Great Plague of London

(1664–66) Epidemic of plague that ravaged London, killing more than 75,000 of a total population estimated at 460,000.

As early as 1625, 40,000 Londoners had died of the plague, but this was the worst and the last of the epidemics. Most of the devastation was in the city's outskirts, in areas where the poor were densely crowded. The disease spread throughout the country, but from 1667 only sporadic cases appeared until 1679. The plague's decline was attributed to various causes, including the Great Fire of London. Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year (1722) provides a valuable picture of the time.

* * *

▪ English history

      epidemic of plague that ravaged London, Eng., from late 1664 to early 1666, killing perhaps more than 75,000 of a total population estimated at 460,000.

      The Great Plague was not an isolated event; 40,000 Londoners had died of the plague in 1625; but it was the last and worst of the epidemics. It began in the late autumn of 1664 in London's suburb of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and the greatest devastation remained in the city's outskirts, at Stepney, Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, Cripplegate, and Westminster, quarters where the poor were densely crowded. The epidemic was severe in the winter and revived and spread again in May 1665. The king and court fled from London in June and did not return until the following February; Parliament kept a short session at Oxford. The total number of deaths from plague in 1665, according to the bills of mortality, was 68,596; but this number is probably an underestimate, since many of the 6,432 deaths attributed to spotted fever were really caused by plague.

      In December 1665 the mortality rate fell suddenly and continued down through the winter; in 1666 only 2,000 deaths were recorded. From London the disease spread widely over the country, but from 1667 on there was no epidemic of plague in any part of England, though sporadic cases appeared in bills of mortality up to 1679. This disappearance of plague from London has been attributed to the Great Fire in September 1666, but it also subsided in other cities without such cause. The decline has also been ascribed to quarantine, but effective quarantine was actually not established until 1720. The cessation of plague in England must be regarded as spontaneous.

Additional Reading

Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year (1722), is a vivid narrative that presents a valuable picture of the time. Stephen Porter, The Great Plague (1999), provides a harrowing modern account.John S. Morrill

* * *