Smallpox Epidemics - Kk German 1764/5 and 1772/3

Smallpox was a major killer of young children from the late 17th until the early 19th century by which time innoculation, and after the 1870's, compulsory vaccination, removed the pool of potential victims. The outbreaks were generally intense but shortlived - rather as though dry tinder was merely waiting for a spark to be ignited. In the two outbreaks examined here it is tempting to see two or three localised outbreaks sperated by the incubation period of about 10 days.

The burial register for German indicates smallpox deaths from 14th November 1764 through to late April 1765.

Burials noted in Kk German Register

The 95 deaths are all noted as 'son/daughter of' which indicates the death of a child - the majority of these are readily identifiable and are of children from age 1 to at most 8 years of age. It is possible that the source can be determined as one of the early deaths is the son of a Captain Weirgang (not known as resident in Peel), another of his children was noted as almost the last fatality in this outbreak.

1772/3 Epidemic

A similar pattern of deaths can be seen in the 1772/3 epidemic though strectched over a somewhat longer period.

the number of deaths is less - 70 - but as in 1764/5 all described as 'son/daughter of'. One of the deaths was noted as 'innoculation' which would indicate a deliberate attempt to transfer the disease in the expectation of a lower mortality rate.

In both 1764 and 1772 the adjacent, and more rural, parish of Kirk Michael also reported outbreaks of smallpox though not as marked as in Kk German where most deaths would appear to have been in Peel. Smaller outbreaks of smallpox are reported in the Kirk German registers at intervals of about five years until the end of the 18th century though the number of reported deaths (again mainly of infants or children) were lower at about 20.

References

R.A. Houston The Population History of Britain and Ireland 1500-1750, Macmillan Education Studies in Economic and Social History (ISBN 0-333-56564-9) 1992

E. A Wrigley & R.S. Schofield The Population History of England 1541-1871 A Reconstruction Cambridge: University Press (ISBN 0-521-35688-1) 1989