The Great Plague of 1665–1666

Enquiry question

Investigate the sources

1. Source 1: Letter mentioning plague deaths

   This letter was written by Henry Muddiman, a journalist who published newsletters and also wrote for the newly founded London Gazette. It was sent to Joseph Williamson, an important politician in Charles II's government, who was Under Secretary to the Secretary of State.

   1. 

      The totall of the burialls this week 8252 plague 6978 increase 756 parishes infected 118. This Bill had numbered one more but for a remarkable providence which was thus. A Butcher in Newgate Market being by the Searchers given out to be dead of the Plague and by the neglect of the Boarders not carried away the same night was laid out in an upper room wither his daughter going next day the father beckoned to her and bade her bring him ale for he was cold. The daughter called up her mother who giving him clothes, the man took a pipe of tabacco eat a rabbit and on Sunday went to Church to give God thanks for his preservation.

   Analyse this source

   • Can you work out how many people died from the plague in the previous week?
   • What is the total for other causes of death for this week?
   • Can we rely on the figures given in this source? Give reasons for your answer.
   • What did the job of a searcher involve?

2. Source 2: Orders for the prevention of the plague

   1. 

      RULES AND ORDERS
      To be observed by all Justices of Peace, Mayors, Bayliffs, and other Officers,
      for prevention of the spreading of the Infection of the PLAGUE.

      Published by His Majesties Special Command.

      [...]

      9.    That the Laws against Inn-Mates be forthwith put in strict execution, and that no more Alehouses be Licensed then are absolutely necessary in each City or place, especially during the continuance of this present Contagion.
      10.    That each City and Town forthwith provide some convenient place remote from the same, where a pest-house, huts, or sheds may be erected, to be in readiness in case any Infection should break out; which if it shall happen to do, That able and faithful Searchers and Examiners be forthwith provided and Sworn to Search all suspected bodies, for the usual signs of the plague, viz. Swellings or Risings under the Ears or Arm-pits, or upon the Groynes [groin]; Blains, Carbuncles, or little Spots, either on the Breast or back, commonly called Tokens.
      11.    That if any House be Infected, the sick person or persons be forthwith removed to the said pest-house, sheds, or huts, for the preservation of the rest of the Family: And that such house (though none be dead therein) be shut up for fourty days, and have a Red Cross, and Lord have mercy upon us, in Capital Letters affixed on the door, and Warders appointed, as well to find them necessaries, as to keep them from conversing with the sound.

      [...]

   Analyse this source

   • How long were infected houses shut up for?
   • What plague symptoms are described in these orders?
   • Which order suggests that plague was not a new problem in the 17th century?
   • Do you think any of these orders would have helped to prevent plague? Give reasons for your answer
   • Which officials concerned with the plague are named in this source? Make a list
   • In what ways does the source suggest that people at the time saw the plague as a punishment from God?
   • These orders are very strict, yet most people followed them. Can you suggest why?

3. Source 3: Letters revealing attitudes to the authorities

   These two documents explore attitudes to the authorities during the plague.

   The first is a letter from Thomas Povey, a civil servant in the Naval Office who knew Samuel Pepys. It was sent to Joseph Williamson, an important politician in Charles II's government, who was Under Secretary to the Secretary of State.

   1. 

      … there having dyed more than 300 in Brentford and Isleworth, and Death is now become so familiar, and the People soe insensible of danger, that they look upon such as provide for the publick safety, as Tyrants and Oppressors, whilst neither the richer sort, will be brought to contribut, nor the meaner to submitt, though to their own apparant good, and preservation.

   2. 

      Order to Lord Chiefe Justice to enquire after the Ryott about the houses infected
      Upon Information given unto this Board, that the house, the Signe of the ship in the New buildings in St.Giles in the fields, was shutt up as suspected to bee infected with the Plague, and a Cross and paper fixed, on the doore; And that the said Cross and paper were taken off, and the door opened, in a riotious manner, and the people of the house permitted, to goe abroad into the street promiscuously, with others; It is this day ordered (his Majesty present in Councell) that the Lord Chiefe Justice, of his Majesty’s Bench, and other his Majesty’s Justices of the peace, for the County of Middlesex, bee and are hereby desired, to make dilligent and strict enquiry, after the offendors in the said Ryott; And inflict upon them, for such of them as they shall find, the severest punishments, the Right of the Law, will allow, against offenders in [?], of soe dangerous a consequence; And soe much to the contempt of his Majesty’s orders as theirs;

Extension activities

• Students write a diary entry about the plague. They could use evidence from the lesson, plus the following extract and others from the Diary of Samuel Pepys to support them. Be sure to define: melancholy; apothecary, physician, decrease; Westminster.

• Students can create their own role play or drama set at the time using the sources.
• Students could read extracts from Daniel Defoe’s ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’, 1722, which is available online.
• Find out about the events at Eyam village during the year of plague.

Background information

There are three types of plague. Most of the sick in 1665–1666 had bubonic plague. This created swellings (buboes) in the lymph nodes found in the armpits, groin and neck. Plague sufferers experienced headaches, vomiting and fever. They had a 30% chance of dying within two weeks. This type of plague spread from a bite caused by a black rat flea that carried the Yersinia pestis bacteria.

Worse still was pneumonic plague, which attacked the lungs and spread to other people through coughing and sneezing, and septicaemic plague, which occurred when the bacteria entered the blood. In these cases, there was little hope of survival.

Treatments and prevention at the time did not help. Sometimes, patients were bled with leeches. People thought impure air caused the disease and could be cleansed by smoke and heat. Children were encouraged to smoke to ward off bad air. Sniffing a sponge soaked in vinegar was also an option.

As the colder weather set in, the number of plague victims started to fall. This was not due to any remedies used. Nor was it due to the fire of London that had destroyed many of the houses within the walls of the city and by the River Thames. (Many plague deaths had occurred in the poorest parishes outside the city walls.)

Some scientists suggest that the black rat had started to develop a greater resistance to the disease. If the rats did not die, their fleas would not need to find a human host and fewer people would be infected. Probably, people started to develop a stronger immunity to the disease. Also, in plague scares after 1666, more effective quarantine methods were used for ships coming into the country. There was never an outbreak of plague in Britain on this scale again.

Useful links

In pictures

Plague

Efforts to guard against the spread of historic pandemics can be found in the records of our collection, from individuals and the state.

gutenberg.org

A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

Read the online version of Daniel Defoe’s thoroughly researched reconstruction of 1665.