Plague and Pestilence in London

Free Lunchtime lecture by medical historian Kevin Brown

A free lunchtime talk at Shoe Lane Library by medical historian Kevin Brown.The Great Plague of 1665 is one of the defining moments in the history of London, an event immortalised in the words of Daniel Defoe and Samuel Pepys. Yet this plague was only one of many epidemics to bring desolation to the capital. Wherever large numbers of people gather, contagious disease follows.

Medical historian Kevin Brown looks at the effects of epidemic disease on the life of Londoners from the Black Death of 1348, through the many subsequent outbreaks of plague, to the opposition to vaccination to deal with smallpox and the cholera epidemics of the nineteenth-century which were to bring about the stirrings of public health reforms that changed the face of London. Find out how Londoners dealt with epidemics through medical remedies, religion, segregation, isolation, plague pits, the persecution of scapegoats and eventually… public health improvements.

Free, no need to book, no ticket required. Seating capacity 50 plus standing room, please arrive a little early to secure a seat.

Sarah Wise’s debut book, ‘The Italian Boy’ was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize. She is also the author of ‘The Blackest Streets: the life and death of a Victorian Slum’.

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