As has been noted, condemnation of compulsory vaccination dates from shortly after the passage of the Act of 1853, with the letter from John Gibbs to the President of the Board of Health. Born in Ireland in 1811, Gibbs was described by an acquaintance as ‘sagacious, bright, earnest and independent’, with a passion for ‘such things as made for human welfare and improvement’. He became interested in hydro - pathy and in particular in its use in cases of smallpox. In later life he made his home in St Leonards, in Sussex. His influential letter to the Board of Health was based on a pamphlet that he had published in 1854 under the title ‘Our Medical Liberties’.

‘The partisans of compulsory vaccination,’ he wrote, ‘cast away every gentlemanly feeling, disregard every principle of justice, violate the spirit of freedom, outrage the precepts of Christianity, trample upon common sense, betray their own rights and dearest interests.’ After this comprehensive denunciation he took each item in turn and expanded it, occasionally in the repetitive fashion that became one of the continuing characteristics and weaknesses of the whole long campaign.

Why was vaccination held in horror by so many parents and others?