Who was Edward Jenner?
This is a commonly asked question about the famous doctor who saved the life of millions of people in his time and age. However, most people don't know the answer to who Edward Jenner was.
Was he a simple doctor? A trained professor in medicine? Or was he just an average man living in the 18th/19th Century? Below is a brief explanation on who he was and what he did to save the world.
Edward Anthony Jenner was born on the 17th of May 1749. He was the son of Reverend Stephen Jenner who died when young Eddie was only five years old. Edward was born in and lived in Berkeley, Gloucester until he was fourteen years old. At that age he moved off to London to work as an apprentice for local surgeon, Daniel Ludlow. He was an apprentice for six years until he was twenty-one years old and then started studying medicine at two different universities - St Georges University of London and the University of St Andrews - until he was twenty-three. He then moved back to Berkeley to work as a local doctor for the rest of his life.
In 1788 Edward married Catherine Kingscote. Together they had three children- Edward, Catherine and Robert. All of the children died quite early in their lives - (30 years) Except for Robert who lived to 56.
All of his life Edward Jenner had loved nature. As a child, as an adult and even in his later years.
He wrote numerous books about nature, including a whole book dedicated to the cuckoo! His devotion to nature was a huge help later in life when developing a cure for smallpox (a deadly disease that existed in the 1700s that no one could find the cure for - Until Jenner came along!)
It all started one day when Edward was down at his local farm watching local milkmaid Sarah Nelmes milk "Blossom" the cow.He was talking to Sarah when she told him something that changed his opinion about smallpox and cowpox completely. Sarah said she often caught cowpox (A small disease related to the common cold) but she had never caught smallpox!!
Jenner thought and thought. Why did Sarah not catch smallpox? Was it to do with what age you were or what colour hair you had? Jenner went around the country talking to other milkmaids but they all said the same thing. None of them had ever caught smallpox!! Then he realised what he had been missing. All of the milkmaids had caught cowpox at some point in their lives! Cowpox was a common disease that could have you off a few days of school but never actually did any harm. You usually caught cowpox from cows (no big surprise) so that explained why the milkmaids got it so much. Jenner put two and two together and got the answer he was looking for. Catching cowpox prevented you from catching smallpox!!
Jenner was amazed - amazed that it was so simple! In 1796 Jenner performed his first ever experiment on 8 year old boy James Phipps - (surprised? Well you cant make an omelette without cracking a few eggs!). Jenner made two small scratches on the boys arm and rubbed some pus from a pimple on a cowpox-infected person into the scratches. James developed cowpox but after a week or two was back to his normal self. Edward conducted the second part of the experiment the next month - He rubbed some more pus into James's scratches except this time the pus was from a smallpox-infected persons pimple. James did not develop smallpox!!!
Edward Anthony Jenner had done it. He had invented the cure for the most tortuous disease in the 1700s! In 1797 he gave a paper to the Royal Society of medicine explaining his ideas, but they returned the paper saying he needed more proof. Edward was still determined to tell the world what he thought so from 1797 - 1799 he published three books explaining his ideas. In 1800 the world finally saw the advantage in his accomplishment and vaccinations were legal and encouraged. The people of the world were safe from smallpox!
Edward Jenner's wife died before he did. Catherine died in 1815 at the age of 59 from tuberculosis. Edward Jenner was good with medicine but even he could not prevent his wife's death.
Edward Jenner died on the 26th of January 1823 at the age of 74. He was a great man and he did a lot for the medicine world. Some people think of Louis Pasteur (created vaccinations for many other diseases after Jenner died) as the inventor of vaccinations but for what Jenner has done I think he should be recognised as the inventor and general father of vaccinations over Pasteur.
This is a commonly asked question about the famous doctor who saved the life of millions of people in his time and age. However, most people don't know the answer to who Edward Jenner was.
Was he a simple doctor? A trained professor in medicine? Or was he just an average man living in the 18th/19th Century? Below is a brief explanation on who he was and what he did to save the world.
Edward Anthony Jenner was born on the 17th of May 1749. He was the son of Reverend Stephen Jenner who died when young Eddie was only five years old. Edward was born in and lived in Berkeley, Gloucester until he was fourteen years old. At that age he moved off to London to work as an apprentice for local surgeon, Daniel Ludlow. He was an apprentice for six years until he was twenty-one years old and then started studying medicine at two different universities - St Georges University of London and the University of St Andrews - until he was twenty-three. He then moved back to Berkeley to work as a local doctor for the rest of his life.
In 1788 Edward married Catherine Kingscote. Together they had three children- Edward, Catherine and Robert. All of the children died quite early in their lives - (30 years) Except for Robert who lived to 56.
All of his life Edward Jenner had loved nature. As a child, as an adult and even in his later years.
It all started one day when Edward was down at his local farm watching local milkmaid Sarah Nelmes milk "Blossom" the cow.He was talking to Sarah when she told him something that changed his opinion about smallpox and cowpox completely. Sarah said she often caught cowpox (A small disease related to the common cold) but she had never caught smallpox!!
Jenner thought and thought. Why did Sarah not catch smallpox? Was it to do with what age you were or what colour hair you had? Jenner went around the country talking to other milkmaids but they all said the same thing. None of them had ever caught smallpox!! Then he realised what he had been missing. All of the milkmaids had caught cowpox at some point in their lives! Cowpox was a common disease that could have you off a few days of school but never actually did any harm. You usually caught cowpox from cows (no big surprise) so that explained why the milkmaids got it so much. Jenner put two and two together and got the answer he was looking for. Catching cowpox prevented you from catching smallpox!!
Jenner was amazed - amazed that it was so simple! In 1796 Jenner performed his first ever experiment on 8 year old boy James Phipps - (surprised? Well you cant make an omelette without cracking a few eggs!). Jenner made two small scratches on the boys arm and rubbed some pus from a pimple on a cowpox-infected person into the scratches. James developed cowpox but after a week or two was back to his normal self. Edward conducted the second part of the experiment the next month - He rubbed some more pus into James's scratches except this time the pus was from a smallpox-infected persons pimple. James did not develop smallpox!!!
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| Edward Jenner making the scratches on James' arm. |
Edward Anthony Jenner had done it. He had invented the cure for the most tortuous disease in the 1700s! In 1797 he gave a paper to the Royal Society of medicine explaining his ideas, but they returned the paper saying he needed more proof. Edward was still determined to tell the world what he thought so from 1797 - 1799 he published three books explaining his ideas. In 1800 the world finally saw the advantage in his accomplishment and vaccinations were legal and encouraged. The people of the world were safe from smallpox!
Edward Jenner's wife died before he did. Catherine died in 1815 at the age of 59 from tuberculosis. Edward Jenner was good with medicine but even he could not prevent his wife's death.
Edward Jenner died on the 26th of January 1823 at the age of 74. He was a great man and he did a lot for the medicine world. Some people think of Louis Pasteur (created vaccinations for many other diseases after Jenner died) as the inventor of vaccinations but for what Jenner has done I think he should be recognised as the inventor and general father of vaccinations over Pasteur.
