05-09-2020, 07:41 PM
https://www.derbyshirelife.co.uk/out-abo...-1-6619974
It was in early September 1665 that George Viccars, a journeyman tailor lodging with widow Mary Cooper in a cottage west of the church, received a box of textiles from Plague-ravaged London.
Within a few hours, Viccars began to feel ill and by the next day he had grown considerably worse. He died – the first victim of the Eyam Plague – on September 6, 1665. October witnessed the deaths of 23 more villagers until the approach of the harsh Peak District winter appears to have checked the disease.
But the harsh winter of 1665-66 proved to be only a temporary respite, because June 1666 saw the return of the deadly virus with a vengeance, as 19 more villagers died. By July, the death toll had risen by 57 and the following month, 79 more villagers had died from the virus.
By this time the young vicar, the Rev. William Mompesson, supported by his non-Conformist predecessor, the Rev Thomas Stanley, had taken the brave and radical step of proposing a quarantine on the village population, in a bid to stop the virus spreading throughout the rest of the county.
Quite a wonderful story. I've heard it a couple of times before (perhaps because Eyam isn't very far away from me), but I think it's worth sharing it for anybody who hasn't heard it.
Even in the current situation, it's hard to imagine what the villagers must have been going through back then: the healthcare was much more primitive, and germ theory wasn't well understood, so the mortality rate was much higher (around 25% of the villagers ultimately lost their lives). However, they must be commended for their sacrifice, which saved many other villages in the region from suffering the same fate.
It was in early September 1665 that George Viccars, a journeyman tailor lodging with widow Mary Cooper in a cottage west of the church, received a box of textiles from Plague-ravaged London.
Within a few hours, Viccars began to feel ill and by the next day he had grown considerably worse. He died – the first victim of the Eyam Plague – on September 6, 1665. October witnessed the deaths of 23 more villagers until the approach of the harsh Peak District winter appears to have checked the disease.
But the harsh winter of 1665-66 proved to be only a temporary respite, because June 1666 saw the return of the deadly virus with a vengeance, as 19 more villagers died. By July, the death toll had risen by 57 and the following month, 79 more villagers had died from the virus.
By this time the young vicar, the Rev. William Mompesson, supported by his non-Conformist predecessor, the Rev Thomas Stanley, had taken the brave and radical step of proposing a quarantine on the village population, in a bid to stop the virus spreading throughout the rest of the county.
Quite a wonderful story. I've heard it a couple of times before (perhaps because Eyam isn't very far away from me), but I think it's worth sharing it for anybody who hasn't heard it.
Even in the current situation, it's hard to imagine what the villagers must have been going through back then: the healthcare was much more primitive, and germ theory wasn't well understood, so the mortality rate was much higher (around 25% of the villagers ultimately lost their lives). However, they must be commended for their sacrifice, which saved many other villages in the region from suffering the same fate.
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