It is often said that we are living in unprecedented times and it’s certainly true that Covid has transformed everything about the way we live and work. However, having revisited the Annals of Aberdeen, which I’ve written about in a few blogs over the last few months, it turns out that we are not living in unprecedented times after all. Aberdeen has experienced far worse epidemics in the past. Moreover, while we are (I hope) moderately confident of a vaccine in the next year, previous infections not only ravaged the city but lasted on and off for centuries.
The Annals tell us that in 1608, “the pestilence (plague) which had so frequently afflicted the citizens at former periods … broke out in Torrie, on the south side of the river Dee, where it raged for some time: and on repeated occasions, some symptoms of it had appeared amongst the inhabitants.” Remember, the death rate from “the pestilence” in these pre-antibiotic times dwarfed that of Covid. For those who contracted bubonic plague the death rate was around 60% and if they were unlucky enough to get pneumonic plague it was virtually 100%.
What I find interesting is that while we think that we are much more capable of reacting to contain our pandemic (with lockdowns, etc.) than they would have been in the past, in fact it’s clear that the City fathers were not idle in their attempts to suppress the plague bacillus (even if they didn’t know it was a bacillus!). The Annals tell us, “the rigorous precautions which were adopted by the magistrates, on intelligence being brought to the town of its raging in other places, probably had the means of preventing it from making much progress, or spreading in the town.” This sounds not very much different from today’s response…
While plague spread more slowly than Covid, and also came and went (it would be nice if Covid would go too!) over the years, there were other diseases which impacted massively on our 17th century forebears, of which more next time…
Julie Skinner, Resourcing and Benefits Specialist