CCHS

With so much of life as we know it currently affected by coronavirus, and numerous recent programmes and newspaper items on the bubonic plague, and Spanish ‘flu, I found myself wondering how previous pandemics had impacted Colchester.  (As is my wont, I did meander into other diseases and public health issues – but they can be saved, for another day!)

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While bubonic plague had existed for centuries elsewhere, it did not reach England until much later.  The Black Death marked the start of the Second Plague Pandemic, which would continue to afflict the country, with differing levels of virulence, until the mid-18th century. (The First Plague Pandemic had ravaged mainly the Mediterranean countries, but also impacted mainland northern Europe, and the Near East, between 541 and 767.)   Bubonic plague finally reached the south coast of England in June, 1348 and proceeded to ravage the country until the end of 1350.

In Colchester, by August, 1349, both the abbot and prior of St John’s had died.  In the decades before and after the pandemic, there was an average of 2-3 wills proved in the town each year.  In the 12 months from September 1348 there were 111 and 25 the following year.  There are no definitive figures on death rates, but historians believe it was probably slightly lower in the town than the estimated 45%, in the surrounding rural area.

We are familiar with the Great Plague which afflicted London in 1665 and killed an estimated 100,000 people, roughly 20% of the city’s population, subsiding only after much of the city was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.   Many will have heard of the bravery of the inhabitants of  Eyam in Derbyshire who quarantined themselves for some 14 months so that they did not spread the disease, which had come into their midst via bales of cloth from the capital.   In so doing they did, indeed, contain the infection – but it is said that fewer than a quarter of the inhabitants survived.

How many people realise that Colchester was one of the worst-affected towns in the country, though?

Between 1665 and 1666, the plague is estimated to have killed 4,500-5,000 Colcestrians – almost half the town’s population.  Plague pest hospitals were set up in Mile End and St Mary’s.  While subsequent outbreaks of the plague were not as devastating, the disease continued to be endemic until about 1750.

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Given that Spanish ‘Flu was much more recent, you might expect that information would be more readily available – and it probably would be, were it not for DORA!  The Defence of the Realm Act was first passed in 1914 at the start of the Great War and initially aimed simply to control communications and British ports, and to subject civilians to the rule of military courts.   During the course of the War, though, there were 6 further amendments, which covered a wide range, from introducing British Summer time, to extending the powers of the police, to banning bonfires, kite-flying and whistling in the street!  DORA also imposed rigid censorship on the press – both to maintain morale at home and to deny the enemy any possible propaganda victory.

By way of example the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, arrived in Manchester on 11th September 1918 to be greeted by cheering crowds lining the streets.   He collapsed with a severe fever, hours later, and spent the next 10 days on a respirator, having fallen victim to Spanish ‘Flu.  The newspapers reported merely “a little chill”, and explained his absence from the public eye as a “precautionary measure”, while the mayor of Manchester stated Lloyd George was “progressing satisfactorily, but was staying in bed”.

Many other countries had similar censorship regimes in place – which is how the pandemic which was to sweep across the world, in 4 main waves, between early 1918, and April, 1920, got its name.  Spain was neutral, and took no part in the war.  Its newspapers were therefore free to feature daily reports of the dreadful disease which was affecting its people, and, unlike most ‘flu viruses, killing mainly the young and fit – and so it became known as Spanish ‘Flu.

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​Experts believe the virus probably originated in China, and that its spread was helped by the enormous migrations which took place, when millions of people began returning home from the war. It has been estimated that at least 500 million people were infected, worldwide (about a third of the global population) and that some 50 million died – more than had been killed during the entire conflict.

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