The County Herb Committees were a nationwide medicinal plant collecting scheme, established by the British Ministry of Health during World War II . They were set up at a time when the German occupation of France and the disruption of shipping lanes interfered with drug supplies. As in WWI , the British found that the Germans still largely dominated the pharmaceutical industry and consequently by the early 1940s there were critical shortages of essential medicines in hospitals and homes across Britain. The committee found that a number of imported drugs were derived from plants that were also native to Britain. By 1941 , they were publishing guides for herb collectors in the rural British communities. Various groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Women's Institutes and the elderly, were enlisted as collectors by Sir Arthur Hill, Director of Kew. In 1941 , the wholesale pharmaceutical company Brome and Schimmer published a booklet called Herb Gardening, describing the many roots, flowers and herbs needed by the Ministry of Health, and how to collect and dry them.
The County Herb Committees were a nationwide medicinal plant collecting scheme, established by the British Ministry of Health during the Second World War . They were set up at a time when the German occupation of France and the disruption of shipping lanes interfered with drug supplies. As in the First World War , the British found that the Germans still largely dominated the pharmaceutical industry and consequently by the early 1940s there were critical shortages of essential medicines in hospitals and homes across Britain. The committee found that a number of imported drugs were derived from plants that were also native to Britain. By 1941 they were publishing guides for herb collectors in the rural British communities. Various groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Women's Institutes and the elderly, were enlisted as collectors by Sir Arthur Hill, Director of Kew. In 1941 the wholesale pharmaceutical company Brome and Schimmer published a booklet called Herb Gardening, describing the many roots, flowers and herbs needed by the Ministry of Health, and how to collect and dry them.
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World War II
the Second World War
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WWI
the First World War
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