Anne Griffith (1734 – 1821) was a Welsh practitioner of folk medicine who was an early user of

foxgloves ''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in shap ...

to treat heart conditions.

Life

Griffith was born in

Aberdaron Aberdaron is a community, electoral ward and former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It lies west of Pwllheli and south west of Caernarfon, and has a population of 965. The community inc ...

in 1734. She spent all of her adult life at a small cottage, Bryn Canaid, in the area of the parish called Uwchmynydd. She was known for herbal recipes. Notable amongst of which was her use of foxgloves for heart conditions. This was before it had been formally "discovered" by the British scientist

William Withering William Withering FRS (17 March 1741 – 6 October 1799) was an English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and first systematic investigator of the bioactivity of digitalis. Withering was born in Wellington, Shropshire, the son of a surg ...

. She also acted as a midwife and among the children was Richard Robert Jones otherwise known as the linguist

Dic Aberdaron Dic Aberdaron (Richard Robert Jones; 1780–1843), also known as Dick of Aberdaron, was a Welsh traveller and polyglot. Life Aberdaron was born in 1780 in the coastal town of Aberdaron with the herbalist Alice Griffith as midwife. He had lit ...

. Griffith died at her home in 1821 and she was buried in St Hywyn's Church, Aberdaron. Information is known about her work due to studies of William Jones (Gwilym Daron) who lives in Aberdaron.

References

1734 births 1821 deaths People from Gwynedd {{GB-bio-stub