Coronavirus and the Great Plague of London

Like everyone else my life has been disrupted by the ongoing pandemic, I am celebrating my 30th birthday on Monday in our flat in Northampton - I should have been spending the week in Belgium. However, there is a potential silver lining, I do have the next week (and possibly longer) confined to the flat with nothing to do; seems like a perfect opportunity to read some history books and write a few blogs.

One book I just finished was Rebecca Rideal's 1666 Plague, War and Hellfire, I started this book before the current situation really kicked off and now it seems quite appropriate reading material. To those who haven't read it, I would definitely recommend it as Rideal uses a impressive array of primary sources to paint a detailed picture of the events leading to the death of the old London and its rebirth. After finishing, it got me thinking about the parallels between the events of 1665-6 and crisis currently engulfing the UK and the rest of the world.

Before I get into exploring some of the similarities it is worth highlighting that although this current situation is extremely dire and should not be trivialised, it, luckily so far, pales in comparison to the devastation which the bubonic plague inflicted over the numerous outbreaks between the 14th and 17th centuries. To start with the mortality rate was easily over 90% and by the end of the epidemic, conservative estimates show that almost a quarter of the population of London had died. Moreover, unlike today the cause of the disease was unknown and in a time of deeply held beliefs and superstitions this undoubtedly caused immense fear. Nor did they know how to prevent the spread of the plague, so in these regards it is difficult for the modern Brit to put themselves in the shoes of the 17th century Londoner.

Nevertheless, there are parallels which can be drawn and one which is particularly focused on in Rideal's book is the context in which London found itself in 1665-6. For example, this was the Restoration era and London had been at the centre of the political storm which was the civil wars and the protectorate. In addition to this the capital was at the frontline of the Second Anglo-Dutch war which according to the diarist Samuel Pepys had caused an outpouring of nationalism in England. It was against this political backdrop that rumours started spreading that new cases of the plague had been reported in the capital. I think we can all agree that the last few years have been equally chaotic and the undertone of political uncertainty which has dominated the country since 2016 is only going to be exasperated by this new crisis.

The explosion of print culture in the mid 17th century meant that news of the plague outbreak spread like wildfire across the capital much in the same way that the coronavirus updates has gone viral over social media. As official reports confirmed in April 1665 that there were indeed 3 cases of the plague the Privy Council ordered that the inflicted be quarantined, however, rioters broke down the doors and released in the inhabitants. In the weeks that followed the government attempted to introduce measures similar to the social distancing steps that are being implemented now. While it is clear that the current measures are being introduced to protect the most vulnerable in society during the Great Plague of London the priorities were somewhat different.

As the rich fled the city the Privy Council ordered that no plague hospital be built near wealthier communities. Eventually it became near on impossible for the poor to leave the city which meant that they were left to either die at the hands of the plague or starve as supplies dried up and business collapsed. While some members of high society and the Church stayed to help, the majority joined the mass exodus. Over the next 18 months thousands would die and it would take the Great Fire of London to finally eradicate the plague from the capital. However, despite the devastation London was reborn and the new capital became the centre of the British Empire, a commercial haven and a modern Babylon. While I hope the current crisis does not turn out to be as devastating as 1665-6, a recovery is possible and we can come back from this stronger than before. Amongst all this uncertainty, one thing is certain we're living in history and our stories will become the primary sources of a similar book to Rideal's in the future.