(Material researched & presented by Barbara Armstrong)

Edward Ash had established his Chemist & Druggist business in Elizabeth Street by 1857, in what was the old Hobart City Hotel premises. The street number for the business changed over time, but this was possibly because the city's street numbering system altered.

The Colonial Times of January 1857 records E. Ash as a Chemist and Druggist at 172 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town. However, at that stage there was no mention of the sale of homœopathic medicines.

From mid-1866 to early 1867 he advertised that:

Every description of Homœopathic Medicine, Medicine Cases, books, &c, &c, may be obtained from E. Ash, Chemist, &c, 136 Elizabeth-street, Hobart Town

 Although an item in The Mercury of October1860 stated that Edward Ash, Chemist and Druggist, had been declared insolvent, later advertisements from 1863 indicate that he was still in business at 136 Elizabeth Street.

 In February 1878 an advertisement stated:

HOMŒOPATHY

Edward Ash and Son

Homœopathic Chemists

60 Elizabeth-street, Hobart Town

Have just received from Messrs Leath & Sons of London, a fresh supply of the

PUREST HOMŒOPATHIC MEDICINES

which will be sold at London Prices.

Wholesale and Retail.

From 1884 (after the death of Edward senior) Edward Ash & Son conducted business from Elizabeth Street and Main Street Waratah.

The Hobart firm was then named Edward Ash & Co, Percy Ash, then Ash Sidwell.  In 1932 Ash & Sidwell sold to Bob Bester.  The sale agreement required the name ASH to be retained, so the business was called Ash Bester.

By 1895 Percy Ash was advertising the sale of "Ash's Homœopathic Medicines". According to the advertisement, these medicines had been:

in extensive use for over a quarter of a century, and have established a high reputation for purity, strength and reliability. Letters received from leading residents, both in town and country, testify that Ash's Homœopathic Medicines are the best.

The medicines were sold in bottles for one shilling each, or post free one shilling and one pence to any part of the colony on receipt of stamps or post office order. They were sold by Percy Ash, Homœopathic Chemist, at his pharmacy, 84 Elizabeth Street, and by country storekeepers.

While the above advertisement stating that Ash's medicines had been sold "for over a quarter of a century" would indicate that the medicines had been sold since about 1870, a later advertisement in 1912 stated that the remedies had "half a century's reputation to them". This would indicate an earlier starting date for Ash's brand name being used, from around 1862.

© Barbara Armstrong