Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Part I The Road to Compulsion
- 1 The Byzantine Operation
- 2 The Small Pockes
- 3 The Engrafted Distemper
- 4 The Language of Figures
- 5 The Suttonian System
- 6 The Great Benefactor
- 7 The Speckled Monster
- 8 The Three Bashaws
- 9 A Competent and Energetic Officer
- 10 Formidable Men
- 11 The Present Non-System
- 12 Toties Quoties
- 13 Crotchety People
- Part II The Reign of Compulsion
- Part III The Retreat from Compulsion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Engrafted Distemper
from Part I - The Road to Compulsion
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Part I The Road to Compulsion
- 1 The Byzantine Operation
- 2 The Small Pockes
- 3 The Engrafted Distemper
- 4 The Language of Figures
- 5 The Suttonian System
- 6 The Great Benefactor
- 7 The Speckled Monster
- 8 The Three Bashaws
- 9 A Competent and Energetic Officer
- 10 Formidable Men
- 11 The Present Non-System
- 12 Toties Quoties
- 13 Crotchety People
- Part II The Reign of Compulsion
- Part III The Retreat from Compulsion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By contrast with their outward passage the Wortley Montagus began their homeward journey by sea, admiring the landscapes and antiquities of the Mediterranean shores and islands along the way. But progress in the days of sail, in a naval vessel which had seen better times, was slow, and on reaching Genoa in August 1718 the parents decided to complete their journey overland, leaving their children, then aged respectively six and one, aboard ship with their nurse to face the winter storms of the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. It was five months before the family was reunited on English soil.
Before leaving Constantinople, Lady Mary had written to Sarah Chiswell announcing her intention of bringing inoculation – ‘this useful invention’ – into fashion in England. A suitable opportunity to begin the campaign might have been the severe epidemic of smallpox that broke out in 1719, shortly after the family's return, but more pressing needs – such as finding somewhere to live – intervened. A further epidemic, only slightly less severe, occurred in 1721 and this time there was no hesitation. In April Maitland, now living in the country near London, was sent for and, in spite of a certain natural reluctance to perform on his home ground under the professional scrutiny of his peers, was prevailed upon to inoculate Edward's young sister Anne, who became the first patient to undergo the operation in England.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Vaccination ControversyThe Rise, Reign and Fall of Compulsory Vaccination for Smallpox, pp. 29 - 39Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2007