Summary. Mary Montagu in the early 18th century pioneered vaccination against smallpox. She scratched under the skin of a non-infected person and added a small amount of treated pus from an infected person.
Mary was born 26 May 1689, the first daughter of Evelyn and Mary Pierrepont. Her father became Earl[1] of Kingston-upon-Hull the year after her birth. Her mother died when she was four and she was left to keep the house for her father, then a Whig M.P. She spent much time alone in the library, writing poetry, teaching herself Latin, writing a diary, corresponding with bishops and commenting on how to be independent in a male dominated society. Despite her initial resistance to marriage[2] and after prolonged negotiations with her father and her future husband, she eloped with Edward Wortley Montagu,[3] a Whig M.P. in 1712. Edward became a stingy and possessive man, who controlled Mary even more than her overbearing father.[4]
Mary Wortley Montagu by Charles Jervas, 1716. It does not
show the scars from smallpox obtained the previous year.
In 1713, her brother died of smallpox, sometimes known
as the ‘speckled monster’.[5]
In 1715, Mary was infected, became dangerously ill and nearly died; it left her
with a disfigured face. In 1716, Edward became the British ambassador to the
Ottoman dynasty in Turkey and whilst in the country for two years Mary witnessed
a method for protection from smallpox. Mary described how a woman with a
nutshell of pus from a skin pustule and a needle vaccinated a young person. The
woman opened small holes in 4 or 5 veins in usually the arm or leg and added a
minute amount of pus before binding up the wound. The inoculation possibly worked
because the pus was old and came from a person with mild symptoms. It was
usually given to very young people and the scratch on the skin was tiny. Often,
they developed a mild illness and was then immunised. Unfortunately, if the
individual became ill, they could then infect others, and some died.
Smallpox viruses. Wikimedia, public domain. Smallpox has killed more than the
Black Death.
Mary, 1718, had Edward her four year old son inoculated
with the help of the embassy surgeon Charles
Maitland. On
returning to London, she enthusiastically promoted the procedure, but
encountered much resistance from the medical establishment since they
considered it was a folk treatment.[6]
There was bigotry in which a woman had succeeded where men
had failed. In April 1721, a smallpox epidemic struck England and she had her three-year
old daughter inoculated. Mary publicised this event; a first for Britain. In
1721, six prisoners awaiting execution were offered the chance to undergo vaccination
and avoid the gallows and all survived. It was repeated on eleven London
orphans. This persuaded Caroline of
Ansbach,
the Princess of
Wales, to
have the vaccination for her two daughters in 1722. Despite this pioneering
procedure it was not widely practised until physicians and surgeons arranged
their own methodology. Mary then criticised their technique. Consequently,
Mary’s role in the introduction of vaccination was not recognised until the middle
of the century.
Royal and noble families followed the practice,
including, in 1768, Catherine the Great of Russia and her son, the future Tsar. A
small number of deaths occurred and some complications resulted.
Mary died in 1762. Thirty-four years later Edward
Jenner, 1749–1823, a doctor in Gloucestershire, was consulted by a
dairymaid called Sarah Nelmes about a rash on her hand. He diagnosed cowpox
rather than smallpox; one of Sarah’s cows had recently had cowpox. Edward
Jenner realised this was an opportunity to test the protective properties of
cowpox by giving it to someone who had not yet suffered smallpox. On 14th May, he made a few
scratches on one of James Phipp’s[7]
arms and rubbed in some material from pocks on Sarah's hand. A few days later
James became mildly ill with cowpox but was well again a week later. On 1st
July Jenner infected the boy with smallpox, but no reaction occurred. Gradually
this kind of vaccination became the preferred way.
Mary Montagu is also remembered for her poetry,
letters, diary and relationships with her family and society names. She lived a
somewhat chaotic life, fending off admirers and falling for unsuitable men, but
was always determined. In 1789, a plaque was placed in Lichfield cathedral by
Henrietta Inge (nee Wrottesley)[8]
who was possibly saved from smallpox by Mary’s type of vaccination. There is a
suggestion the two women met in Lichfield and they might have
been distantly
related.[9]
Mary Wortley Montagu
monument on the wall at the north-west end of the nave.
Mary Montagu is
now seen as a pioneer of vaccination science and a woman coping in a
patriarchal, bigoted society.
Additional information, thanks to Jennifer Rudd.
 |
A ‘blue plaque to Mary, at Wentworth Castle Gardens.
The simple Turkish inoculation technique Mary introduced to
Britain in 1721 was incorporated into lengthy, costly, invasive ‘humoral’
medical practice by conservative physicians. Mary was infuriated by this
‘professionalisation’ of her innovation. Deaths from inoculation numbered 1 in
60 in England, whereas Mary observed that no-one died of it in Turkey. The only
piece of her writing Mary chose to publish was a heavily edited critique of
such practises. Sadly, Mary regretted her involvement in introducing smallpox
inoculation. She never lived to see the simplification of inoculation during
the 1760’s by Daniel Sutton and Thomas Dimsdale et al, which enabled
mass inoculation of the rural poor. This fact is ignored by historians who
attribute the start of vaccination to Jenner,1796. Vaccination is a type of
inoculation with its origin in the East and Mary was a pioneer of preventative
medicine, 75 years before Jenner, and her achievement saved countless lives.
[1]
Later made a Duke in 1715. His loyal support of the Whig government gained him
many appointments.
[2]
She was more concerned with the financial implications than anything to do with
romance.
[3]
This is the correct spelling of the family name. The name on the cathedral
plaque, Lady MARY WORTLEY MONTEGUE is spelt wrongly.
[5]
Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. The first
symptoms usually appear 12–14 days after exposure. Symptoms include fever, muscle
aches, headache, severe fatigue, severe back pain and sometimes vomiting. Later,
flat, red spots appear on the body; the face, arms and legs are often affected
first. Within days, the spots turn into small blisters filled with clear fluid
and then pus. Scabs form 8–9 days later and eventually fall off, leaving deep,
pitted scars. Complications can be the outcome. Fatality depends on the type of
virus. In 1719, 3,299 deaths were recorded in London. It has been estimated 300
million people have been infected in the 20th–century.1n 1979, WHO stated
smallpox was eradicated from the world. Smallpox was so called in contrast with
Great-pox or syphilis.
[6]
There was also bigotry because it originated in Turkey.
[7]
Eight years old son of his gardener.
[8]
At one time she was thought to be a grandniece, but this is no longer believed.
[9]
D. Cornwallis-Doran, ‘This monument is erected’, South Staffordshire
Archaeological and Historical Society Local History Magazine. (2010)
May/April, 25–28.