The Tannenbaum and Ingram Legacies in South Africa

In the late 1800s, Charles and Tilly TANNENBAUM settled in Roodepoort. They had seven children and ran a general store, Tannenbaum Bros., selling sweets and furniture. The family lived in the house at the back of the shop. They bought unassembled furniture (tables and chairs), assembled it and sold it to the public. Charles ran the business with his brother Samuel Henry.

In 1908, Samuel and his family moved to a cottage opposite the Wesylan Church. A new house was built on Liebenberg Street, which consisted of four bedrooms, a dining room, a breakfast room, a kitchen, a pantry, a bathroom, and an entrance hall. Samuel and his wife, along with their two children, occupied the two front bedrooms. The other two bedrooms were occupied by Charles and Tilly and their children. Water for the bathroom was boiled in paraffin tins in the kitchen.

Hyme was apprenticed to Jack BLAIR, who owned the E.J. Adcock pharmacy in Ockerse Street in Krugersdorp. Hyme’s younger brother, Jack, joined him there. The other two brothers, Len and Arthur, also joined him. Hyme later bought existing pharmacies and established new ones from Johannesburg to Carletonville. He offered managers a 50% share in the business. Hyme lived at 34 Burger Street in Krugersdorp.

Jack managed Keatings Pharmacy in Pretoria Street in Hillbrow. In 1925, he approached the matrons of nearby nursing homes and offered a dispensing and medical supplies service. He signed up The Norman, the Joubert Park, the Frangwen and the Esselen nursing homes, and Keatings became a busy pharmacy. His next venture was to order supplies from overseas for doctors and become the South African agent for the product, obtaining sole distributor rights.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, one of the overseas suppliers, Chinoin of Hungary, sent Dr Bondi JANOVICS, a medical scientist, to help Jack in getting doctors to prescribe Chinoin products, but he was not very successful. Bondi was going to be sent home but refused to go. He told Jack he would make pharmaceuticals in South Africa and approached another stranded colleague, Kuno HOFFER, a chemical engineer, to help him.

The two worked in the house next door to Keatings, experimenting and manufacturing pharmaceuticals. They collected glands and liver from the abattoirs and made a liver tonic called Bethtone. They manufactured injections of pituitary extract. Jack later built a small factory for them in Ophirton. In 1939, they gave Jack a box of ampoules containing ethyl chloride, an anaesthetic. Bondi’s wife Susie, a qualified pharmacist, was in charge of the ampoule division, which soon developed injectables, including dental cartridges.

The laboratory was named Saphar, and soon the two Hungarians were growing penicillin mould, making eye drops, ointments, and eventually tablets for several overseas companies. Shortly after World War II ended, the Hungarians visited Baxter in Chicago and asked for permission to manufacture their solutions in South Africa. They were given the contract, and a factory named Keagrams was set up in South Africa, making intravenous solutions. Saphar/Keagrams grew, and a new factory was built in Aeroton.

Fred INGRAM was born circa 1870 in Aisbeck, England. He married a French woman, Victorine Juliette Leonie ANDRE, in London in 1895. They came to South Africa before the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). His first chemist was at 73 Smit Street in Braamfontein. In about 1909, he moved the business to the corner of Twist and Kotze Streets, which later became known as Ingram’s Corner. Fred lived at 56 Kotze Street in Hillbrow until his death. In 1951, the original Ingram’s Corner made way for a building of the same name.

Fred’s wife was a qualified chemist but did not practise her profession in Johannesburg. She was the niece of a minister in the French government. Her mother remembered the 1870 Franco-German War when Strasbourg was invaded. One of her brothers was an officer in World War I and served under General JOFFRE. Leonie was a member of the South African Women’s Federation.

Fred died on 30 July 1921 at home from heart failure. He was buried at Brixton Cemetery in Johannesburg. Juliette died on 01 August 1939 at the Florence Nightingale Nursing Home in Johannesburg. She last lived at Maisonette, 20 Restanwold Drive in Saxonwold, Johannesburg.

Fred and Juliette’s children:

1. George Jules INGRAM (1897-1947, Germiston Lake, cyanide poisoning). He married Else Catherina JENSEN in 1922.
2. Andre (aka Tommy) INGRAM (1900-1939 Tzaneen). He was a chemist. He married Isobel Mary Grierson BRYDEN in 1929.
3. Edna INGRAM (1902-1987, Johannesburg). She married Gordon Francis PEARSE. She was a staff member of the Witwatersrand Technical College School of Domestic Science.
4. John INGRAM (1906-1961). He married Catherine Una Margaret SYKES in 1930.

Len (aka Long Len) was a manager at Fred Ingram’s Pharmacy in Hospital Hill, Hillbrow. The business was bought by G.J. Adcock Ltd. in 1930. Under his management, Ingram’s became the largest pharmacy in South Africa. The dispensary was kept open through the night.

One night in 1937, Hans ROSE came into the pharmacy. He was 26 years old and had recently arrived from Germany. He was a German-qualified chemist and was looking for work. He was good at making creams, face powders, rouges, lipsticks, and lotions. Long Len showed him his dry and chapped hands and asked him if he could make them soft. Hans said he could, provided that Long Len wrote a letter to the wholesalers, Sive Bros. & Karnovsky, asking them for what Hans required. Long Len wrote the letter and handed it to Hans.

The next morning, Hans was at the pharmacy with a large black pot filled with a white cream. The cream had no scent. Long Len went into the dispensary and found a liquid cream called “Ingram’s Camphor Cream”, which had been off the market for many years. Hans left with his pot and the camphor. By midday he had returned, and the smell of camphor filled the air. Long Len used some old red and white labels to cover a 4 oz. jar that he filled with cream. He rubbed some on his hands and soon had softer hands.

The pharmacy started marketing the cream, sending it to nurses working in the nearby hospitals and employing door-to-door agents. The demand overwhelmed Hans’s ability to make enough cream, and production was moved to the company’s factory in Krugersdorp. Hans eventually left the business to work for a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, but before he left, he handed Long Len the formula and method for Ingram’s Camphor Cream.

Archie ran the wholesale division of E.J. Adcock, supplying all the company’s stores. The company had wholesale branches in Welkom, Klerksdorp and Pretoria.

The family businesses did well from 1949 to 1978, expanding and acquiring other laboratories and companies. They diversified into over-the-counter products (Crowden products), retail photographic stores (Etkinds) and discount toiletries (French Hairdressing). The political upheaval in townships made life very difficult for managers, and vital personnel began to leave the country, leading to significant operational challenges and a decline in the company’s performance. The brothers sold their shares in Adcock Ingram to Tiger Oats. Jack stayed on as chairman for a while. Today, there are no family members involved with the company.

Charles TANNENBAUM was born circa 1867 in Pinsk, Belarus, the son of David TANNENBAUM (TENNENBAUM) and Leah (Leiba) HURWITZ. He died on 13 October 1939 in Roodepoort. He married Taube (Tilly) BONER (1875 Kelem, Lithuania – 1943 Johannesburg) on 27 July 1898 in London, England.

Their children:

1. Florence TANNENBAUM was born 08 Jun 1899 in Roodepoort.
   She died in Feb 1983 in Nigel. She last lived at 40 Third Avenue in Nigel.
   She married Isaac BONNER.
   Florence became a dressmaker.
   They had five children.
2. Hyman (Hyme) TANNENBAUM, born 05 Nov 1900.
   He died on 11 Sep 1970 in Krugersdorp.
   Educated at KES in Johannesburg.
   He married Pauline (Polly) KAPLAN.
   Children: Harold and Charles Mendel.
3. Jacob (Jack) TANNENBAUM, born 29 Aug 1902.
   He died on 13 April 1993 in Johannesburg.
   His first marriage was to Sarah (Sally) Phyllis WULFSOHN (1905-1985) in 1927. His second marriage was to Gertie MARKS in 1984.
   He had four children.
4. Leonard (Long Len) TANNENBAUM, born 24 Dec 1905 in Roodepoort.
   He died on 14 Jun 1999 in Cape Town.
   In the 1930s he owned Springs Skating Rink.
   His first marriage was to Jeanne MOSS in 1933 (divorced 1934). She died in 2002.
   His second marriage was to Mary Rose ALBERT (divorced 1947).
   They had four children.
5. Leiba TANNENBAUM, born 08 Sep 1906 in Roodepoort.
   She died on 07 Aug 1989 in Krugersdorp.
   She married Aaron BLUMSOHN in 1930.
   They had three children.
6. Arthur (Archie) TANNENBAUM, born 19 Jan 1910.
   He died in Aug 1980 in Krugersdorp.
   He married Rachel Regina ELION in 1938.
   They had three children.
7. Esther TANNENBAUM, born 13 Mar 1914.
   She married Israel (Bill) RESNICK in 1936.
   They had two children.

When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, Charles, Tilly, Florence, and Aunt Rose moved to Cape Town. Tilly sold fried fish to British troops coming off the ships. Charles sold oranges from wheelbarrows. After the war, the family returned to Roodepoort.

Barry TANNENBAUM was born in 1966 in Johannesburg, the grandson of the founder of Adcock Ingram. His father was Harold. In 2007 Barry immigrated to Sydney, Australia. In 2009 he was accused of running a R12.5 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest corporate fraud in South Africa. Although an arrest warrant was issued, South African authorities have never lodged a formal extradition request. He stated that there is no evidence of the claims. It was reported that in 2015 Barry was an Uber driver in Runaway Bay, Queensland. A book, The Grand Scam: How Barry Tannenbaum Conned South Africa’s Business Elite, was written by Rob Rose and published in 2013 by Zebra Press, Cape Town.