Booker Health Foods Ltd

Purveyors and wholesalers of health foods

In 1987 a member of the Library's staff noticed on a bread wrapper that Dr Thomas Allinson (1858-1915), pioneer of healthy lifestyle and eating, was described as an Edinburgh graduate. Enquiries by his colleague, the Reference Librarian in the Erskine Medical Library, revealed that Dr Allinson was not a graduate but a licensee of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh; he had clashed with the medical establishement and been struck off the Medical Register and the College for advertising his own products, including wholemeal flour and vegetarian foods as well as his own publications advocating a health lifestyle. On learning of the Library's interest Booker Health Foods Ltd, who had taken over Allinson's firm, donated Dr Allinson's personal archive of publications, press cuttings, promotional materal and manuscripts. A checklist is available for consultation in the Special Collections Department.