Brit History: Plague Doctors in British History (original) (raw)

I know this isn’t a British plague doctor, but it’s the only free image I could find.

The Black Death (also known as the Bubonic Plague or simply “The Plague”) ravaged Europe for Centuries beginning in 1346 and continued periodically until the early-18th Century. By the time of the Great Plague of 1665, doctors had become used to treating plague victims, but had little to no success, typically only easing the symptoms until the patient died. Early treatments in the 14th Century, including bloodletting, sweating, urination, and even cupping. By the time the second major plague struck Great Britain in 1665, the physicians who treated the disease became known as “plague doctors”. Plague doctors came from all kinds of medical backgrounds and could be hired by individuals or communities to treat the victims.

With the coming of the disease to London, many physicians fled the city along with the wealthy, the nobility, and even King Charles II. In many cases, this left behind not only inexperienced doctors but also apothecaries who had to pick up the slack. The abilities of these plague doctors meant that they ranged from experts who were able to effectively ease the suffering of the infected to frauds who sold bogus cures. In many cases, the plague doctors in Britain merely served as record takers for those who had become infected. After the plague struck England, Scotland quickly moved to shutter its border with its southern neighbor, knowing full well what the plague could do if it went further up Great Britain.

Twenty years prior, in 1645, the City of Edinburgh had appointed its first official plague doctor, John Paulitious, who unfortunately succumbed to the virus himself that same year. He was replaced with George Rae. Rae was a great deal more successful in his efforts to combat the plague and survived the outbreak due in part to the costume he wore. Originally credited to French plague doctor Charles de Lorme, who popularized the long robes and bird-like mask that have become synonymous with plague doctors throughout Europe. Rae wore a similar mask with flowers and herbs stuffed in the nose as it was believed that the virus was airborne in nature (rather than the flea bite transmission we know now). It’s believed now that Rae’s thick leather costume was actually was protected him from succumbing himself. He had been promised a large salary for his efforts by the Edinburgh town council, who never expected him to survive and no records show that he was ever paid.

During the Plague of 1665, plenty of plague doctors operated in London, but none were officially appointed. Most who remained often wandered the streets in their outfits examining potential afflicted with their canes to keep the patient at a distance. The city did end up hiring several to help bring the outbreak under control, but there’s no evidence to suggest that their efforts bore any fruit. Often enough, just as with John Paulitious, those who treated the disease died along with their patience, a fact recorded by Samuel Pepys in his diary who remarked that “in Westminster, there is never a physician and but one apothecary left, all being dead.”

Ultimately, the plague doctors of Britain did nothing to curb the spread of the virus. Infections and deaths did not begin to slow until Autumn when colder weather began to kill the fleas that spread the Bubonic Plague. The King and others who had fled London for the countryside did not return to the city until February 1666. It’s believed that later outbreaks decreased in severity due to a number of factors including improved resistance to the plague in rats and humans, healthier diets that boosted human immune systems, and advances in technology that helped to prevent the conditions that were favorable to the bacteria. It wouldn’t be until 1894 that Alexandre Yersin identified the bacteria strain behind the Black Death, furthering scientific knowledge and leading to successful treatment. There were no records of plague doctors treating patients following the Second Pandemic, leaving them to become the stuff of Renaissance history and lore.