As a maritime trading nation, the issue of quarantine was one of constant concern to Britain. Whilst naturally keen to promote international trade, there was a constant fear of importing potentially devastating diseases into British territories. In this groundbreaking study, John Booker examines the methods by which British authorities sought to keep their territories free from contagious diseases, and the reactions to, and practical consequences of, these policies. Drawing upon a wealth of documentary sources, Dr Booker paints a vivid picture of this controversial episode of British political and mercantile history, concluding that quarantine was a peculiarly British disaster, doomed to inefficiency by the royal prerogative and concerns for trade and individual liberty. Whilst it may not have fatally hindered the economic development of Britain, it certainly irritated the City and the mercantile elites and remained a source of constant political friction for many years. As such, an understanding of British maritime quarantine provides a fuller picture of attitudes to trade, culture, politics and medicine in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Author(s): John Booker
Series: The History of Medicine in Context
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 644
City: Abingdon
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
1 The Seventeenth Century
2 The Baltic Crisis, 1709-1714: Policy and Procedure
3 The Baltic Crisis, 1709-1714: Mercantile Worries
4 The Marseilles Crisis, 1720-1723
5 Gibraltar and Minorca, 1720-1814
6 The Messina Crisis, and Legislation, 1728-1754
7 Indecision in Britain, 1756-1788
8 The Foul-Bill Dilemma, 1786-1800
9 Land or Sea? The Lazaretto Debate, 1793-1800
10 British Board of Health and Kentish Fiasco, 1803-1820
11 Malta: War, Peace and Plague, 1640-1814
12 Anti-Contagionism in Britain, 1805-1825
13 Malta and the Ionian Islands, 1815-1826
14 Mediterranean Misery, plus Cholera, 1825-1835
15 International Deliberation, 1835-1853
16 Malta, 1826-1851, and the Demise of Quarantine
Glossary
Bibliography
Appendices
1 Quarantine Stations
2 Summary of Acts of the Westminster Parliament relating wholly or in part to quarantine
3 Petitioners for the release of ships from quarantine, 1709-1714
4 Gross receipts and expenses of the quarantine service in Great Britain, 1800-1823 (to nearest £ sterling)
5 Quarantine income at Malta, with breakdown of components (when known)
6 Quarantine expenditure under British control on Malta
Index
