Eric Knott was the last Apothecary at the Royal Public Dispensary and the last Principal of the Duncan School of Pharmacy. He linked pre-war apothecary practice to post-war chemist dispensing. This paper tracks his career from the Duncan School of Pharmacy, transfer to Heriot-Watt College in 1936, to the close of the Royal Public Dispensary in 1963, when the premises were transferred to the University of Edinburgh. It draws on unpublished archival material and long unseen collections from National Museums Scotland to explore what Knott’s career can tell us about the impact of new legislation and the introduction of the NHS on pharmacy in Scotland.
