The regulation of medicinal products by officials in the United Kingdom dates back to the reign of King Henry VIII (1491–1547).  The Royal College of Physicians of London had the power to inspect apothecaries’ products in the London area, and to destroy defective stock.  The first list of approved drugs, with information on how they should be prepared, was the London Pharmacopoeia, published in 1618.  The first edition of what is now known as the British Pharmacopoeia was published in 1864, and was one of the first attempts to harmonise pharmaceutical standards, through the merger of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Pharmacopoeias.  The Neo-Latin name that had some currency at the time was Pharmacopoeia Britannica (Ph. Br.).
In 1844, concern about the dangers of unregulated manufacture and use led William Flockhart – who had provided chloroform to Doctor (later Sir) James Young Simpson for his experiment on anaesthesia – to recommend the creation of a Universal Phamacopoeia for Great Britain in his inaugural speech as president of the Northern British branch of the Pharmaceutical Society. 
A commission was first appointed by the General Medical Council (GMC), when the body was made statutorily responsible under the Medical Act 1858 for producing a British pharmacopoeia on a national basis.  In 1907, the British Pharmacopoeia was supplemented by the British Pharmaceutical Codex, which gave information on drugs and other pharmaceutical substances not included in the BP, and provided standards for these.
The Medicines Act 1968 established the legal status of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission, and of the British Pharmacopoeia, as the UK standard for medicinal products under section 4 of the Act.  The British Pharmacopoeia Commission continues the work of the earlier Commissions appointed by the GMC, and is responsible for preparing new editions of the British Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary), and for keeping them up to date.  Under Section 100 of the Medicines Act, the Commission is also responsible for selecting and devising British Approved Names.
Since its first publication in 1864, the distribution of the British Pharmacopoeia has grown throughout the world and it is now used in over 100 countries.  Australia and Canada are two of the countries that have adopted the BP as their national standard; in other countries, such as South Korea, the BP is recognised as an acceptable reference standard.