Lockdowns and Isolations in Previous Pandemics

Arthur Braxton (CO Re)

The Great Plague of London began in 1665 and ended in 1666. It was largely eliminated by the Great Fire of London, and it was the last significant outbreak of bubonic plague to occur in England. This particular outbreak was responsible for approximately 100,000 deaths in just over a year, but it was not the first time the plague had struck. The Black Death had struck Europe and North Africa between 1346 and 1353. It is the largest pandemic ever recorded and is thought to have killed approximately 1/3 of Europe’s population! The plague re-emerged every few years throughout history until the mid-18th century, since when its outbreaks have been much reduced. Modern sanitation and healthcare have reduced its impact, but not eradicated it entirely; WHO (World Health Organisation) estimate that 1,000 to 3,000 cases still occur each year. These devastating deaths throughout history have all been caused by one bacterium, Yersinia pestis.

After the Black Death of medieval England, London continued to suffer outbreaks almost every decade. It is estimated that up to 20% of the population died each time.

When the Great Plague of 1665 struck, England imposed laws to try and prevent the spread and isolate those with contagion. All public entertainment was banned, people were forcibly locked into their homes and red crosses were painted on the doors of those thought to be infected. The very sick were locked in their homes and often left untreated whilst the dead were buried in mass graves. At the time of the Black Death in the Venetian-controlled port city of Ragusa, the spread was slowed by isolated arriving sailors until it was clear that they did not carry the disease. This was initially done for 30 days and extended to 40 and was considered the safest period of time. This 40-day stretch is where our modern term quarantine is derived from.

The great diarist Samuel Pepys provides us with some of the most detailed information on The Great Plague and how society was affected. Pepys recorded the arrival of the plague to London in June 1665 and wrote of seeing the deserted streets that he would normally see bustling with life. There was no formal lockdown, but people did not leave their houses. Pepys wrote ‘about us, two shops in three, if not more, generally shut up’. He also records the disruption to travel the plague caused, and whilst he voices his concern about using the water taxis, he recognises that the boatmen suffer a much greater risk than he. He writes, ‘I could not get my Waterman to go elsewhere for fear of the plague’, and goes on to later record, ‘I did not go by water with them yesterday for he fell sick on Saturday night, and it is feared to be of the plague’. A regular diary entry is Pepys seeing bodies in the street: “I walked to Greenwich, in my way seeing a coffin with a dead body there in”. His own physician died as did some of his acquaintances.

The Company of Parish Clarks kept tallies of the weekly burials and, in a similar way to today’s daily tolls of Covid deaths, Pepys documented the growing death rates in his diary. Pepys recognised that this record of the death rate would be significantly lower than it ought to be as it only counted burials: this number would exclude the urban poor and many others who would not receive a burial.

There are many parallels between the great plague and today’s coronavirus pandemic. In his article Lotz-Henman shows how life during the Bubonic Plague mirrors todays pandemic. Pepys also records the disruption, businesses closing and the general isolation and resulting melancholy that fell over society - he writes about the impact of isolation on people’s mental health. At that time, it was widely accepted that depression was caused by a high level of black bile in the body, and this was considered to have serious implications to one’s health. Sadness was to be avoided: Pepys often refers to his attempts to try and stay cheerful and ‘not let it get to him’. Towards the end of the Great Plague, Pepys is still hopeful ‘to our great joy, the town fills apace, and shops begin to be open again. Pray God continues the plague’s decrease’.

The Great Plague affected both the wealthy and the poor, but – just as with Covid – the poorer in society bore the brunt of it; for, pandemics are at their most dangerous when social conditions are stressed. In a podcast about this Dan Snow and Mark Bailey argued that when an illness affects the wealthy as well as the poor in society, it is inevitable that a cure or solution will be found more rapidly. Snow also suggested that the nature of Covid’s effect on the poor, when the most economically vulnerable spend so much time inside, should make us question modern living and how society can adapt. How will the Covid pandemic affect government policy in the future and how will we remedy the problems the virus has highlighted? Will society be able to ‘level up’?

In the wake of the Black Death and the Great Plague, England saw a shortage of labourers – particularly farmers and craftsmen – and this led to a significant rise in their wages and a simultaneous fall in the wealth of the nobility. Perhaps we will see a similar pattern for our doctors, nurses and frontline workers after Covid?

Bibliography: Lotz-Henman, U. University of Arizona April 24,2020 Seven, J The Black Death: A timeline of the Gruesome Pandemic. April 16, 2020 Roos, D. How 5 of Historys’ Pandemics finally ended. March 17, 2020 Sky History Channel – Lessons from Samuel Pepys’s Plague diary: Living through the outbreak

Podcasts: Dan Snow: Black death Dan Snow: How pandemics made the modern world Dan Snow: Pandemics through history