The plague of 1583

Two plagues are well known: the Black Death in 1348-9 and the Great Plague of 1665-6 in London. However, the outbreak of plague was much more frequent than this, with London alone suffering major outbreaks of plague in 1406-1407, 1464, 1479, 1500, 1513, 1563 and 1582, for example. This last outbreak was particularly severe, records showing the weekly numbers of plague deaths: in the week ending 30 August 111 died of plague, the numbers rising to 213 in the week ending4 October and 216 in the week ending 25 October. The number of these fatalities had tailed off by the following spring. It was at this point that the plague arrived in this area.

In Tickhill’s Parish Register the word plague is not mentioned but the increasing number of burials from April 1583 indicates something extraordinary was happening especially when members of the same family died within a few days. The worst affected was the Aldam family where eight members were buried between 14 and 20 July, followed by their housekeeper on 21 July. Thomas Browne, his wife Anne and their daughter Elizabeth were buried between  14 and 31 May, three members of the Denby family were buried between 30 July and 15 August, Jane Grenehold was buried on 18 October then both her parents were buried two days later, and Robert Poole, his wife Margaret and two children were buried between 25 October and 18 November. A total of 92 burials are recorded between April and December 1583 compared with 27 burials over the same months in 1582. By the end of March 1584 the worst was over.

Wadworth’s Parish Register leaves no doubt as to why people died in 1583, the word plague or simply the letter p indicating the cause of death. The plague arrived a little later in Wadworth than in Tickhill: on 5 September Robert Fowler, a labourer, was the first to die from the plague, ‘primus infectus’ noted the Register. The plague caused a total of 27 deaths in Wadworth including three in the Greames family all buried on 2 October and four members of the Armitage family buried between 13 October and 11 December. Wadworth’s last death caused by the plague was of Margaret Bywater who was buried on 21 January. Her father, also a plague victim, had been buried on 9 December.   

Considerable efforts were made to stop the spread of the plague from 1578 when the first ever nationwide plague orders were issued by Elizabeth I and addressed to Justices of the Peace in all counties. The book, left, by Rebecca Totaro lists the 17 orders sent to JPs which would, of course, have applied to this area. JPs first had to collect taxes to relieve the poor that were or could be infected and restrained in their homes, so that they could have food, fuel and medicines. Among other orders were the following. Someone had to be appointed to view bodies before burial and certify what probable disease caused death. Anyone refusing to do this would be imprisoned. Some place apart had to be made for the burial of plague victims. Homes of the plague victims were to be closed for 6weeks and a mark placed on the doors. Family members who had to go out to tend livestock had to wear some mark on their upper garments and carry a white stick. Those delivering food to infected households or appointed to keep watch also had to identify themselves in these ways and thus try to enforce isolation. All clothing and ‘stuff’ belonging to plague victims had to be burnt (or washed and aired in some cases) and the poor paid recompense for this. JPs had to meet every 21 days to send statistics about plague victims to the lords of the Privy Council. JPs in every hundred had to meet weekly to see if any problems with enforcing the orders had arisen. Advice produced by physicians had to be printed and fixed in the Market Place. This listed recipes for fumigating houses, perfuming clothing and making medicines, for example. The orders recognised that plagues were not spread by ‘miasma’ and that prayers alone would not be effective in reducing the impact of plagues. Mortality rates in Tickhill parish, but not Wadworth, increased in other years such as 1587, 1602, 1631 and 1637 but members of the same family did not die within a few days as happened in the plague year of 1583.

Creighton, C., A history of epidemics in Britain, Cambridge University Press, 1891 (text available without charge on website: www.gutenberg.org/files/42686/42686/-h/42686-h.htm

Totaro, R., The plague in print: Essential Elizabethan sources 1558-1603, Duquesne University Press, 2010, pages 179-196.