{"id":4986,"date":"2026-01-16T09:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=4986"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:37:30","slug":"smallpox-and-the-bankes-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2026\/01\/16\/smallpox-and-the-bankes-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Smallpox and the Bankes Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between 2015 and 2018 Dorset History Centre undertook the \u2018Unlocking the Bankes archive<\/a>\u2018 project. During the life of this project, staff and volunteers contributed well over 100 blogs to the project website. By 2024, this project website was no longer functional in the way it originally was, and we made the decision to close the website permanently.<\/p>\n

However, we didn\u2019t want to lose all of the intriguing stories and individual research which had been done by so many people, and we are therefore going to slowly be recycling these pieces onto this blog site going forward, to ensure that these fascinating tales have a home for people to read (or possibly re-read)!<\/p>\n

This time we take a look at how Frances Bankes looked after her family’s health…<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Frances Bankes (1760-1823), mistress of Kingston Lacy and mother to six children, took her family\u2019s health seriously. In her meticulous medical notebook, she left a fascinating account of a procedure that still causes controversy today \u2013 inoculation.<\/p>\n

Smallpox was one of the most feared diseases of the age. \u00a0In it\u2019s worst form smallpox killed 20% of sufferers, and left many survivors horribly disfigured. The eastern practice of inoculation was\u00a0introduced to Britain in 1721 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu<\/a>, the Turkish ambassadress, and by the time Frances\u2019 and Henry\u2019s children were born it was well established, even fashionable, amongst those who could afford the treatment.<\/p>\n

Inoculation vs. Vaccination \u2013 what\u2019s the difference?<\/h3>\n

Inoculation, or variolation, is the injection of the smallpox virus into the patient \u2013 in effect inducing a mild bout of smallpox. The virus would be taken from the scabs or pustules of a smallpox sufferer, and is a practice likely as old as the disease itself.<\/p>\n

Vaccination is the injection of the safer cowpox virus, which, following a bout of cowpox, gives the patient immunity to smallpox. The word is derived from the latin \u2018vacca\u2019 meaning \u2018cow\u2019. Reports of this gentler method are known to have circulated in southwest England from the 1770s. Benjamin Jesty, a farmer from west Dorset who later lived in Purbeck, claimed to have inoculated his wife with cowpox in 1774.<\/p>\n

It is possible that Henry and Frances Bankes knew of this procedure: their local physician, Dr Richard Pulteney of Blandford, gave evidence to the House of Commons Committee in 1802 that granted Edward Jenner\u2019s \u2018reward\u2019 for the discovery. However, vaccination was not accepted practice when their children were young.<\/p>\n

Inoculation and the Bankes<\/h3>\n

The three eldest boys were given the standard \u2018variolation\u2019. It was an unpleasant and risky procedure to subject a small baby to: a death rate of 1 in 200 even in the best hands; 2 or 3 weeks of distressing symptoms; potential scarring; and a risk of infecting those around them.<\/p>\n

In her notebook (D-BKL\/H\/I\/1<\/a>), Frances recorded a day-by-day account of the treatment, and pinned the doctors\u2019 prescriptions to the relevant pages. Anyone who has sat up with a fretful baby after a vaccination, with a bottle of Calpol to hand, can perhaps sympathise with Frances\u2019s anxiety.<\/p>\n

The inoculation of Henry Bankes<\/h3>\n

Frances\u2019 first child, Henry, was born on the 30th July 1785, and appears to have been inoculated in Kingston Lacy:<\/p>\n

\u2018a very healthy Strong Child\u2026\u2026He was inoculated October the 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 not being quite three Months old, and still at the breast.\u2019 \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
D-BKL\/H\/I\/1<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems that Henry had a fortunate start to his inoculation, until the infection began to show on the ninth day:<\/p>\n

\u2018that very night the Child was seized with a violent uneasiness and never ceased crying for two nights and one Day\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Dolland, the \u2018inoculator\u2019, recommended James\u2019s powders, a patented fever remedy containing antimony and phosphate of lime. Frances was not happy and sent for Dr Pulteney, who attributed his symptoms to wind:<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026he therefore order\u2019d him Six Grains of Magnesia, three Grains of Rhubarb, and one Drop of the Essential Oil of Anniseed, made up into a fine Powder\u2026.it of course had a violent effect upon him, but Dr Pulteney said that it was not more than was absolutely necessary\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was the doctors\u2019 aim for the patient to have the disease as mildly as possible, by injecting \u2018matter\u2019 from someone with less virulent disease and preparing the patient (and wet nurse if breast-fed) beforehand with diets and purges. It appears Henry was unlucky, and Frances had some strong opinions as to the case:<\/p>\n

\u2018Henry had the large broad sort of Small Pox\u2026his Legs, Arms and Body were almost entirely cover\u2019d with it, he had a great many upon his face, which I attributed to nothing but Mr Dolland\u2019s mismanagement, in not preparing the Nurse properly\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018I firmly believe that if she had been kept without Meat or Butter, and had lived low upon Vegetables, that the Boy would have had the Small Pox uncommonly well; but as it was I did not approve of Mr Dolland\u2019s method by any means\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The inoculation of William John Bankes<\/h3>\n

Frances\u2019 second son, William John, appears to have been inoculated at around two and a half months old, this time in London. She\u00a0engaged the famous surgeon John Hunter and the Prince Regent\u2019s physician Dr Robert Hallifax to oversee the treatment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018Hunter inoculated him on 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0February 1787 without any previous preparation but\u2026.he desired that the wet Nurse might only have half the Porter allow\u2019d her. She was to eat no Butter \u2026\u2026.. in short the most inocent food possible\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hunter visited two days later to check the boy\u2019s arm, and things seemed to be going well. Frances remarks that\u00a0\u2018he had not above twelve spots\u2019.\u00a0<\/em>But as the smallpox came out William became uneasy, and Mr Hunter resorted to the usual treatment of trying to stimulate the bowels:<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026he said it was absolutely necessary he should have a motion during the Day and told me that if the James\u2019s powders did not procure him one he\u2026 desired that he might have a Clyster made of warm water\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>(a clyster was an small rectal enema, administered by a bulb syringe).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frances followed the doctor\u2019s orders and gave William his dose.<\/p>\n

\u2018in less than an hour it made him violently Sick he vomited four or five different times and brought up a great quantity of bile\u2019.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately this seemed to have had little effect on William\u2019s condition:<\/p>\n

\u2018when I call\u2019d in the Nursery on my way to Bed I found that he had a great deal of Fever and was quite as ill as ever again\u2026 about eight o\u2019clock in the morning they brought me word that he had just had a motion but that the Nurse really thought him worse than he had ever been yet; this account alarm\u2019d me very much\u2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frances again called for a second opinion, and sent for Dr Hallifax. His\u00a0treatment consisted of clysters, and composing draughts for both William and his wet nurse, the latter of which had a violent reaction to the treatment. Both doctors now visited twice daily, and by the 7th March, 12 days after the initial inoculation,<\/p>\n

\u2018they found the Pock risen very much since the night before and Hallifax assur\u2019d me that he thought the Boy now entirely out of danger\u2019.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Harsh consequences<\/h3>\n

The notebook continues to describe other ailments suffered by the children, but there is no mention of inoculation for the younger ones (Anne, Maria and Edward). Frances by then must have had more experience than most in nursing inoculated babies \u2013 but it is thought (no direct records survive) her youngest child Frederick, born in 1799, died a few weeks after being inoculated, a reminder of the dangers of both the disease and the treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between 2015 and 2018 Dorset History Centre undertook the \u2018Unlocking the Bankes archive\u2018 project. During the life of this project, staff and volunteers contributed well over 100 blogs to the project website. By 2024, this project website was no longer functional in the way it originally was, and we made the decision to close the… Read more Smallpox and the Bankes Family<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,30,727,109,728,222],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4986"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4992,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4986\/revisions\/4992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}