The Great Plague
Over 100,000 people died as the Great Plague struck London in 1665. Some councils, and the Lord Mayor of London acted to curb the spread of the disease. The King and court toured the wealthy houses of the countryside to avoid it. Councils locked the sick inside their houses to prevent the spread of plague.
- Anyone leaving a boarded up house had to go straight to a pesthouse (plague hospital)
- Watchmen kept watch to ensure no one escaped from a boarded up house.
- Councils employed dog killers
- The councils paid for food to the sick in the houses
- Bodies would be collected and put into mass graves so they did not rot in the streets and buildings.
Alongside old supernatural ideas about the cause of the Great plague such as a punishment from God and bizarre astrological or comet based events, there were more rational and natural explanations. Filth and mess in the streets, bad air or bad smells were blamed. Also the imbalance of the body’s four humours.
Some treatments were the same as they had been for the (very different) Black Death in 1348: smelling herbs, praying, going on pilgrimage or flagellation.
Importantly other ideas were also considered. Local councils finally agreed to tackle issues such as butchery and waste disposal. Few were happy about taking on the burden of preventing plague however.
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