'A Modern Herbal' - information -long

October 10, 2006

Those of you who have a copy of 'A Modern Herbal' by Maud Grieve may

find the following of interest. I wrote the review below around 10

years ago, after having letters from a lady who did a lot of research

into Mrs Grieve. She has since died, but fortunately has given all

her papers to the UK Herb Society. Only last week a herbalist in

Australia contacted me as she is writing a biography of Mrs Grieve

and hopes to come to the UK next year. She knows who has some of the

documents including Mrs Grieve's extensively revised Modern Herbal

which was never published. I have my doubts it will be published by

a regular publisher, but if we could persuade the owners of that

manuscript to let us republish it as an internet project that would

be fantastic. My aim would be to use any profits to create a Maud

Grieve scholarship in her memory. This lady contributed so much

knowledge to herbal medicine but has never recieved the accolades she

deserves. If any readers know anyone who has photos of Mrs Grieve,

or her nursery, I would love to hear from them. I can enhance old

photos to almost as good as new. Someone does have copies as some

were published in the 1980s.

Any contact to: info

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A MODERN HERBAL.

A short review of the life of Mrs. M. Grieve F.R.H.S. writer and

teacher.

By Martin Watt

Born in Islington on 4th May 1858 and named Sophia Emma Magdalene.

She married at a young age and spent many years with her husband in

India.

Upon return to England, she moved to The Whins cottage, Chalfont St.

Peter, Bucks. Here in 1916 she founded a training school in the

cultivation of medicinal plants. Students came from many countries in

order to learn about all aspects of medicinal plant production.

Mrs. Grieve made great efforts to persuade the farming community in

the UK, that many of the plants which were imported could easily and

profitably be produced at home. At a time when our agriculture is

looking to finding new crops to put on land taken out of wheat

production, much of the research needed will be found to have already

been done 50 years ago.

At its height a very extensive business was run from The Whins. Much

of this was possible due to Mrs. Grieve's prolific research and

writing ability. She produced separate leaflets on every plant to be

found in her Herbal, assisted in this by Miss Ella Oswald F.R.H.S.

Medalist of the Society of Apothecaries.

These booklets had more information than that now available in her

book. It should of course be borne in mind that the book had to be

edited to get all the information into the two volumes. Unfortunately

for Herbalists now, the heavy editing was on hints for gathering,

transportation, drying etc. These leaflets were available by post for

9d each, 6 for 4s, 12 for 7/6.

I have many of these originals booklets, some with Mrs. Grieves

handwritten notes in purple ink. She was dealing in ton lots of

herbs and in one note she talks about purchasing 20 tons of Dandelion

roots from one grower.

As well as leaflets on plants now in the book, many other booklets

were produced on subjects such as: 'Plants for bees' both for pollen

and nectar, 'The soil and its care', 'Economic trees and their by-

products', 'Herbs for epicures, vegetarians etc.', 'Fungi as Food and

in Medicine', 'Bulbs and Tubers', 'Plants of Sweet Scent', 'Herbs and

Vegetables in the Orchard & in the Wild'.

Postal courses in cultivation, harvesting, drying and marketing were

also offered at 12 lessons for 5 guineas.

With the death of her husband in 1929 her financial position steadily

declined. She had no children to breath new life into the business.

She wrote " my Modern Herbal has been published and will be on sale

29th June, but they have not sent me a copy, nor has Mrs. Leyel

returned all my reference books " . (Mrs. Leyels activities in respect

to Mrs. Grieves valuable book collection are a sorry chronicle in

themselves).

In 1932 the financial strain was such that Mrs. Grieve could not

afford to pay a man to cut firewood. She clearly continued to write

as in 1936 she took the manuscript of a new book to her publisher.

They refused it and despite her efforts to preserve the work it

vanished for over 60 years. Fortunately a single copy of this

manuscript is now know to have survived and its location is known to

a few people. Whether it ever gets published is another issue. I

have a couple of photocopied pages and her 'new' book actually

appears to be a major revision of 'a Modern Herbal'

In 1939 her mental state deteriorated and she went into a home. Whins

cottage contents were sold in the same year. The garden which at one

time had over 400 varieties of medicinal plants now lies under

houses, but apparently the cottage still stands.

Maud Grieve died on the 20th december 1941. Her writings on Herbal

medicine are still second to none in the depth of knowledge

encountered.

October 11, 2006

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aromamedical2003

10/10/2006 6:57:07 PM