Great Plague of London, 1665

Mass burials during the Great Plague of 1665. The Great Plague (1665-66) was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. Plague doctors traversed the streets diagnosing victims. Several public health efforts were attempted. Physicians were hired by city officials and burial details were carefully organized, but panic spread through the city and, out of the fear of contagion, people were hastily buried in overcrowded pits. Authorities ordered giant bonfires to be burned in the streets and house fires to be kept burning night and day, in hopes that the air would be cleansed. The Great Plague killed an estimated 100, 000 people. This image has been colorized

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

1600s Burying Epidemic Pandemic Panic Plague Seventeenth Sickness

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