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Historical Herbalist: Mrs. M. Grieve

Herbs & Herbalism

Historical Herbalist: Mrs. M. Grieve

Introduction

Those that have studied herbalism have heard about Mrs. M. Grieve and her book A Modern Herbal. Born in 1858 in London, Sophie Emma Magdalene Grieve was introduced to herbal medicine during her time in India in the early 1880s.¹ Eventually, after many years in India, Mrs. M. Grieve and her husband, William, returned to England in the early 20^th century.

Herbalism in England

After returning to England, Mrs. M. Grieve and her husband settled into a home they called The Whins in Buckinghamshire.¹ She later found The Whins Medicinal and Commercial Herb School on the 6-acre property. Indeed, it is here that she shared her knowledge of how to grow, harvest, and prepare herbs for use in medicine with other women.² Not to mention, much of the knowledge she held came from her fellowship at the Royal Horticultural Society, a training school on herb growing, processing, and marketing. In addition, she was also the President of the British Guild of Herb Growers and a fellow of the British Science Guild.³

Frontline Gardening

In 1914, the government enlisted her to produce medicinal herbs. Due to the German control of multiple European countries in World War I, there was a shortage of medicinal supplies. Later, in 1916, her Herb School became the School of Drug Growing.⁴ During this time of war, she trained mainly wealthy women on how to harvest and prepare medicinal herbs.² Because of the war, the herbs for pain medication were in high demand and included foxglove, deadly nightshade, and wolf’s bane.¹In addition to Mrs. M. Greive’s herbal production, she also wrote educational materials as they related to herbs.⁵ In fact, in 1931, the much of the content in the pamphlets made their way into her book, A Modern Herbal.⁶ The book is an indispensable resource for herbalists today.