the great plague

• The Great Plague of 1665 was the worst outbreak of the plague in Britain since the Black Death in 1348. There were some differences in how people tried to prevent and treat it, but things hadn’t changed much. 
• The Lord Mayor’s orders were some of the first examples of governments intervening in the interest of public health. Whilst the measures were not hugely impactful, they represented a change in how things were done. 
• The Lord Mayor’s Orders 


  Designed to stop the plague in London in 1665:

  • People were employed to kill stray cats/dogs
  • Plague graves had to be at least 6 feet deep & no public gatherings were allowed around them
  • Searchers sent to identify houses where people had died of the plague
  • 2 watchmen were to supervise an infected house to stop people going in/out
  • Alehouses (pubs) were to close to stop large gatherings.
  • People were not able to buried in churches & funerals were not allowed

  The number of deaths continued to rise, it may have been even worse without some of these measures. 
• Beliefs about the causes

  • People still didn’t really understand what was causing the plague.
  • They still believed it was a punishment from God.
  • They still believed that disease could be caused by miasma.
  • For the first time it was noticed that people living in the poorer (and therefore dirtier) areas of the city were worst affected. This was also because houses were so close together in these areas.
• Preventative measures


  • Trade with affected towns stopped
  • Infected houses were locked up by guards
  • The border with Scotland was closed
  • The King published very strict orders about the movement of people and animals, treatment of infected houses & where people could buried
  • Each town had to have a house for the sick on its borders where they could send victims
  • Bodies were only collected at night to stop the spread of infected people
  • Plague doctors wore special suits with sweet-smelling herbs in the nose to protect them against miasma and amulets (jewellery) to ward off evil spirits