Gloucester Epidemics
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Early Modern Gloucester - Gloucester 1547-1640. Epidemic disease was recurrent in Gloucester in the
late 16th century and the early 17th During Elizabeth I's reign, the city was repeatedly
swept by bubonic plague; there were epidemics in the years 1565, 1573, 1575-6,
1577-8, 1580, and 1593-4. 6 In 1565 the magistrates reported that the
attack was mostly confined to the poorer suburbs and back lanes and that the
main streets were free.7 In 1593 the infection began about Midsummer;
by 2nd August 25 houses were affected and 47 people were dead, and
later that month over 120 houses were stricken. Mortality remained high until
the end of November, though `some, more or less, died weekly till the Shrovetide
following' 8 The
diocesan courts withdrew from the city, as did substantial numbers of traders
and shopkeepers. 9 A
further outbreak occurred in the summer of 1594. 10 There were
apparently fewer irruptions during the early 17th century, but they
may have been of greater severity. Particularly intense was the attack of
1604-5, almost certainly spread from Bristol where there was a major outbreak.
One of the first households contaminated at Gloucester, in April 1604, was that
of Alderman John Taylor who traded with Bristol. Taylor allegedly concealed the
sickness of his servants, continued to perform his official duties, and so may
have helped to spread the bacillus.11 About 350 died in 1604, nearly
a twelfth of the city's population, and deaths continued until 1605. As usual
there was an exodus of wealthier inhabitants, creating problems of poor relief
and public order. 12 The city was again attacked by plague in the
years 1625-6 and in 1637-8.13 Less is known about the impact of other
diseases like typhus and dysentery, though they probably recurred during the
period. Food shortages may have caused the modest upturn in mortality rates in
1597.14 To offset the high mortality caused by disease and to
expand its population, Gloucester relied very considerably on immigration. From
the evidence of witnesses appearing before the church courts in the years
1595-1640, it appears that three-quarters of male citizens had moved at some
time in their lives; nearly a quarter had come to Gloucester from the county,
and over a quarter had travelled from outside the county. The picture was
broadly the same for women.15 The sons of country-folk, mainly the
offspring of yeomen and husbandmen, flocked to the city to become apprenticed to
traders and craftsmen. Sizable numbers of apprentices, particularly those in the
poorer trades, never had their agreements formally recorded, but of those who
did between 1595 and 1640, 69 per-cent were born outside the city, the great
majority in the county. 16 While apprenticeship migration tended to
be localized, other newcomers came from further afield. Many were tramping poor.
In 1615 the magistrates complained of the vagrants who swarmed in the city;
further great numbers were reported in 1631.17 Many poor labourers
tramped to Gloucester from the northern and western uplands of the kingdom. Also
recorded were occasional troupes of gypsies, itinerant entertainers, and quacks.
18 In 1636 and 1637 the city relieved a small contingent of German
refugees, fleeing from the horrors of the Thirty Years War.19 Notes
:- Source: Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 4, pages 073-075, by permission of the General Editor. Submitted by Alan Longbottom Smallpox ~ Gloucester 1720-1835 The number of people living within the city boundary
was estimated at c. 5,585 in 1743 3 compared with an estimate of c. 4,990 in about 1710. 4 It
is suggested that the level of population, which was reduced periodically by
outbreaks of disease, notably a smallpox epidemic which killed 99 people in
1726, was maintained during the earlier 18th century only by
immigration from the surrounding area. 5
In the later 18th century there was a modest increase
and a figure of 7,579 people was returned in 1801. 6 Notes :- Source: Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 4, page 124, by permission of the General Editor. Submitted by Alan Longbottom Corporation, Hospital Management, Smallpox &
Vaccination Resistance to smallpox vaccination was marked among
Gloucester's poor by 1858 when 69 people died from the disease there. 72 A
serious outbreak of the disease lasted from may 1873 to February 1875 with 151
deaths. 73 In response the corporation built an isolation hospital in
1874. 74 but its inadequate design and level of charges, which
deterred people from seeking admission, rendered it ineffective in halting the
spread of infections. Proposals for the urban and rural sanitary authorities to
join in building a more suitable isolation hospital for both the city and
suburbs came to nothing. 75 From the mid 1870's a local society led
by Samuel Bland, proprietor of the newly founded Citizen newspaper, gained wider support for the anti-vaccination
cause, and in 1887 the board of guardians suspended the enforcement of
compulsory vaccination. 76 An outbreak of smallpox in 1895 assumed
grave proportions in February 1896 when the disease spread among children at
schools in New Street and Widden Street and then to many households in the
southern part of the city. Children were moved from the union workhouse to
Tuffley, schools in the infected areas were closed, and temporary buildings were
put up at the isolation and cholera hospitals, but through the council's lack of
organization infected houses went uninspected and victims were not isolated. The
death rate was highest among patients in the isolation hospital. 77
The city was virtually in quarantine and the assize courts and county quarter
sessions were transferred to Cheltenham. 78 In March the board of
guardians reversed its policy and began enforcing vaccination, 79 and
in April local opinion prevented the use of the East End tabernacle in Derby
Road as a hydropathic hospital. 80 Unvaccinated children were for a
time excluded from the schools, which were reopened in May 81 when
the epidemic began to abate. The outbreak, which ended in July, was confined to
the city, and children aged under 10 years accounted for 706 out of 1,979
notified cases, and for 280 out of the 434 fatalities. The council was severely
criticized for its handling of the epidemic, specially for its hospital
management. 82 Notes :- Source: Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 4, page 200, by permission of the General Editor. Submitted by Alan Longbottom Corporation, Hospital Management, Smallpox,
Vagrants & Poor Relief & Pauperism After the 1896 epidemic the council decided to build a
new isolation hospital at Over. The building, which was not for smallpox
victims, was delayed and before it was opened in 1903 the corporation, following
a requirement of the Local Government Board, made provision for a smallpox
hospital. 7 To combat the spread of tuberculosis the city council
joined the county council in 1912 in a joint committee, which opened a
sanatorium at Standish House in 1922 and continued its work until the advent of
the National Health Service in 1948. 8 The most serious threat to public health between the
wars was an outbreak of mild smallpox in 1923. The medical officer of health,
who, later resigned, believed it to be a chickenpox epidemic but the
corporation, once advised by the Ministry of Health that it was smallpox, took
prompt and efficient action. Additional medical help was engaged and a temporary
hospital opened. Of 698 smallpox cases notified in 1923 only three were fatal. 22
From the 1920's the corporation supplied a range of health services, including
motor ambulances. It relied on voluntary agencies to discharge maternity and
child welfare services and it provided a maternity hospital from 1940. 23 In the late 19th and early 20th
century general hospital accommodation in the city was divided between the
Gloucester Infirmary and the poor-law union infirmary. In 1912 the board of
guardians started a new infirmary opposite the workhouse and opened a new
block of casual wards to increase overnight accommodation for wayfarers. 24
In 1930 on the abolition of the board of guardians, the city corporation became
responsible for poor relief in the city, 25 and a joint committee of
the council and other local authorities in south-western England was established
to deal with vagrancy. 26 The corporation's new duties involved a
range of welfare services, and it took over the former union buildings,
including the infirmary and two children's homes, and an estate in Tuffley. 27
Notes
:- Source: Quoted from the Victoria County History, Gloucestershire, volume 4, pages 202-203, by permission of the General Editor. Submitted by Alan Longbottom
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