SIP, SIP, SIP OF BONNINGTON’S
One of Christchurch’s most successful chemist and druggist shops was owned by George Bonnington.
Following in the footsteps of his oldest brother Charles, George left Nelson in 1872 to set up a small shop in Christchurch. Located on the west side of Colombo Street, between Gloucester and Armagh, it was a modest establishment.
Alongside remedies, soaps, perfumes, and infant foods, Bonnington sold the latest photographic materials and Nelson fruit wines. Unfortunately, gallons of fruit wine and homemade remedies weren’t enough to ensure success. He was declared bankrupt in 1875, and his business passed into the hands of his brother.
A tenacious entrepreneur, George was living with his family in Nelson when he concocted a dark brown syrupy cough mixture of vinegar and an extract of seaweed called carrageen, sweetened with honey.
Known commonly as ‘Irish Moss’, carrageen had been used to thicken jellies, blancmanges and broths for centuries. Its medicinal qualities were well recognised. Mixed with milk, sugar and spices, it made a nutritious and easily digested decoction for invalids suffering from consumption, coughs, asthma or dysentery.
George’s Irish Moss preparation, a remedy which had grown popular in Nelson, became the business’s cornerstone product. Before the year was out, the business had moved into a larger shop on High Street not far from Lichfield Street corner.
By the end of 1876, ‘Bonnington’s Pectoral Oxymel of Carrageen or Irish Moss’ was being sold in stores and chemists throughout Canterbury. The product made George Bonnington a wealthy man.
Bonnington guaranteed that one dose was an effective cure for any cough. Its sweet taste was responsible for making it one of the most popular medicines of its day. However, the taste had probably more to do with the secret ingredients – opium and morphine – which provided a pleasant after taste and effect.
Bonnington’s trademark line “start that sip, sip, sip of Bonnington’s Irish Moss” was used for years to promote the continued consumption of the product which is still manufactured today... in Australia!