[1][2] Having sought autonomy for many years, the apothecaries finally separated from the Grocers' Company on 6 December 1617 when they were granted a royal charter by James I.

Amongst the notable people who qualified in medicine as a Licentiate of the Society (LSA) were the poet John Keats (1816), Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1865, thereby becoming the first openly female recipient of a UK medical qualification) and Nobel Prize winner Sir Ronald Ross KCB FRS (1881).

[4] The society was granted Arms by William Camden (Clarenceux) on 12 December 1617, less than a week after receiving its royal charter; the efficiency possibly indicating some planning of the break from the Grocers' Company.

The society motto – which, unusually, is specified in the blazon of the Grant of Arms and is therefore immutable – is Opiferque Per Orbem Dicor, a Latin part-quotation from Ovid referring to the Greek deity Apollo, meaning: "and throughout the world [I am] called [the bringer of] help".

This puts the motto in context and makes it particularly relevant to apothecaries: Inventum medicina meum est, opiferque per orbem dicor, et herbarum subiecta potentia nobis.

This is specific and unusual, although it is not unique (peers' helmets are also borne with some apparent authority by the Fishmongers', Goldsmiths' and Clockmakers' companies).

The building, originally part of the Dominican priory of Black Friars, was called Cobham House prior to its purchase by the society in 1632.

A new hall was built on the same site and completed in 1672 to the design of Edward Jerman; an "elaboratory" was included at this time for the first-ever large-scale manufacture of drugs.

A major restoration and building programme was carried out in the 1780s, which included the stucco facing in the courtyard and new west and south ranges.

Notable people who qualified in medicine as a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA) include the poet John Keats (1816), Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1865, thereby becoming the first openly female recipient of a UK medical qualification) and Nobel Prize winner Sir Ronald Ross KCB FRS (1881).

The lectures in this series are named after persons significant to the Apothecaries' Society and medicine in general: Monckton Copeman, Geoffrey Flavell, John Locke, Osler, Sydenham, Sir Hans Sloane, and Gideon de Laune.

[10] Due to its historical holdings, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries is a member of The London Museums of Health & Medicine group.

In fact, the membership is predominantly made up of prominent physicians (rather than surgeons who, for historical reasons, are more likely to be members of the Barbers' Company).

The Clerk wears a black solicitor's gown trimmed with blue ribbons, and the Beadle's robe is decorated with miniature hanging rosettes.

Other roles in the society include the Dean (a senior member who oversees the educational functions), the Registrar (who directs the examinations' department), the Curator, and the Presidents of the Faculties.

[13] After Sir Hans Sloane granted the society rights to the manor of Chelsea, the four-acre (16,000 m²) garden became the richest collection of medicinal plants in Europe under the direction of Philip Miller.

Its seed exchange programme, originally initiated with the Leiden Botanical Garden, led to cotton being planted for the first time in the Colony of Georgia.