Great Plague of London

The Great Plague (1665-1666) was a massive outbreak of disease in England that killed 75,000 to 100,000 people, up to a fifth of London's population.^[1] The disease was historically identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted via a rat vector. The 1665-1666 epidemic was on a far smaller scale than the earlier "Black Death", a virulent outbreak of disease in Europe between 1347 and 1353, but was remembered afterwards as the "great" plague because it was one of the last widespread outbreaks in Europe.^[2]

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Possible Causes

This episode of disease in Britain is thought to have arrived with Dutch trading ships carrying bales of cotton from Amsterdam. The bubonic plague had occurred intermittently in the Netherlands since 1654. The dock areas outside of London, where poor workers crowded into ill-kept districts, such as the parish of St. Giles-in-the Fields, were first struck by the plague. During the winter of 1664-1665, there were reports of several deaths. However, the winter was very cold, seemingly controlling the contagion. But spring and summer months were unusually warm and sunny, and the plague spread rapidly. Personal and public hygiene was very minimal during this period, contributing to the spread of disease. Records were not kept on the deaths of the very poor, so the first recorded case was Margaret Porteous, on April 12, 1665.

Although the disease causing the epidemic has historically been identified as bubonic plague and its variants, no direct evidence of plague has ever been uncovered. Some modern scholars suggest that the symptoms and incubation period indicate that the causal agent may have been a disease similar to a viral hemorrhagic fever.^{[citation needed]}

Outbreak

By July 1665, plague was in the city of London itself. King Charles II of England, his family and his court left the city for Oxford. However, the Lord Mayor of the city and the aldermen stayed at their posts. Businesses were closed when most wealthy merchants and professionals fled. Only a small number of clergymen (including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London), physicians and apothecaries chose to remain, as the plague raged throughout the summer. Plague doctors would traverse the streets, diagnosing victims, although many of them were unqualified physicians.

Several public health efforts were attempted. Physicians were hired by city officials, and burial details were carefully organized. Authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in hopes that the air would be cleansed. Substances giving off strong odours, such as pepper, hops or frankincense, were also burned to ward off the infection. London residents were strongly urged to smoke tobacco.

Though concentrated in London, the outbreak affected other areas of the country. Perhaps the most famous example was the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The plague arrived with a merchant carrying a parcel of cloth sent from London. The villagers imposed a quarantine on themselves to stop the further spread of the disease. Spread of the plague was slowed in surrounding areas, but the cost to the village was the death of around 75% of its inhabitants.

Records state that deaths in London crept up to 1000 people per week, then 2000 people per week and, by September 1665, to 7000 persons per week. By late autumn, the death toll began to slow until, in February 1666, it was considered safe enough for the King and his entourage to return to the city. By this time, however, trade with the European continent had spread this outbreak of plague to France, where it died out the following winter.

Plague cases continued at a modest pace until September 1666. On September 2nd and 3rd, the Great Fire of London destroyed many of the most crowded housing. At about the same time, the plague outbreak tapered off, probably due to most of the susceptible persons having already died. After the fire, London was rebuilt on an urban plan originally drafted by architect Christopher Wren which included widened streets, reduced congestion and basic sewage-drainage systems. Under the mistaken idea that rats may have caused the plague and due to the severe fire hazard they cause, thatched roofs were forbidden within the city, and remain forbidden under modern codes. The second rebuilding of the Globe Theatre in 1997 required a special permit to have thatched roofs.

References

See also

• Loimologia, a first-hand account of the 1665 plague
• Black Death
• Bubonic Plague
• Derby plague of 1665
• Eyam
• Ring a Ring o' Roses
• UK topics