Pinkham, Lydia E(stes) (1819–1893)

US entrepreneur and patent-medicine proprietor who claimed she could cure any ‘female complaint’.

Pinkham began her manufacturing business in a cellar kitchen where she developed and mixed her own formulae. Although her claims of cures were never substantiated, her mixtures became increasingly popular, as was the Department of Advice she set up with an all-female staff to deal with the huge volume of enquiries the Lydia E Pinkham Medicine Co. attracted.