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The History of Lavender Part 2: 17th Century - Today

17th Century | 18th Century | 1900's | Today

17th Century - "Victorian Age"

Increasingly during the 17th century, as the knowledge of distillation spread throughout Britain, a variety a different essential oils were produced. These were blended to form natural perfumes and various ‘sweet waters’, which were commonly presented as gifts.

Lavender water remained one of the most popular gifts.
Furniture was also rubbed with lavender oil, as forerunner of modern wax and polish. It was also used to scent gloves, leather goods and women’s hair. Indeed, Victorian age as a whole demonstrated an incredible fondness for lavender, and it was frequently mentioned in honeyed Victorian verse where it once again joined forces with Cupid. An Elizabethan love song called “Lavender’s Blue” re-emerged over 100 years later as the popular Victorian nursery rhyme:

Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, lavender’s green;
When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen …

Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I (reign: 1625-49), brought Continental cosmetics to the English court, introducing the idea of perfuming soap with lavender oil, making pot-pourri and using lavender waters for washing and bathing.

It was during the seventeenth century that the great herbalists, Gerard, Perkinson and Culpeper wrote their herbals, generating considerable public interests in all herbs. In 1597 John Gerard published ' Herball, or General Historie of Plantes' which is now considered a herbal classic. Although the very first essential oils such as juniper, lavender, rosemary and sage had arrived in Britain around this time, he makes no mention of them. Gerards book proved highly influential, and the apothecaries which had previously only sold the medicines prescribed by doctors, began to to prepare and compound their own medicines too. New style apothecaries that dispensed medicines and attended to the patient began appearing throughout England. But not quickly enough.

The second visitation of the Black Death in 1603 hit almost as hard as the first, and virtually every available aromatic was burned in houses and on the streets to keep the pestilence at bay. Benzoin, styrax, frankincense and various spice oils were all used to prevent the spread of this deadly disease, but to little effect. It was reported the only people not to succumb to the plague were the workers involved in aromatics and perfumery, and this is undoubtedly due to the highly antiseptic properties of the essential oils.

The essential oil industries throughout Europe flourished, providing oils for the pharmaceutical, flavour and fragrance industries.
Lavender sellers became part of the street scene, asking high prices for their wares, especially during the Great Plague of 1665 when it was thought to protect against the terrible disease. It was suggested that a bunch of lavender tied to each wrist would protect against infection and some references point out that the grave-robbers, who plundered plague victims’ personal belongings, used to wash in Four Thieves Vinegar, which contained lavender. Although the thieves must have come into contact with the infection more than most people, they rarely contracted the disease.

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18th Century

The 18th century brought with it an increase in the study of chemical science and the interest in traditional folk remedies began to dwindle. People put their faith in the newly developed medicines and drugs. The use of herbs, flowers and spices as remedies rapidly declined.
Moreover, over the years the popularity of lavender decreased as it became associated with old “Victorian” ladies.

Even more significant was the production of the first synthetic fragrance, coumarin (which smells of new-mown hay), in 1868, followed 20 years later by musk, vanilla and violet. Eventually this list expanded to many hundreds, then thousands, of synthetic fragrances – the first perfumes unsuitable for medicinal use.

France became the leader in reestablishing the therapeutic uses of fragrance. The perfume industry had been divorced from medicinal remedies for 50 years, but slowly began to reclaim its medicinal heritage. By mid-20th century, herbal remedies began to be re-assessed in a serious manner in modern scientific terms. Interest gradually returned to all things natural and lavender experienced yet another revival.

In England, it was Mitcham, now a London suburb of back-to-back terraces, that was the centre of lavender oil production. Its sunny south-facing, well-drained slopes were clothed in amethyst, exuding the heady fragrance that had become known as quintessentially English. Surprisingly, lavender not only thrived in England’s relatively damp and chilly climate, it excelled.

The combination of long summer days and harsher conditions encourage the plant to make more oil. English lavender produced the finest oil and fetched up to 200 shillings a pound in 1881, while French and Dutch oils cost a mere 18 shillings. English lavender products became known the world over, largely due to old established companies, such as Yardley’s and Potter and Moore, which sold lavender waters and lavender soaps.

The English lavender industry would have been long extinct, had it not been saved by Linn Chilvers, a nurseryman in Norfolk. In 1932, he decided to try growing lavender on a commercial scale. Until today 100 acres of rolling fields of lavender are being taken care of for the distillation of pure English lavender oil.

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1900's - The Rebirth of Lavender

Early 1900's

It is to France that one must turn for the first scientific reports on the clinical use of lavender. The French have long been familiar with the benefits of lavender and during the First World War, applications of aromatic essences were common in a variety of civilian and military hospitals.

In 1915 the French physician Mencière was treating war wounds using various compositions of essential oils, including lavender, due to their remarkable bacterial and healing properties. Another wartime surgeon, Dr. Jean Valnet commented on the antiseptic and wound-healing properties of essential oils, especially those found among the Labiatae family such as lavender, sage, thyme and rosemary.

Yet, perhaps the greatest contribution to the revival of lavender was made by the French perfumer René-Maurice Gattefossé (1881-1950). This name is certainly mentioned in most reference books pertaining to aromatherapy as it is from Gattefossé that the modern term ‘Aromatherapy’ originated.

Through his research work, Gattefossé had become increasingly fascinated by the numerous essential oil preparations used by the peasants and natives as folk remedies. An unfortunate accident in his laboratory led him to an incredible discovery: Gattefossé suffered serious burns to his hands in a laboratory explosion. He plunged his hand into a vessel of pure lavender oil which immediately reduced the swelling and helped accelerate the healing process, more impressively, he was left with no scars.

After this encouraging result he devoted much of his time to exploring and promoting the therapeutic use of aromatics. In 1932 he published a paper in the journal Parfum Modern specifically on the antiseptic role of lavender, and in 1937 he published his two main works, Aromathérapie and Antiseptiques Essentiales. These books had a profound impact on the scientific establishment regarding the medical use of essential oils in general.

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1930’s & 1940’s

In 1931 the publication of a comprehensive encyclopaedia A Modern Herbal by Mrs. Maud Grieve compiled both scientific and traditional information for the very first time. Through funny stories, poetry, Shakespeare, and history, Grieve relates information on over 100 botanical species; their history, cultivation, and culinary and medicinal uses. This, by the way, was the first book recommended to me when I first began my work with herbs, flowers and spices. It is a great read for anyone interested in plant medicine and cultural history.

Lavender, in particular, is viewed principally as a nervine, and a recommendation is made for lavender oil to be rubbed on the temples, for mental depression, delusions and nervous headaches. However, the author also draws attention to its powerful antiseptic and germicidal properties, for which, it was gaining increasing recognition, especially in France.

Dr. Jean Valnet followed the work of Gattefossé, and during World War II whilst working as a surgical assistant he used essential oils of chamomile, clove, lemon and thyme to treat gangrene and battle wounds. After graduating as a surgeon at the end of the war, Valnet continued to use essential oils to treat illnesses, and was the first ever to use them to treat psychiatric conditions. His inspired book, Aromathérapie - Traitment des Maladies par les Essence de Plantes was released in 1964, and in 1980 translated into English and released under the new title of The Practice of Aromatherapy, putting aromatherapy on the English map.

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1950’s

After the Second World War, the work of Gattefossé was taken up by Marguerite Maury (1895-1968). Mme. Maury was a dedicated and inspired woman who did much to establish the reputation of aromatherapy not only in her home country of France, but she set up first aromatherapy clinics in Paris, Britain and Switzerland. She was awarded two international prizes (in 1962 and 1967 respectively) for her studies on essential oils and cosmetology.

In her research she focused mainly on the rejuvenating properties of essential oils, the result of which were published in English as The Secret of Life and Youth (1964).

From her writing it is clear that she valued lavender primarily as a skin care agent and a ‘restorer of balance’, but also as a nerve tonic. Mme. Maury also emphasized the psychological impact of fragrance and the importance of choosing the correct oils for each patient so as to make a personalized blend or ‘individual prescription’. Her work in many ways set the tone for aromatherapy as it developed in the UK, not only as a beauty therapy with its emphasis on skin care, but also as a treatment for stress and nervous/emotional disorders.

After her death, the work of Maury continues through her protege, Danièle Ryman, who is now herself considered an authority on aromatherapy. Furthermore, the work of Valnet and Gattefossé stimulated and influenced Englishman Robert Tisserand, who in 1977 wrote the very first aromatherapy book in English entitled, The Art of Aromatherapy. This book became the inspiration and reference for virtually every future author on the subject for almost two decades.

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1980’s - Today

Lavender is an oil which has undergone a considerable amount of research in the past few years, and is in fact the most frequently used essential oil in hospitals throughout Europe, for instance in the UK and Germany.

To exemplify further, in one Oxford hospital lavender oil had been used for a number of years to help patients sleep at night, either by giving them a lavender bath or by sprinkling a little oil on their bedclothes. Lavender had also been used to enhance pain-relief in cases of arthritis, muscular tension and muscle spasm. In addition, the scent of lavender was found to help patients relax before surgery and prolong the effect of any re-operative medication.

In the late 1980 and early 1990, many tests were conducted to prove the effects of lavender oil in a more scientific manner. Studies were conducted on various subjects ranging from mice, elderly mentally ill patients, patients in intensive and coronary care to post-cardiotomy patients.

The results were unanimous in proving that when exposed to lavender oil sedative effects were observed, i.e., a significant decrease in motility, and hyperactivity. Furthermore, subjects exposed to the lavender aromatherapy treatment enjoyed the greatest reduction in pain, wakefulness and blood pressure. Lavender has therefore shown the potential to provided a possible alternative to orthodox drug treatments.

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Lavender-Blu continues its quest for the latest research on the subject of lavender. Lavender-Blu News hopes to expose new studies and research findings as well as other facts and figures on an on-going basis.
If you know of any interesting findings pertaining to lavender we would love to hear about it! Please e-mail us!

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