Barry’s Tricopherous was primarily billed as a hair care product that was popular both in the United States and abroad from the mid-nineteenth century up through the early twentieth century. Originally touted as a cure for baldness, by the late 1800’s its suggested uses had expanded to include skin disruptions as well.
An elegant dressing. Prevents baldness, grey hair, and dandruff. Makes the hair grow thick and soft. Cures disruptions of the skin. Heals eruptions and diseases of the skin. Heals cuts, burns, bruises and sprains…
Later, by the 1920’s its claims had been toned down quite a bit with one ad simply saying:
There is no more effective treatment for the scalp and hair than a few drops of Barry’s Tricopherous gently massaged into the scalp two or three times a week… You will feel the healthful effect of Tricopherous. It makes your scalp tingle with health!
A product labeled Barry’s Tricopherous is still made today by the firm of Lanman & Kemp-Barclay.
According to several stories making the rounds on the internet Barry’s Tricoperous was invented in 1801 by the father of a man named Alexander C. Barry. Later advertisements, published in the 1880’s actually state “Established in 1801.”
That being said, New York City directories and early newspaper items paint a different picture, suggesting the product got its start, not in 1801 but in the mid-1830’s, and not with the Barry’s but with a man named Vair Clirehugh.
In 1835/1836 Clirehugh, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was first listed in the NYC directories at 158 1/2 (later 160) Fulton Street with the occupation “wig maker.” As early as October 27, 1835 this advertisement touting his business appeared in New York’s “Evening Post.”
The advertisement reads:
TO THE LADIES. – CLIREHUGH, Ladies Hair Dresser, from London, respectfully solicits the patronage of the ladies of New York.
The experience of 20 years, and the patronage of the Royal Family and principal Nobility of England, may have some influence in recommending him as an artist whose classic and scientific engagement of the hair will be esteemed by all who study the true graces of the person.
The intended winter fashions have arrived. The costume of the Courts of London and Paris are to be the prevailing mode; and those ladies who will honor his abilities with a trial may at all times depend on his personal attendance.
Ornamental Hair of every description.
158 Fulton street. one door from Broadway, north.
Three years later Clirehugh began advertising what he called “The Tricopherous or Medicated Compound” for the prevention of Badness and Grey Hair, with his earliest ads appearing in October, 1838 editions of New York’s “Daily Herald.”
Sounding introductory in nature the ad stated, in part:
It is the only effectual remedy ever discovered to prevent baldness and Grey hair – to restore the Hair where it has fallen off – and to eradicate Scruff and dandruff. Prepared by CLIREHIGH, Hair Cutter, 160 Fulton Street, New York.
Although in number and variety there may be no want of specifics for the preservation of the Human Hair, yet the article now presented to the public, though entirely new in its composition, has claims superior to anything of the kind ever offered for the same purpose, its production being the result of extensive medical research and experience.
The proprietor is favorably known in this city, and celebrated as a Hair Cutter and Wig Maker; and for some years prior to his arrival in this country, attended the Lectures of the most distinguished Physiologists in London and Edinburgh, for the purpose of attaining a correct knowledge of the Anatomy of the Skin, the Organization and Structure of the Human Hair, and to trace the causes which produce baldness and grey hair.
The opportunities afforded by his professional duties have assisted his studies, and he has become skilled in the various Diseases of the Skin, as connected with the growth of the hair; and after a series of experiments, this Compound has been produced, with a confidence that it will restore the hair wherever it has fallen out or got thin, as well as preserve it from ever changing color.
By the early 1840’s, advertisements for Clirehugh’s “Tricopherous or Medicated Compound” were appearing in U.S. newspapers up and down the east coast from Massachusetts to Washington D.C. This May 19, 1840 “Baltimore Sun” advertisement naming a wig maker named August Croyeau as his local Baltimore agent was typical.
Sometime, likely in 1841 , three years after Clirehugh began advertising Tricopherous, Alexander C. Barry apparently came on the scene working in Clirehugh’s salon on Fulton Street (he’s not listed in the NYC directories until 1842). At some point, there was some sort of disagreement and Barry was either fired or resigned depending on who you believe, after which Barry, now listed two blocks away at 160 Fulton Street, began selling Clirehugh’s Tricopherous at the discounted price of fifty cents a bottle. The drama that followed played out in the local newspapers beginning with this October 20, 1841 “New York Tribune” item run by Clirehugh.
DARING ATTEMPT AT IMPOSITION. – A person lately discharged from my employ has had the bare-faced audacity to possess himself of numerous show bills and fancy labels connected with the sale of my Tricopherous. He has likewise issued a handbill headed “Clirehugh’s Tricopherous,” into which he has had the impudence to copy verbatim the principal advertisements of my wrapper, and has put a label and printed “directions for use” on each bottle, similar in every respect to the original, and adds “that it is the same article which he manufactured while in my establishment.” The circumstance of such a gratuitous, unmitigated, and unlashing falsehood only requires to be denied by me, and the person making such assertion held up to public scorn.
I scarce deem it necessary to say that no one at any time, in or out of my employ was ever entrusted with the secret, and could not by any means arrive at it, and that none but myself and son ever knew any thing of its composition or manufacture. His attempt to impose a spurious imitation of the genuine Tricopherous, where he, in his ignorance and cupidity thinks the public will be entrapped to purchase because charged only 50 cents, will be duly appreciated.
The individual who could be guilty of such conduct will not hesitate as to any means he may adopt to deceive and impose on the public…
VAIR CLIREHUGH
Barry’s response appeared the next day in the October 21, 1841 edition of the “New York Tribune”
TO THE PUBLIC. – The despicable fellow who keeps the Hair Cutting Rooms at the corner of Fulton and Broadway, is openly, but fruitlessly endeavoring to lessen me in the estimation of the Public regarding the sale of “The Tricopherous” elicits this response. So far from being discharged from his employ, as he asserts, I beg to say, that I voluntarily resigned my situation, for the sole reason that he in his usual and degrading system of swindling refused to pay me my just demand, a fact which can be proved in the Third Ward Court. It is likewise false to assert that I did not manufacture the article called “The Tricopherous,” in his establishment; in proof of which I hereby offer the sum of $500 to any chemist in this or any other city, to analyze its ingredients and say that it is not the identical compound sold at the above place for One Dollar, that I sell at Fifty Cents. If this does not satisfy the Public, I will publish the constituent parts of the compound.
A. C. BARRY, 146 Broadway.
Making matters worse, by 1843 both were located on Broadway within two blocks of each other; Clirehugh at the corner of Fulton Street and Barry at the corner of Liberty Street. By then, each was advertising what was almost certainly the same exact product under their respective names, “Clirehugh’s Tricopherous” and ‘Barry’s Tricopherous,” while at the same time accusing the other’s as being an imitation. In a series of September 1843 “New York Tribune” items they went so far as to even accuse each other of copying the wording in their newspaper items.
In his September 1, 1843 item Clirehugh wrote in part:
…To assist the deception, C.’s advertisements have been copied verbatim – the fellow being to ignorant to write one…
And here’s Barry’s September 23, 1843 response, copied verbatim:
To assist the deception Barry’s advertisements have been copied verbatim, the fellow being to ignorant to write one.
The battle in the newspapers simmered down shortly afterward but the two remained competitors for the next decade and a half with each of them marketing what was almost certainly the same, or nearly the same product under their respective names.
During this time Clirehugh listed various addresses on lower Broadway, with the New York City directories associating him with various occupations that included “tricopherous”as well as “wig maker” and “perfumer.” An October 24, 1851 advertisement in the “Brooklyn Evening Star” that led with the following headline…
…went on to locate Clirehugh’s ‘principal depot” at 179 Broadway.
At the same time Barry, who had recently anointed himself with the title of “professor…”
…listed his business in the directories at 137-139 Broadway with occupations that included both “wig maker and “tricopherous.”
Clirehugh died suddenly on May 27, 1860. His obituary, published in the June 11, 1860 edition of Toronto’s “Globe and Mail,” told the story.
Our obituary of today contains the announcement of the death of Mr. Vair Clirehugh, a native of Edinburgh, and long a resident of New York, which melancholy event took place on board the steamship “Glasgow” on her voyage to New York. His death was wholly unexpected. He embarked on board the “Glasgow” in apparently robust health, with the view of returning to New York, after a lengthy visit to his native land with the view of spending the remainder of his days in the United States.
Clirehugh’s son who the New York City directories suggest joined him in business sometime in the 1840’s remained in the hairdressing business but apparently did not continue to manufacture or market Clirehugh’s Tricopherous, at least to any great extent. The last mention of Clirehugh’s Tricoperous that I can find was in the September 20, 1862 edition of a Norwich, Connecticut newspaper called “The Bulletin.” Ironically it appeared in an advertisement run by a local retailer that listed both Barry’s and Clirehugh’s Tricopherous under the single heading of “Hair Preparations.”.
Barry pressed on and sometime in the late 1850’s he moved his operation to 374 Pearl Street where it was first listed in New York City’s 1859 directory. Over the next ten years his operation continued to gain notoriety so much so that advertisements for Barry’s Tricopherous began appearing in such far away places as Australia. One such ad appeared in the August 13, 1862 edition of Austrailia’s “Newcastle Chronicle.”
In 1868, Barry also passed away unexpectedly when according to a story written years later in the September 8, 1912 edition of the “New York Times:”
…Barry fell down three flights of stairs in his residence, 471 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, and died of a fractured skull.
Subsequently, according to another story found in the November 17, 1907 edition of Buffalo, New York’s “Illustrated Times,”
Not long after her husband’s death Mrs. Barry sold the business for $10,000. to a nephew.
Not long after, Barry’s nephew, also named Alexander Barry, turned the rights to Barry’s Tricopherous over to a merchant and exporter named George C. Barclay. In a notice dated July 15, 1870 Barclay announced that he had acquired the rights to the generic name “Tricopherous,” having not only acquired the rights to “Barry’s Tricopherous,” but “Clirehugh’s Tricopherous” as well. The announcement appeared as a “Special Notice” in the July 27, 1870 edition of the “New York Daily Herald.” The notice read in part:
AN IMPORTANT NOTICE TO DRUGGISTS AND dealers in proprietary articles. Office of Barry’s Tricopherous for the Hair, 374 Pearl Street, July 15, 1870.- The undersigned begs to notify the trade that he has, by purchase, become sole owner of the good will, trademarks and business of and in “Barry’s Tricopherous,” and of and in “Clirehugh’s Tricopherous;” and he thus becomes the sole possessor of the right to the word “Tricopherous,” and also of the names “Barry” and “Clirehugh” in connection with the word “Tricopherous”…
He then went on to sign the notice
GEORGE C. BARCLAY, Sole Proprietor of “Barry’s Tricopherous” and of “Clirehugh’s Tricopherous.”
The notice in full is shown below.
Initially it appears that the younger Barry and Barclay continued to work together at Barry’s Pearl Street depot where both were listed in early 1870’s editions of Goulding’s Business Directory. As early as 1871 they had even added a hair dye to their menu as evidenced by this July 30, 1871 advertisement that reads:
Barry’s Tricopherous
Does not color hair. It is the best of all dressings and preservers, but BARRY’S SAFE HAIR DYE is expressly for coloring any shade, from a light auburn brown to a beautiful black…
Court records, “Clara S. Barclay v. Reginald G. Barclay,” summarized in the 1915 edition of the “Trade Mark Reporter,” pick up the story from there.
A co-partnership known as Barclay & Co., was formed in 1873 between Alexander Barry and Thomas Barclay. George C. Barclay was not a member of the firm of Barclay & Co., but he controlled and owned the firm name, good will, and the various trade-marks used in the business, which the co-partnership used under a rental agreement with George C. Barclay.
Now located at 26 Liberty Street, the company continued to expand their product line under the “Barry” name, as evidenced by this September 6, 1873 advertisement for Barry’s Pearl Cream.
As early as 1877 they were also selling products under the name “Dr. Reuter” as well. This 1879 “Reuter’s Life Syrup” advertisement found in a Hartford, Wisconsin newspaper called the “Times Press,” also included a pitch for Barry’s Tricopherous
The partnership between Thomas Barclay and Barry was apparently time limited and “expired by its own limitation” on December 31, 1877. A notice to that effect appeared in the January 14, 1878 edition of the “New York Herald.”
Less than a month later, on January 18, 1878, a new partnership was formed. Also called Barclay & Co., a notice that appeared that day in the “New York Herald” named George Barclay’s sons, William O. and Reginald G., as principals with no mention of Barry.
Initially the business listed 7 Burling Slip as their address until the company moved to what would become their long-time headquarters on the corner of Pearl Street and Stone Street (44 Stone Street and 77 Pearl Street), a location acquired by George C, Barclay in March of 1881. The real estate transaction was documented in the March 25, 1881 edition of the “New York Times.”
Over the next 20 years Barclay & Co. remained on Stone & Pearl during which Barry continued to be associated with the firm for much of the time. After disappearing from the NYC directories for a while in the late 1870’s and early 1880’s, he was once again listed at the firm’s address in 1883, and by the late 1880’s the NYC Copartnership and Corporation directories were again naming him as a principal in the firm, but now under the name Alexander Barrie. According to a December 1, 1885 story in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle:”
Changed His Name
Alexander Barry of Montague Street, yesterday obtained from City Judge Clement permission to change his name to Barrie, his family name from some years ago until his grandfather changed it. Mr Barrie is a member of the firm of Barclay & Co. New York Wholesale druggists.
New York City’s Copartnership and Corporation Directory dated March, 1888 reflected the name-change from Barry to Barrie.
The court records, “Clara S. Barclay v. Reginald G. Barclay,” went on to say that after George C. Barclay’s death in 1897, the business relationship between his sons and Barrie continued.
George C. Barclay died in November 1897, and bequeathed the aforesaid property to his two sons William O. Barclay and Reginald G. Barclay, in equal shares with certain monthly payments to his wife and daughter. On December 31, 1897 a partnership agreement was entered into between William O. Barclay, Reginald G. Barclay, and Alexander Barrie to carry on business under the firm name of Barclay & Co. On the same date an agreement was made by the executrices of the will of George C. Barclay with the said persons, as co-partners, whereby during the continuance of the co-partnership they were given the right to use the name of Barclay & Co. and the good will thereof, and various trademarks which at his death had been the property of George C. Barclay.
Four years later William O Barclay also passed away after which Barrie and Reginald G. Barclay continued as partners under yearly agreements.
According to court records “Clara S. Barclay v. Reginald G. Barclay,” by 1904 their product menu included a series of products using both the Barry and Reuter name.
This early U. S. advertisement for one such product, Reuter’s Soap, appeared in the December 16, 1905 edition of “Brooklyn Life” (later ads suggest it was being marketed overseas as early as 1880).
On December 31, 1912 Alexander Barrie announced that he was separating from the business. The notice appeared in the January 4, 1913 edition of the “New York Times.”
The younger Barry (now Barrie) passed away four years later, in January 1917.
Around the same time Barrie left the business it apparently moved to 26 Beaver Street and in April, 1913 Reginald Barclay incorporated the business in Delaware. An August 3, 1915 “New York Times” story filled in some details.
… Reginald C Barclay incorporated Barclay & Co. in Delaware in April 1913 with a capitalization of $3,000,000… During May, 1914, Barclay conveyed his rights in the old Barclay & Co. to the new Delaware corporation and later it was discovered that the new company owned all the assets and business of the old.
Six years later, in December, 1919, with Reginald G. Barclay now apparently out of the picture, a company called Reuter-Barry was incorporated, with the notice appearing in the December 21st edition of the “New York Times.”
Still located at Barclay & Company’s 26 Beaver Street address, this 1923 price list found in the “Druggist Circular” confirms that the company continued to market products under both the “Barry” name and “Reuter” name including “Barry’s Tricopherous.”
This Reuter-Barry advertisement found in the 1925 “North American Almanac,” touted both “Reuter’s Soap” and “Barry’s Tricopherous.”
Sometime in the early 1930’s it appears that Reuter-Barry merged with Lanman & Kemp of Florida Water fame forming Lanman & Kemp-Barclay. The first listing I can find for the company appeared in New York City’s 1933 directory.
Following the merger, it appears that Lanman & Kemp-Barclay primarily focused the marketing and sale of Barry’s Triccopherous on overseas markets. U. S. newspaper advertisements for Barry’s Tricopherous vanished by 1930 and by the mid to late 1940’s the product had all but vanished from newspaper advertised drug store price lists. That being said, as late as 1973 it was still being advertised in Austrailia, as evidenced by this ad that appeared that year in several editions of a Melbourne newspaper called “The Age.”
Today, Lanaman & Kemp Barclay is still in business and still producing a version of Barry’s Tricopherous.
The bottle I found was blown in a mold and closely matches the one pictured in this late 19th century advertisement.
