The Society of Herbalists (1927-1976)
Early History (1927 to 1957)
The Herb Society originated in 1927 as The Society of Herbalists. From then through to 1953, the society was guided and developed mainly by one woman – Hilda Leyel.
Culpeper Shops
Hilda’s enterprise began earlier that year when she opened Culpeper House on Valentine’s Day 1927 at 10 Baker Street, London. The shop provided herbal medicines, foods and cosmetics, and proved an immediate success. Several more branches followed in London, and within a short time the Culpeper brand had spread to shops throughout the fashionable towns of England, as well as Dublin and Paris.
It was this success that encouraged Hilda to apply her knowledge of herbs and their healing properties to the needs of patients dissatisfied with the drugs of orthodox medicine. Accordingly, she founded the Society of Herbalists as a non-profit making body for the application of the herbal art ,with consulting rooms above each of the Culpeper shops.
The Pharmacy and Medicines Act
This success was threatened in 1941 by a proposed Pharmacy and Medicines Bill, intending to create the Pharmaceutical Society to monitor and oversee the work of herbalists in the UK. As a body hostile to the practice of herbalists it would have imperilled the Society and its members, and made it impossible for herbalists to create their own medications.
Hilda brought a number of powerful friends together to oppose this bill, including Lord Plumer, Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh and Christmas Humphreys QC along with other members of the Society. Together, they were able to get the bill amended so that patients could still obtain herbal treatment through the Society. Lord Plumer gave a rare speech in the House of Lords defending the practice of herbal medicine and highlighting how the bill would affect herbalists.
The Library
During her lifetime, Hilda’s interest in discovering traditional herbal knowledge and applications led her to collecting some rare and valuable herbal books. In the 1940s her library was insured at £20,000 (which in today’s money – 2026 – is close to £1.5m!). The library was officially opened on 19th July 1951 by poet and Society of Herbalists advisory committee member, Edith Sitwell. The library was renowned, and described by art historian and expert in botanical illustration, Wilfrid Blunt, as ‘one of the finest privately owned collections of this country’.
After Hilda’s death in 1957, many of these books were sold. The Society maintained a library for members while it existed in physical premises. One of the few titles of any note that remains in the Society’s current collection is a 1636 Gerard Herbal, or The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, which is currently on loan to the Garden Museum.
The Society post Hilda’s death (1957 to 1976)
Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh
Following Hilda’s death in 1957, the role of President of the Society was given to Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh, one of the Society’s greatest supporters and good friend of Hilda Leyel. Lady Meade had reintroduced the use of soapwort for cleaning antique and valuable fabrics. She had learnt the traditional techniques when transforming the Georgian hangings at Uppark House, a 17th century house which she and her husband inherited. This practice, albeit in modified form, is still used by The National Trust at their fabric centre at Blickling Hall in Norfolk.
Stabilising
The Society was immediately faced with huge decisions after Hilda’s death: the move from their main premises, the breaking up and rehousing of the library, the finding of a new herbalist and new Council members, and much else. Meanwhile, the main work of the Society focused on encouraging herbal practitioners to join, supporting further shop openings, and writing books in order to ensure the library could continue as an excellent and accessible source of reference.
The Committee decided to sell off non-herbal books, a few of which went to the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. The rest were sold off at Sotherby’s for £23,308.00 in 1958 (over £1.5m in today’s money). Eight years later, in 1966, various stocks and shares were sold, and following this, the main part of the library was sold in a second Sotheby’s auction in March 1967. Approximately £10,000 from the sale of books went to Culpeper House. The Society was left with £20,000 in stocks and shares. In 1968 the Society and Culpeper were operating without loss and were the healthiest they had been since Hilda’s death.
The Society remained active and solvent through to 1966 under the joint leadership of Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh as President and Mr Christmas Humphreys QC as Chairman. Once the Society’s financial position was established, Mr Christmas Humphreys resigned his position and passed it over to JR Tattershall.
New troubles and new solutions
By 1970 Culpeper House was once again having financial difficulties. Christmas Humphreys returned as Chairman, and John Meade (Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh’s son) joined as Acting Chairman, although he had taken over the Chair by the following meeting and remained for a good many years. On 26th July 1972 the minutes record: ‘Mr Thomas will invest £50,000 in a new Culpeper Company, and the assets of Culpeper valued at £10,000 will be exchanged for shares in the name of the Society. The New Company will pay the Society £5,000 to write off the losses in the old Company and also an annual Royalty on a sliding scale for sales above £75,000 per annum.’ The Society retained ownership of the name Culpeper and had safeguards over the quality of products sold by the Company.
In the same minutes the future of the Society was discussed and John Meade expressed the view that only with the appointment of two full time consultants (members of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists) could the Society hope to survive. John Meade also proposed that Ian Thomas, the new Chairman of Culpeper Ltd, be elected to the Council of the Society of Herbalists, and this was agreed unanimously. The Society stated it was a society of herbalists and not medical herbalists, and considered itself a lay society. By this time a newsletter was being circulated to members, and lectures held in London.
Sense of an ending
On 28th November 1973 John Meade, in his role as Chairman, said that it was with great regret that the Trustees had decided, in view of the continued gravity of the financial situation, to close down the clinic and to cease running the Society at Bruton Street. The Secretary and the two dispensers would all cease to be employed. Anne Warren Davis, who had been acting as a consultant for the Society since 1967, asked that the Consultants should be given their own patients’ medical cards, previously the property of the Society, in order to make it possible to carry on seeing the patients, and this was unanimously agreed.
A new future
At the Annual General Meeting on 20th October 1976 it was decided that the Society of Herbalists would become The Herb Society, to reflect the changes in the Society’s activities. This was preceded by the Society gaining charitable status in 1974. The Herbal Review, a quarterly publication, was also started in 1976.