In
partnership with the Glasgow Times,
our archivists are exploring Glasgow's fascinating history. This week, Irene O'Brien writes about the 1900 Bubonic Plague outbreak.
In autumn 1900 the Bubonic plague, a disease normally
associated with medieval times, appeared in Glasgow. The most widespread plague epidemic
experienced in Glasgow itself began in 1645 where it was centred in the High St
and the Vennels. The reappearance of the disease 250 years later was a rude
awakening, underlining that the City was not immune to the plague and that the
physical conditions necessary for its spread were still prevalent in Glasgow at
the turn of the 20th century. And indeed, the cases began in the crowded and
unsanitary tenements of the Gorbals area.
The 1900 outbreak was relatively small, with 36 known cases
and 16 deaths, largely due to the swift action of the authorities. The first
cases occurred in early August in a house in Rose Street, Gorbals, where a Mr
Bogie, a docker, and his family were infected leading to the death of his wife
and granddaughter. Soon other people in
the neighbourhood began contracting and dying from a serious illness. Wakes for
the dead were popular, particularly among the Irish in the Gorbals, and it was
discovered that some of the later victims were among the more than 100 people
who had attended Mrs Bogie’s wake.
Various causes of the deaths were given, but doctors had a feeling
something was wrong, and this was confirmed when the diagnosis of plague was
made by a doctor in Belvidere Hospital.
The Sanitary Authorities were quick to act – they looked for
anyone who might have had contact with the Bogie family and simultaneously
managed to track the spread of the plague.
Those who had attended Mrs Bogie’s wake were quarantined in a “reception
house” so they could be monitored.
Houses were fumigated and evacuated; clothing and bedding were
disinfected; staff in hospitals and reception houses were inoculated and wakes
were prohibited. Publicity was avoided to try and prevent panic, and the
outbreak was contained.
The official report in 1901 concluded that the most likely
cause was an infected rat carried aboard one of the many ships from around the
world that had visited the port of Glasgow.
However, new research by a team at Oslo University has established that
the rats were wrongly blamed, and the real culprits were humans. The unusually
high number of secondary plague infections occurred between members of the same
household, suggesting that body lice or human fleas may have been to blame.
Despite its focus on rats, the city’s authorities ultimately
“dodged a bullet” using quarantining and basic human sanitation measures, which
proved highly effective.
“It had all the classic conditions for a mass outbreak of
bubonic plague…but through medical vigilance, local authority organisation and
public information, they managed to nip it in the bud.”