PAST PANDEMICS
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| Image BBC |
Remember in Pride and Prejudice when they kept asking each other if their families were well? And poor Mr Woodhouse getting in a tizzy about draughts and open windows in case his dear daughter Emma got sick?
Much of the pre-20th century correspondence in the Orkney archive (and much after that, actually), begins with an enquiry about the receiver and their family's health and a thorough breakdown of the various aches, fevers and pains experienced by the sender and their family.
In March, after receiving and sending similar electronic queries/updates to our family and friends, the archive staff had a better understanding of how these people must have felt. With no immunisations, antibiotics or even basic knowledge of how infections spread, health was a constant concern.
Reading through a series of archives from 1831-1832 documenting the approach of the 2nd cholera pandemic, some of the events and feelings expressed felt very familiar, others less so:
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| OA reference D2/2/14 |
On the 21st November 1831, Captain William Balfour of Elwick was concerned about 'the extreme probability of it being brought here by some of the vessels so frequently passing...' and outlined the measures already undertaken by the inhabitants of Kirkwall; a Board of Health had been set up and a committee appointed, the town had been divided into districts and the Old Manse had been cleaned and outfitted as an infirmary.
The town was 'keeping a watch over vessels coming from infected places until the wind permits their proceeding to the quarantine station.'
Printed leaflets were also circulated to the public advising of symptoms and treatments.
Money was an issue. A subscription was to be set up amongst the wealthier inhabitants but a recent downward turn in the kelp trade was expected to limit contributions. 'Medical men' were apparently prepared to offer their services for free but assistants were required who 'must not only be paid, but paid highly or they will not be got in a place like this.'
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| OA Reference D1/182/1/15 |
By 22nd January 1831, James and Graham Leask wrote to their son in Wapping to reassure him that. despite rumours in London that 'the cholera morbus is in Kirkwall, and that there have been cases of it and two died...'. that it not only was not in the islands but that 'severall preventive boats' had been stationed to stop any sick travellers disembarking.
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| OA Reference D2/20/11 |
It had reached East London by the 15th of January 1832 according to a letter written to William Balfour by his Uncle John.
'P.S. You will hear soon by the newspapers that the cholera has reached the Eastern parts of this metropolis, it has hitherto made small progress'.
Later that month, Rev. William Logie of Daisybank, Kirkwall, wrote to William G. Watt to discuss the latter's suggestion that the 'Orkney bairns' (presumably those children at school in the city) should be brought home from Edinburgh to save them from the epidemic:
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| OA Reference D3/400 - click to enlarge. |
Rev. Logie recognised the fact that 'the attendance and assistance required might be made more promptly and effectively rendered by affectionate relatives' but thought that the danger of the winter journey home was equal to the risk of the disease, especially when there were far more doctors and a good hospital in the city.
He ended the letter with the opinion that it was best 'just to leave our young people to the care of providence.'
The Kirkwall Justice of the Peace records for May 1832 include a meeting discussing the necessity to train up constables and station them at ports in order to stop 'vagrants' bringing disease to Orkney and 'and compel them to return to the places from whence they came':
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| OA reference JP/34/2/2 |
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| OA reference D1/182/1//22 |
There was an air of fatalism in many of the letters and a hope that providence and The Lord would continue to keep Orkney safe. There was also a feeling of gratitude for the lack of pestilence in the islands, something which Orcadians felt during 2020 following a relatively low incidence of disease:
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| OA reference D1/182/1/23 |
'thankful to God and also that the Lord is slaid (slayed) the plague from amongst you and also is hitherto kept it from entering into Orkney'
Another similarity with today's experience was the dissemination of false information. We found this leaflet asserting that cholera could be treated merely by administering spoonfuls of clarified butter:
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| Papers - Medical (Misc.) 610Y - Orkney Room |
These documents were a result of a quick search between enquiries and I have not yet ascertained how badly Orkney suffered during the cholera pandemic. Some town council minutes would be useful and it would also be interesting to find out where the quarantine station was. Stay tuned...
I, too, have noticed the similarities between family letters written in the 1800s and our internet contact with family and friends in the past 12 months. And, there is definitely a connection between this plague and the ones our ancestors suffered. Not just cholera, but typhus and the actual plague ran rampant through Europe through the ages. Researching my ancestry, in the church books from Gemmrigheim and Talheim-am-Neckar, I see page after page of deaths, mostly old people and babies, from typhus and/or cholera. The actual plague hit everyone, not just the oldsters and youngsters. Seeing these records made me understand better the terror and resignation my ancestors must have felt, because they had no idea why all the members of one family died within two months. All they knew was, that family had high fevers and now they're all dead, and please God, don't let it come to OUR house. But it did--if they went to help the neighbors (or family members), within a few weeks their family had whatever it was. I am not sure it's such a good thing to know where the disease originated and what can or cannot be done about it!
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