly certain that the name was "Robinson's", but I don't recall the rest of the name. My sister told me "fever cure", but I think she got Mum's two bottles mixed up.

[TubbyLes]

I remember it as "Fennings fever mixture" a colourless liquid and the worst I ever tasted.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Steerforth

I don't know about the UK's choices, but I don't think Robitussin comes with the "Jaegermeister" flavor. Vick's formula 44 does, but that came into existence in the U.S. in the 1960s or 1970s.

I am fairly certain that the name was "Robinson's", but I don't recall the rest of the name. My sister told me "fever cure", but I think she got Mum's two bottles mixed up.

Well, I know that Robitussin has a few flavours, but back in the 50's which is when you are talking about....cough mixture was invariably brown and gloopy....or a terrible red artificial cherry flavour.
You were meant to hold your nose and swallow it....if you complained you were told that it had to taste bad to do you good.
Never really got that concept....well, yes perhaps I did.
I actually liked Chlorodyne....and was once found under the stairs at my grandmas having slurped a goodly amount.
I only did it once.....I was given salt water to drink to make me sick it up

[Steerforth]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Well, I know that Robitussin has a few flavours, but back in the 50's which is when you are talking about....cough mixture was invariably brown and gloopy....or a terrible red artificial cherry flavour.
You were meant to hold your nose and swallow it....if you complained you were told that it had to taste bad to do you good.
Never really got that concept....well, yes perhaps I did.
I actually liked Chlorodyne....and was once found under the stairs at my grandmas having slurped a goodly amount.
I only did it once.....I was given salt water to drink to make me sick it up

The Robinson's, or whatever, was given to us circa 1950. I remember it because I loved the flavor, so I kind of doubt it was the nasty "fever cure". We emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1950s, and I always thought about that flavor but could not find it until Jägermeister became popular in the U.S. in the 1980s.

It is looking more-and-more as if it may have been a local concoction sold by a chemist in the Accy area.

[Lost in Cornwall]

My mother used Fennings Fever Cure for everything and it worked. She used to make me drink it straight from the bottle and after one swig you were cured because you never wanted another. I always used to swear it was poison and was overjoyed to discover later in life that at one point they had to reformulate it (probably before I was forced to drink it but you never know...) in order to remove the Nitric Acid and Arsenic.

[cashman]

I seem to remember the name FENNINGS little HEalers, or am i imagining that name? have no idea what they were?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by cashman

I seem to remember the name FENNINGS little HEalers, or am i imagining that name? have no idea what they were?

No Cashy....you are not imagining it.
Fennings Little(lung) Healers were tiny little pills that were taken to relieve a bad chest...or a cough.
Don't know what was in them....and I never tried them....there were lots of strange medicinal things you could get at the corner shop....but steer clear of Indian Brandee....it is camel pee in disguise.
I once feigned a belly ache to get my grandma to give me some....she did and it was horrible. Nothing at all like Brandy(which I once had an illicit swig of one Christmas it was for the pudding).