Lady Montagu brings inoculation from Turkey to the West

1718 Belgrade, London: Britain's first inoculation, for smallpox, was given, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - 1762), to her infant son. Lady Mary had herself contracted the disease in 1715 at the age of 26 and wished to spare him the pain and disfigurement she had endured.

Lady Montagu, the celebrated letter writer, had seen in Turkey the custom of introducing smallpox by a needle into the veins, and she wrote "I am patriot enough to try to bring this useful invention into fashion in England".

The first patient, her son, did well, but almost the entire medical profession opposed inoculation, as did the clergy who considered it to be meddling in God's affairs. Lady Montague had to endure a great amount of personal strain from the opposition. However, the Princess of Wales became interested, and after having four condemned criminals (!) inoculated successfully, she had her own children exposed to the ‘ingrafted’ smallpox. As a result, the practice became fashionable. Voltaire learned of the practice as it became popular throughout England, and was largely responsible for its introduction into France.

In 1796 Edward Jenner announced the discovery of vaccination (from the Latin word for ‘cow’), which used cowpox rather than smallpox to introduce into the patient. By 1840 inoculation with smallpox was made illegal in Britain as vaccination was established.

Tagged: british+history, history, medicine