Our Pioneers

Over its 100 year history, The Society of Herbalists, now The Herb Society, has involved many people of note. Our founder, Hilda Leyel, had a very influential group of friends, and even after her death many important figures in the herbal world continued to support the Society.

Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (1878 – 1959) was at times Chairman and President of the Society throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
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(1878 – 1959) was at times Chairman and President of the Society throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry

Edith was a champion for women’s suffrage, and supported local suffrage groups where she lived in Northern Ireland. During the First World War she set up the Women’s Legion, which was a voluntary organisation set up to provide a female workforce to support essential duties during the war.

Edith worked with gardeners to create the famous gardens at the Steward family estate Mount Stewart, which were given to the National Trust in 1957.
Eleanour Sinclair Rohde (1881 – 1950) was on the advisory committee for the Society in the 1930s.
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(1881 – 1950) was on the advisory committee for the Society in the 1930s.
Eleanour Sinclair Rohde

Eleanour was a noted gardener, garden designer and horticultural writer. She was a student at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and later passed her Oxford entry exam with History, English Literature and Old English, going on to study History there in 1901. (Although women were able to attend lectures, Oxford did not grant them degrees until 1920). She attended Maud Grieve’s Whins Herb Farm and Training College and was also a member of the Guild of Herb Growers. She also became the first woman to design a garden at RHS Chelsea Flower show in 1921.

She was a prolific writer who published nearly a book a year from 1920-1941, including titles such as A Garden of Herbs (1920), The Old English Herbals (1922), The Scented Garden (1931), The Story of the Garden (1932) and Uncommon Vegetables (1943).
Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC (1901 – 1983) was involved with the Society from the 1930s until the 1960s and was the Chairman throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
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(1901 – 1983) was involved with the Society from the 1930s until the 1960s and was the Chairman throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC

Christmas was a barrister who worked at London’s Old Bailey. He took part in many seminal legal cases throughout his career including the Tokyo war crimes trial in the 1940s and the trial of the nuclear spy Klaus Fuchs in 1950. As a prosecutor he was also involved in several controversial murder trials in the 1950s. Public outcry over the outcome of some of these trials led to the abolition of capital punishment in the UK.

Christmas discovered Buddhism while a teenager and became a lifelong adherent to the religion. In 1924 Christmas, his wife Puck and some of their friends founded the London Buddhist Lodge (later the Buddhist Society), which still exists today.

He was a prolific author, writing several books about Buddhism and books of poems. He published a poem in honour of the Society’s founder entitled “To Hilda Leyel, Herbalist”, in his book of poems Seagulls: and other poems (1942)
Margaret Isabel Frances Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (Glyn) (1888 – 1977) was involved in the Society from the 1930s and remained the President after Hilda Leyel’s death in 1957 until her death in 1977.
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(1888 – 1977) was involved in the Society from the 1930s and remained the President after Hilda Leyel’s death in 1957 until her death in 1977.
Margaret Isabel Frances Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (Glyn)

Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh and her husband inherited the 17th century mansion Uppark in Surrey in 1931. While working on Uppark’s restoration, she was introduced to soapwort (Saponaria officinalis). She would go on to use the herb to clean over 30 sets of Italian brocade curtains dating from 1740, which sparked a lifelong dedication to saponaria in particular and herbs in general.

While president of the Society in the 1960s, Lady Meade-Fetherstonhaugh worked closely with other herbal organisations, such as the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, to ensure herbalists were given recourse to practice in the UK. Due to this campaigning, the Medicines Act 1968 provided exemptions from licensing for certain herbal remedies if they were supplied following a consultation, contained only herbal substances, had no proprietary trade name and made no medicinal claims.

Her son, John Herbert Meade, 7th Earl of Clanwilliam (1919 – 2009) was the Chair of the Society for 13 years (1971 to 1984).
Frank Newman Turner(1913-1964) was a committee member of the Society in the 50s, as well as a consulting herbal practitioner.
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(1913-1964) was a committee member of the Society in the 50s, as well as a consulting herbal practitioner.
Frank Newman Turner

Frank was a pioneering organic farmer, medical herbalist, naturopath and osteopath. He owned a farm where he used organic practices. He established the Institute of Organic Husbandry and was on the council of The Soil Association.

Frank also took on publication of the magazine of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, which he relaunched as Fitness and Health from Herbs. In 1962 he was made a Fellow of the Institute for his work on behalf of herbal medicine.
Christopher Hedley(1946-2017) was an active member of the Herb Society from the mid-1980s until 2000, during which time he was a member of its Council, including a brief stint as chair.
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(1946-2017) was an active member of the Herb Society from the mid-1980s until 2000, during which time he was a member of its Council, including a brief stint as chair.
Christopher Hedley

Although he was a professional practitioner of herbal medicine for over 35 years, and was indeed made a Fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, and taught herbal medicine at degree and Master’s levels, he valued the importance of encouraging engagement with medicinal plants throughout our lives and from as many angles and perspectives as possible, meaning that he was very much aligned with the Herb Society’s ethos.

Along with his wife, Non Shaw (1947-2017), also a practitioner, and an artist and inveterate maker of things, they felt that it was practical home-based skills, especially growing, gardening, cooking, sharing food and stories, knowing the people in our communities, and treating with simples and practical care, that created the sensibility and awareness necessary to engage directly with living medicinal plants, with this engagement being the ultimate source of our knowledge. For Christopher, knowing medicinal plants through their life cycles and through herbal tea-tasting were key elements of being a herbalist.

(text from Guy Waddell, photo Amanda Cook)

Our Pioneers

Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (1878 – 1959) was at times Chairman and President of the Society throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

(1878 – 1959) was at times Chairman and President of the Society throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry

Eleanour Sinclair Rohde (1881 – 1950) was on the advisory committee for the Society in the 1930s.

(1881 – 1950) was on the advisory committee for the Society in the 1930s.

Eleanour Sinclair Rohde

Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC (1901 – 1983) was involved with the Society from the 1930s until the 1960s and was the Chairman throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

(1901 – 1983) was involved with the Society from the 1930s until the 1960s and was the Chairman throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Travers Christmas Humphreys, QC

Margaret Isabel Frances Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (Glyn) (1888 – 1977) was involved in the Society from the 1930s and remained the President after Hilda Leyel’s death in 1957 until her death in 1977.

(1888 – 1977) was involved in the Society from the 1930s and remained the President after Hilda Leyel’s death in 1957 until her death in 1977.

Margaret Isabel Frances Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (Glyn)

Frank Newman Turner(1913-1964) was a committee member of the Society in the 50s, as well as a consulting herbal practitioner.

(1913-1964) was a committee member of the Society in the 50s, as well as a consulting herbal practitioner.

Frank Newman Turner

Christopher Hedley(1946-2017) was an active member of the Herb Society from the mid-1980s until 2000, during which time he was a member of its Council, including a brief stint as chair.

(1946-2017) was an active member of the Herb Society from the mid-1980s until 2000, during which time he was a member of its Council, including a brief stint as chair.

Christopher Hedley