Plague – a disease of children and servants? A study of the parish records of St Peter upon Cornhill, London from 1580 to 1605

Evans, Charles M.; Evans, Angela E.

doi:10.1017/s0268416019000158

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Children were identified from the text as 'son of' or 'daughter of' the head of household. In a study of the parish of St Peter, Cornhill where ages at burials were recorded, it was found that, almost without exception, the ages of individuals recorded as 'children' were between 0 and 19 years [1]. Stillborn children were not included in this study and it was rare, indeed, for the gender to be recorded in such cases.…”

Section: Categorisation Of the Burial Datamentioning

confidence: 95%

“…As a source of data, we make use of the parochial registers transcribed and published by the Harleian Society as others have done previously [1,3,26]. In addition, the register of the parish of St Christopher le Stocks, which was privately published, was also utilised.…”

Section: Parochial Registersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These publications generally present lists of baptisms, marriages and burials but there is plainly no uniform standard for compiling records. For instance, the St Peter, Cornhill register is only one of three to record age at death over an extended period [2] but it did not record cause of death in the plague year 1603, whereas the register of the adjacent St Michael, Cornhill did not record age at death but consistently attributed deaths to plague over this same period [1]. Another example of the difficulties encountered is found in the burial register of St Olave, Hart Street which, commencing on 26 th April 1563, began by giving details of occupation, family status ('son of', 'wife of' etc) but from 28 th August recorded the names of the deceased only.…”

Section: Parochial Registersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other work has confirmed this trend showing that by 1665 the plague mortality in the central intramural parishes was considerably lower than elsewhere in the metropolis [21]. Our paper focuses on the wealthier central parishes and whilst there are clearly some advantages in studying a wider area as demonstrated by Cummins et al [21] there is greater potential for more detailed studies in the smaller central parishes since many have burial registers which provide sufficient detail to enable the sub-division of the population into 'children', 'servants' and 'adults' [1]. We are then able to find out if plague influences the burial sex ratio in a similar way in each demographic grouping.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent study of the burial register from the central London parish of St Peter, Cornhill revealed that male inhumations exceeded those of females by 1.54 to 1 and 1.69 to 1 respectively for the plague years of 1593 and 1603 thus suggesting a higher plague mortality for males [1]. This striking observation is not exceptional for London parishes at this time since an earlier investigation of the parish records of St Botolph's-without-Bishopsgate found that 1.46 men were buried for each woman in 1603 whilst the ratio was 1.37 to 1 in the plague year of 1625 [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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London parochial burial records from 1563 to 1665 indicate higher plague death rates for males than females: Some possible demographic and social explanations

Didelot

Evans

2022

PLoS ONE

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The burial rates of males and females in early modern central London were compared to investigate a possible bias towards male mortality in the plague years of 1563, 1593, 1603, 1625 and 1665. The burial records of sixteen parishes were examined and compared with the five-year periods immediately preceding each plague year when recorded burials were substantially less. A markedly higher burial rate for males was detected in each plague year but this can be partly attributed to a general preponderance of males in the central London population since there was a similar but lesser bias in non-plague years. In the plague years the difference between the frequency of male and female adult burials appears to have been enhanced by the preferential migration of women of childbearing age out of the city since fewer births were recorded in months when plague was rife. Furthermore, when a sample of households was investigated, husbands were significantly more likely to have been buried than their wives. These findings were largely applicable to the plague years of 1603, 1625 and 1665 but were far less apparent in 1563 and 1593. In general, there were more burials of boys than girls in non-plague years which is the expected consequence of their greater vulnerability to childhood diseases. This difference diminished in plague years so that the burials of girls and boys approached parity at a time when burials of children of both sexes were significantly increased. Possibly, plague did not discriminate between the sexes and this characteristic tended to mask the usual vulnerability of boys.

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Section: Categorisation Of the Burial Datamentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Parochial Registersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Parochial Registersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

London parochial burial records from 1563 to 1665 indicate higher plague death rates for males than females: Some possible demographic and social explanations

Didelot

Evans

2022

PLoS ONE

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Deluge and disease: plague, the poetry of flooding, and the history of health inequalities in Andrew Marvell’s Hull

Mottram

2022

The Seventeenth Century

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This article redresses a predominant focus on London among historians of health inequalities by turning to the port town of Kingston upon Hull and offering the first demographic analysis of burial records from Hull's 'great plague' of 1637-38. The article shows how the social history of plague intersects with the flood metaphors of Hull poet, Andrew Marvell (1621-78) and his father, the Reverend Andrew Marvell (c.1584-1641). The article offers new understanding of Marvell as an estuary poet immersed in the floods, plagues, and environmental hazards that were a feature of life in Hull and London. It finds that Hull's poorest householders were over three times more likely to die of plague in 1637-38 than Hull's merchants, and argues that these are health inequalities reinforced by Marvell's flood metaphors, which liken to Noah those with the financial means to flee from plague, while unjustly condemning the perceived impieties of the poor.

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The victims of the last great Bubonic plague epidemic in Ottoman Anatolia: dynamics of mortality by age and gender during the plague epidemic of Kastamonu (1836–1839)

Çakır,

Ulaş

2024

The History of the Family

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Plague – a disease of children and servants? A study of the parish records of St Peter upon Cornhill, London from 1580 to 1605

Cited by 7 publications

References 38 publications

London parochial burial records from 1563 to 1665 indicate higher plague death rates for males than females: Some possible demographic and social explanations

London parochial burial records from 1563 to 1665 indicate higher plague death rates for males than females: Some possible demographic and social explanations

Deluge and disease: plague, the poetry of flooding, and the history of health inequalities in Andrew Marvell’s Hull

The victims of the last great Bubonic plague epidemic in Ottoman Anatolia: dynamics of mortality by age and gender during the plague epidemic of Kastamonu (1836–1839)

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