Searcher of the dead

Last updated March 27, 2024

Searchers of the dead, also known as plague-searchers or simply searchers, were people, mostly women, hired by parishes in London, England, to examine corpses and determine the cause of people's deaths. Their written documents containing statistical data linking sickness to fatality were then turned in to parish officials for use in publishing official bills of mortality. These mortality reports have enabled historians and researchers alike to estimate the living conditions and influence of grave diseases like the bubonic plague on the given population. Searchers existed primarily in London, where they were first appointed during the plague outbreaks around 1568. They continued work through the early modern period up until the Registration Act of 1836, which called for all births, deaths, and marriages in England to be well-documented.^[1] They served as important figures to the parish although they were often neglected in records as many people began to question their credibility later on during the 17th century.^[2]

Plague time

At the time of the Great Plague of London, most of those who could afford to leave the city did so. In general, poor, older women who did not care for the sick in other capacities such as midwifery were assigned to the task of "searching".^[3] Searchers were sometimes coerced or bribed to mask patients' causes of death. Pressure from family members and others in the household would ask that the deaths of those affected would be attributed to alternative, less severe diseases than the plague in order to avoid the inconvenience of quarantine put on houses of those who had passed from the deadly disease.^[4]

Practice

Searchers were not trained for their jobs most times, and their duties posed serious personal health risks to those involved due to the frequent possibility of encountering forms of contagion. Their responsibilities were later divided from one of identifying plague victims into three essential purposes - searchers who determined if a sickness was associated with the plague, those who cared for the sick, and those who viewed corpses to attempt linking death to specific diseases.^[3] Searchers were required to live outside of common areas, to practice indoors, and to hold white sticks indicating their dangerous professions they were when in public spaces.^[4] While some continued working for up to a decade, most searchers died from the communicable diseases which they diagnosed in others.

Wages

Wages for searchers were typically earned per body, indicating that the women in this profession received a greater income during seasons of major epidemics than slower times. An average pay rate during the Elizabethan period was around 2d. to 4d. per body, but different parishes offered varied amounts depending on the women and their qualifications. Additionally, these women were not allowed to take on additional jobs and ultimately had to live off of what they were provided given the circumstances.^[4] However, searchers who had worked for a long time period and had gained the respect of their parish, like Goody Richardson and others, could be allotted a substantial raise for their services.

Notable women

Some examples of recognized searchers include Goodwife Pattson, who worked for St. Antholin, Budge Row, from 1590–91 to 1597–98. She worked alongside others like Mother Bamford, Goodwife Tailor, Goodwife Atkinson, and Goodwife Hubble. Widow Hubble, who was also a midwife, of St. Antholin Budge Row, was especially regarded by the parish and ultimately established a rental agreement for a house that was owned by the church.^[2] Not all searchers were as fortunate, however. Critics like John Graunt existed who were convinced that these women released unreliable and dishonest records. Despite normal criticism, searchers were instrumental in discovering symptoms associated with plague and helped to identify those affected.^[1]

Related Research Articles

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Europe from 1346 to 1353. One of the most fatal pandemics in human history, as many as 50 million people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas. One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural impacts.

The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics that originated in Central Asia in 1331, and included related diseases such as pneumonic plague and septicemic plague, which lasted until 1750.

The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572, and often thereafter, to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over Spain.

Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or sudor anglicus in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485. Other major outbreaks of the English sweating sickness occurred in 1508, 1517, and 1528, with the last outbreak in 1551, after which the disease apparently vanished. The onset of symptoms was sudden, with death often occurring within hours. Sweating sickness epidemics were unique compared with other disease outbreaks of the time: whereas other epidemics were typically urban and long-lasting, cases of sweating sickness spiked and receded very quickly, and heavily affected rural populations. Its cause remains unknown, although it has been suggested that an unknown species of hantavirus was responsible.

The sociology of health and illness, sociology of health and wellness, or health sociology examines the interaction between society and health. As a field of study it is interested in all aspects of life, including contemporary as well as historical influences, that impact and alter our health and wellbeing.

In Renaissance-era London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organised around a group of ten or so shareholders, who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. The sharers employed "hired men" – that is, the minor actors and the workers behind the scenes. The major companies were based at specific theatres in London; the most successful of them, William Shakespeare's company the King's Men, had the open-air Globe Theatre for summer seasons and the enclosed Blackfriars Theatre in the winters. The Admiral's Men occupied the Rose Theatre in the 1590s, and the Fortune Theatre in the early 17th century.

The Black Death peaked in Europe between 1348 and 1350, with an estimated third of the continent's population ultimately succumbing to the disease. Often simply referred to as "The Plague", the Black Death had both immediate and long-term effects on human population across the world as one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, including a series of biological, social, economic, political and religious upheavals that had profound effects on the course of world history, especially European history. Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague included painful and enlarged or swollen lymph nodes, headaches, chills, fatigue, vomiting, and fevers, and within 3 to 5 days, 80% of the victims would be dead. Historians estimate that it reduced the total world population from 475 million to between 350 and 375 million. In most parts of Europe, it took nearly 80 years for population sizes to recover, and in some areas, it took more than 150 years.

Bills of mortality were the weekly mortality statistics in London, designed to monitor burials from 1592 to 1595 and then continuously from 1603. The responsibility to produce the statistics was chartered in 1611 to the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks. The bills covered an area that started to expand as London grew from the City of London, before reaching its maximum extent in 1636. New parishes were then only added where ancient parishes within the area were divided. Factors such as the use of suburban cemeteries outside the area, the exemption of extra-parochial places within the area, the wider growth of the metropolis, and that they recorded burials rather than deaths, rendered their data incomplete. Production of the bills went into decline from 1819 as parishes ceased to provide returns, with the last surviving weekly bill dating from 1858. They were superseded by the weekly returns of the Registrar General from 1840, taking in further parishes until 1847. This area became the district of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855, the County of London in 1889 and Inner London in 1965.

The Vagabonds Act 1597 was an Act of the Parliament of England, which aimed to address concerns of vagrancy.

St Antholin, Budge Row, or St Antholin, Watling Street, was a church in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, following its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The 17th-century building was demolished in 1874.

During the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia, 5,000 or more people were listed in the register of deaths between August 1 and November 9. The vast majority of them died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 50,000 people one of the most severe in United States history. By the end of September, 20,000 people had fled the city, including congressional and executive officials of the federal government. Most did not return until after the epidemic had abated in late November. The mortality rate peaked in October before frost finally killed the mosquitoes and brought an end to the outbreak. Doctors tried a variety of treatments but knew neither the origin of the fever nor that the disease was transmitted by mosquitoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Death migration</span> 1321–1353 pandemic

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, and peaking in Eurasia from 1321 to 1353. Its migration followed the sea and land trading routes of the medieval world. This migration has been studied for centuries as an example of how the spread of contagious diseases is impacted by human society and economics.

The Chapekar Brothers, Damodar Hari Chapekar, Balkrishna Hari Chapekar and Vasudeo Hari Chapekar, also spelt Wasudeva or Wasudev, were Indian revolutionaries involved in assassinating W. C. Rand, the British Plague Commissioner of Pune, after the public of Pune was frustrated with the vandalism from the officers and soldiers appointed by him, in late 19th century. Mahadev Vinayak Ranade was also an accomplice in the assassination.

John Graunt has been regarded as the founder of demography. Graunt was one of the first demographers, and perhaps the first epidemiologist, though by profession he was a haberdasher. He was bankrupted later in life by losses suffered during Great Fire of London and the discrimination he faced following his conversion to Catholicism.

The Cronaca fiorentina di Marchionne di Coppo Stefani written by Baldassarre Bonaiuti is considered one of the best works written on the Black Death in Florence in the year 1348. It is the only known literary work by Bonaiuti. It was written in vulgar Latin. There is no information as to when he may have started his work, but he devoted much time on it in his retirement from about 1378 until his death, a period of seven years.

From 1592 to 1593, London experienced its last major plague outbreak of the 16th century. During this period, at least 15,000 people died of plague within the City of London and another 4,900 died of plague in the surrounding parishes.

In 1563, London experienced its worst episode of plague during the sixteenth century. At least 20,136 people in London and surrounding parishes were recorded to have died of plague during the outbreak. Around 24% of London's population ultimately perished, but the plague affected London's unsanitary parishes and neighbourhoods the most.

The 1603 London plague epidemic was the first of the 17th century and marked the transition from the Tudor to the Stuart period.

The 1813–1814 Malta plague epidemic was the last major outbreak of plague on the islands of Malta and Gozo. It occurred between March 1813 and January 1814 on Malta and between February and May 1814 on Gozo, and the epidemic was officially declared to be over in September 1814. It resulted in approximately 4500 deaths, which was about 5% of the islands' population.

In 1557, a pandemic strain of influenza emerged in Asia, then spread to Africa, Europe, and eventually the Americas. This flu was highly infectious and presented with intense, occasionally lethal symptoms. Medical historians like Thomas Short, Lazare Rivière and Charles Creighton gathered descriptions of catarrhal fevers recognized as influenza by modern physicians attacking populations with the greatest intensity between 1557 and 1559. The 1557 flu saw governments, for possibly the first time, inviting physicians to instill bureaucratic organization into epidemic responses. It is also the first pandemic where influenza is pathologically linked to miscarriages, given its first English names, and is reliably recorded as having spread globally. Influenza caused higher burial rates, near-universal infection, and economic turmoil as it returned in repeated waves.

References

1 2 Forbes, Thomas R. (1974). "The searchers". Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 50 (9): 1031–8. PMC 1749416 . PMID 4528811.
1 2 Harkness, Deborah E. (2008). "A View from the Streets: Women and Medical Work in Elizabethan London". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 82 (1): 52–85. doi:10.1353/bhm.2008.0001. PMID 18344585.
1 2 Munkhoff, Richelle (1999). "Searchers of the Dead: Authority, Marginality, and the Interpretation of Plague in England, 1574-1665". Gender & History. 11 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.00127.
1 2 3 Bell, Walter George (1951). Hollyer, Belinda (ed.). The great Plague in London. Folio society by arrangement with Random House. pp. 10–12.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Forbes_1974-1] 1 2 Forbes, Thomas R. (1974). "The searchers". Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 50 (9): 1031–8. PMC 1749416 . PMID 4528811.

[Harkness_2008-2] 1 2 Harkness, Deborah E. (2008). "A View from the Streets: Women and Medical Work in Elizabethan London". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 82 (1): 52–85. doi:10.1353/bhm.2008.0001. PMID 18344585.

[Munkhoff_1999-3] 1 2 Munkhoff, Richelle (1999). "Searchers of the Dead: Authority, Marginality, and the Interpretation of Plague in England, 1574-1665". Gender & History. 11 (1): 1–29. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.00127.

[Bell_1951-4] 1 2 3 Bell, Walter George (1951). Hollyer, Belinda (ed.). The great Plague in London. Folio society by arrangement with Random House. pp. 10–12.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]