Herbalists’ fight for freedom

King Henry VIII and The Herbalists’ Charter

In 1542, under Henry VIII, an Act was passed that became known as the Herbalists’ Charter. This Act legalised herbalists, and protected people who had ‘knowledge and experience of the nature of herbs, roots and waters’ to ‘practice use and minister in’ them to help others, without being punished for it.

The Charter implies that herbal medicine still flourished at that time, that a very wide range of diseases (some life-threatening) could be treated by these practitioners, and that they had friends in high places. It also provided, ‘a flimsy legal roof under which (the profession of herbal medicine) has sheltered and flourished to this day in Britain’ as stated Barbara Griggs in her excellent book Green Pharmacy, a history of herbal medicine (1981).

Herbs during wartime Britain

300 years later, in the wake of the two World Wars, Britain was to once again depend almost wholly on homegrown herbs for all our healthcare needs. In Britain’s green allies: Medicinal plants in wartime (2015), Peter Ayres describes the use of herbs in Britain during this period. He reminds us that we still have our own homegrown medicines here in the UK, a topic particularly relevant now in the context of self-sufficiency and valuing our own resources. This relevance has been reinforced more recently against the backdrop of issues of food security and leaving the EU, perhaps causing problems with the supply and quality of dried herbs, as well as the supply of medicinal products from abroad.

During the Second World War, while the country was fighting for our sovereignty and self determination, an Act was passed that meant that ‘for the first time in history herbalists were forbidden to sell their own herbal medicines’. (Leyel, 1943) The Pharmacy and Medicines Act 1941 was passed in the midst of this resurgence of the desperate need for – and evident recognition of the huge value and effectiveness of – herbal medicine. It is a piece of legislation that reveals how vulnerable our legal rights to our native culture can be, and reminds us just how vigilant we need to be to protect our right to use herbal medicines.

The Pharmacy and Medicines Act 1941 and its impact on herbal medicine

The 1941 Act was a convoluted piece of legislation that deprived ‘a large section of the public of the only medicines that will cure them ‘ (Leyel, 1943). Many people are shocked when they learn about this chapter in the history of herbal medicine in this country. The founder of the Society of Herbalists, Hilda Leyel, has a whole chapter in her book The Truth about Herbs dedicated to stating the herbalists’ case against the 1941 Act. She eloquently describes ‘the peculiar manner in which the Act was passed, in the name of herbalists and their patients she demands its amendment so that their ancient art may be freely practised as before and the public’s right to enjoy its benefits may be fully restored’. The Society of Herbalists, founded by Leyel and the predecessor to The Herb Society, was instrumental in the fight for modern herbalists to be able to practice their craft.

The Act arose from pressure put on the government by chemists to legislate against herbalists, their trade rivals, following a tax situation. Patent medicines were taxed twice, via Stamp Duty and Purchase Tax, after the latter was introduced during the war to reduce wastage of raw materials. It’s illegal to impose a tax on another tax, and the chemists sued the government to return all the overpaid money. The government was reluctant to do so. They repealed the Medicine Stamp Duty in 1941, but the chemists wanted more compensation. They revived a previously rejected bill, The Medical and Surgical Appliances Bill of 1936, and after consultations with all the chemists’ associations, including grocers’ – but without herbalists or their patients – redrafted it.

Various parliamentary manoeuvres were employed to get the bill passed, including the late printing of the bill, leaving only 2 weekdays between its publication and the debate. The bill was also complicated and obscurely worded, so the real effect on herbalists was disguised.  There were two clauses in the Act which seriously affected herbalists: a clause calling for all active ingredients of preparations to be listed and a clause restricting the sales of medicines to doctors, dentists and druggists, which removed the right of herbalists to sell medicines to the public. This meant that herbalists could only sell dried herbs. It deliberately excluded all the preparations used by herbalists and made practice impossible, and made them illegal practitioners overnight.

The bill also gave the right to inspect and prosecute herbalists to the Pharmaceutical Society –  the official organisation of the chemists’, and the herbalists’ hostile trade rivals – rather than an independent authority representing the community as a whole. As Leyel says, ‘Obviously the power to prosecute in such circumstances is the power to persecute’. Herbalists and their patients were assured that the practice of herbalism would not be affected by the bill, but the government refused to amend it to safeguard herbal practice. Amendments, including for a postponement for further time to discuss the bill, were sought by the Society of Herbalists and some were agreed, but then rejected on the final reading. The bill was rushed through.

The Ministry of Health allowed the addition of water to herbs, but no preservatives. 

It carefully concealed the aim of the bill to prohibit the sale of herbal medicines by herbalists, and was designed to legislate them out of existence. It gave pharmaceutical chemists a monopoly on the sale of medicines, deprived herbalists of their existing right to sell herbal medicines, and contributed hugely towards the shift from natural to synthetic drugs.

Herbalists continue to practice and fight for their rights

The 1941 Act effectively made it illegal for herbalists to dispense medicines to their patients. Herbal practitioners largely ignored the legislation and continued to dispense, and 27 years later the 1968 Medicines Act partially restored our rights to use and buy herbal medicines in the UK. The Society of Herbalists was again involved with the passing of this Act, along with other herbal organisations such as The National Institute of Medical Herbalists. Further legislation continues to affect the practice of herbal medicine.

This is within the living memory of some of us. Hopefully we can reflect and learn from our own experiences and the historical accounts, and remember just how hard people have fought for our right to practice the ‘ancient craft’ of herbal medicine. We must continue to do so now and in the future.

References

Ayres, Peter. (2015) Britain’s Green Allies: Medicinal Plants in Wartime. Market Harborough: Troubador Publishing.

Griggs, Barbara. (1981) Green Pharmacy: A History of Herbal Medicine. London: Jill Norman & Hobhouse.

Leyel, C.F. (1943) The Truth About Herbs. London: Andrew Dakers.

2nd Viscount Plumer (Thomas Hall Rokeby Plumer), who was one of the directors of Culpeper House and on the council of The Society of Herbalists, gave a speech in the House of Lords highlighting how the Act would affect the practice of herbalism. Read a transcription of the debate here.

Thank you to herbalist, artist and Herb Society Ambassador, Rowan McOnegal , for writing this section.