"Anti-Vacc-Attack in London": Sources and Materials

Hey everyone! 

My name is Rosie Poling and I just got back from London, where I was studying the 19th century British anti-vaccination movement. In this post, I'll talk about my research methodologies/ sources. My second post is going to address the roles of women in the movement, and my last post is going to talk about implications for current day. (I apologize in advance for using too many exclamation marks and for the "personal notes") 

Vaccination Materials from the 1920s
 (taken at Old Operating Theatre at St. Thomas' Church Museum)

A Brief Overview of the Topic

From 1840-1871 in England, there were a series of compulsory smallpox vaccination laws passed, increasing in strictness over time. The common way vaccination worked in this time involved a government-appointed vaccinator injecting infants with pus from another child in 4 different cuts on the child. Later, the child would have to be brought back and the pus from their blisters would be put into another child. Louis Pasteur only began his experiments on germ theory in 1860, so only Edward Jenner's experimental evidence with cow-pox was used to justify the laws.  In response, organizations including the National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League and London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination were formed, with members organizing political advocacy and sharing information. Many parents who did not want to vaccinate faced fines or even prison. In 1888, Member of Parliament Jacob Bright tried to introduce a repeal, and although it was defeated, there was Royal Commission set up to study the grievances. Despite objections, the 1896 report reaffirmed compulsory vaccination. In 1898, however, they introduced a conscientious objection clause, so if parents could prove it wasn't neglect but rather a choice to not vaccinate, they wouldn't be prosecuted. The Victorian understanding of the body, as well as gender dynamics, influenced discourse around the medical technology and impacted biotechnical embrace. 

Methodologies

Before I left, I reviewed some of the literature already written on the topic, such as Politics of Prevention and Bodily Matters. These materials helped me identify different sources that I could request in advance from the Wellcome Collection and the British Library. I decided to start by looking at the different newsletters, as I hoped those could point me to various authors to look more in depth at. For many of these newsletters, they came in volumes, so I was able to look through the index to find the materials specific to what I was looking for. 

This is Volume 5 before the pages were cut- many of the pages were folded
inward and some sections were impossible to read. 

As it was my first time doing archival research, I wasn't sure what to expect, but all the librarians were really encouraging and helpful. For Volume 5 of the Vaccination Inquirer by the London Society for Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination, the pages were still attached (see picture) so I was unable to read the pages I needed. I didn't want to tear the pages (as the book was from 1884), but the pages had speeches and letters from women involved in the movement like Miss Leigh Hunt, Dr. Frances Hoggan, and Miss EC Wolstenholme Elmy. When I asked the front desk, they worked with me to send the volume to conservation to have them carefully cut the pages. I was able to get the volume back to be able to read the pages I needed. I was really excited to be able to read from a source no one else had since 1884!!!!!!!!!!

This is me being VERY excited after Volume 5 was cut and I could read the pages! 

Using my phone, I was able to make PDF copies of the pages that I needed/ wanted to reference later. Many of the sources I was looking at were not available online, so I wanted to be able to reference them later. There was definitely a learning curve, but with each source, I learned how to develop a better system of documenting the source for reference purposes. I plan to transfer my reference notes to zotero so that they are more organized.  Additionally, I found that with each new source, I found more sources. For example, finding information about the formation of the "Mother's League Against Compulsory Vaccination" in the Anti-Vaccinator by Henry Pitman led me finding a lot of interesting pamphlets they produced.

Sources

I divided them into materials produced by leagues, materials produced by individual authors, and materials outside the time period. The archives I used were the Wellcome Collection and the British Library. The sources included handwritten correspondence, journals, pamphlets, books, and pictures.

Materials Produced by Leagues:

Volumes 1-10 of the London Society's Journal 

1. The Anti-Vaccinator by Henry Pitman, 1869
1. Prison Thoughts on Vaccination, 1876
2. The Anti-Vaccinator by F Pitman, 1872-1873
3. National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League
1. National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination Reporter by National-Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League, 1874-1884
2. The Worshippers of Æsculapius, or the Wise Men of Whitehall ... An unfinished drama ... By a most ignorant Fanatic, etc., 1875
3. Compulsory Vaccination- a tale: A Warning to Mothers, 1880
4. London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination:
1. The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review, Volumes 1-15, 1879-1891
2. Taking the Shilling: a tale of village life (by E.W. Allen), 1881
3. The Doctor's Baby, 1883 (By William Young)
4. A little proclamation. By the government to the public…, 1888
5. A Catalogue of Anti-Vaccination Literature, 1895
1. *this source was extremely helpful for finding more sources! 
5. Mothers' Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League
1. Extract from a Book Just Published on Human Science and On Divine Revelation by Dr. Garth Wilkinson, 1876
2. Vaccination a cause of the prevalent Decay of the Teeth, and a Scourge to Beauty, Digestion and Soundness (By Albert Carter), 1877
3. The Somerset House "Statistics" on Vaccination Examined by George S. Gibbs, 1877
4. How and How Much the "Disease of Diseases" is Propagated by Vaccination in a Letter to Mrs. Richard Butler Gibbs, 1877
6. Midland Society for the Suppression of the Compulsory Vaccination Acts
1. "Precaution Against Small-Pox"- A Reply (by Mr. H Port), 1881

Individual Authors

Many of these authors appear in the journals listed above as well. The purpose of these is to get better insight into how individual women were talking about vaccination, as well as understanding their whole personalities/ interests. 

1. Dr. Anna Kingsford
1. In My Lady's Chamber: a speculative Romance, touching a few Questions of the Day

By Colossa (her pseudonym), 1873

2. Health, Beauty, and the Toilet. Letters to Ladies from a Lady Doctor, 1886 
3. Anna Kingsford: her life, letters, diary and work/ by her collaborator Edward Maitland, Vol 1-2, 1896

2. Miss Chandos Leigh Hunt (Later Wallace)
1. Vaccination- Brought Home to the People [a lecture] , 1876
2. Organic Magnetism
3. Mrs. Mary Hume-Rothery
1. 150 Reasons for Disobeying the Vaccination Law, by persons prosecuted under it, 1878 
2. The exceeding wickedness of the compulsory Vaccination law and of other medical legislation connected with it… 1879
4. Dr. Frances Hoggan
1. The Position of the Mother in the Family in its Legal and Scientific Aspects, 1884
5. Miss EC Wolstenholme Elmy
1. The Custody and Guardianship of Children (speech), 1883
2. The Infants Bill, 1884
3. The Custody of Children and Guardianship of Children- To Wives and Mothers of Every Class in England and Ireland, 1885 

A Letter Expressing Concerns
about Vaccination, 1803 

Additional Materials

Some of my sources were outside of the main time period (mid-late 19th century) I was studying, but I still looked at them to understand the directions/ flow/ context better

Early 19th Opposition to Vaccination:

1. Parade of Small-Pocked People, France, 1800
2. Anti-Vaccination Correspondence, 1803

20th Century Opposition:

1. Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review by National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League, 1950s 
2. The Truth about Vaccination and Immunization, by Miss Lily Loat (Secretary for National Anti-Compulsory-Vaccination League), 1951

Connections to Today:

1. Met with Clarissa Simas, a research fellow at the Vaccine Confidence Project who studies vaccine hesitancy, especially with the HPV vaccine

Places

While in London, I was also able to see several of the places referenced in the materials I was analyzing: 

Replica of Broad Street Cholera Pump

"Cholera Pump" - In 1854, epidemiologist pioneer John Snow's map of cholera deaths helped to show that the disease was water-borne. By turning off the contaminated Broad Street water pump, he was able to help end the 1854 cholera epidemic. While not directly referenced, his work indirectly advocated for sanitation over vaccination as a form of prevention, an argument many anti-vaccinators used.

Old Operating Theatre at St. Thomas' Church Museum- On Sunday, when the archives were closed, Kira and I were able to explore this really cool space. There were vaccination materials there from 1900-1920 that helped me visualize how vaccinations were done at the time. I found it interesting that on a interactive aspect of the museum where visitors could list their medical fears in a book, both "injections" and "anti-vaxxers" were listed.

Royal Free Hospital

Royal Free Hospital- This hospital, by Hampstead Health, has two roles in the story of anti-vaccination. In the 19th century, it was where women training at the London School of Medicine for Women trained. In our current day, it was where (former) Dr. Andrew Wakefield worked. Mr. Wakefield's since disproved research that the MMR vaccine causes autism was announced at a press conference here.

London School of Medicine for Women- As I will discuss in the next post, many women involved in the movement were advocates of increasing the number of female physicians. This school was founded in 1874 by Sophia Jex-Blake, Elizabeth Anderson, Emily Blackwell, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Thomas Huxley. Currently, it serves as Hunter Street Health Center 

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine- This school is one of the leading institutions for studying global health. The Vaccine Confidence Project, where Clarissa works, has offices inside the school and works on studying vaccine hesitancy in different cultures and for different vaccines. Outside the building, Sir Simon and Louis Pasteur (who were hated by the 19th century anti-vaccinators) have their names engraved. Inside the building, there is a plaque celebrating the success of vaccination in ending smallpox. 

In the next post, I'm going to talk about what I found in the sources concerning the roles of women within the movement.