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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. In fact, we think he was quite the hero.įollow The Real Mary King’s Close on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to hear more stories from Scotland’s and Edinburgh’s turbulent history. Without George Rae many more citizens of Edinburgh may have fallen victim to the plague. Historians believe he died before receiving the money. Dr Rae spent the ten years that followed the last outbreak of ‘foul pestilence’ in Edinburgh fighting for his payment. The council got a shock when the time came to pay the large salary which Dr Rae had been promised. The Plague Doctor wasn’t expected to live through the outbreak. Although we now know miasmas were not the source of the plague, Dr Rae’s outfit still did its job and protected him from flea bites, meaning he survived the plague… however, his troubles were not over. A long cloak kept the infectious air from his skin, and he wore a beak-like mask filled with spices and rose petals to prevent the miasmas from entering through his nose (although they also would have kept the terrible smell away). When the wound had been cleaned out it would be cauterised shut, thus sealing and disinfecting the wound.ĭr Rae wore a fairly terrifying outfit to protect him from the airborne miasmas which at the time people believed to cause the plague. This often involved the lancing of the boils to allow the poison to run out. With the limited and dangerous treatments available at the time, Plague Doctors did all they could to cure the sufferers. On the 13 th of June 1645, Edinburgh appointed George Rae as the city’s second plague doctor.ĭr Rae was considerably more successful than his predecessor in that he lived through the plague outbreak and treated many people, venturing into plague-ridden houses to treat the sick. The Plague Doctor would then know to pay them a visit. Those suffering from the plague would hang a white sheet from the window and have to stay inside. Without treatment they would swell to the size of an orange and burst, poisoning the poor sufferer’s blood and often resulting in death. Then there was the bubonic plague, which caused the sufferer to break out in buboes or boils. The pneumonic plague attacked the lungs, causing coughing which resulted in massive internal bleeding which turned the skin black, hence the name the black death. Two types of plague hit Edinburgh, killing around half of those that contracted it. Interested in Edinburgh’s Plague Doctor? Read more about Edinburgh’s history of epidemicsĭue to overcrowding within the city walls, the plague spread like wildfire, with fleas on the backs of rats transmitting the disease. In fact, historians believe that at the height of this plague only 60 men remained to defend the city. Just to make matters worse it has also taken the life of Edinburgh’s Plague Doctor, John Paulitious. The worst outbreak of the plague is ravaging Edinburgh. 24th Jun, 2019 Edinburgh’s Plague Doctor: The True StoryĪllow us to take you back to the summer of 1645.
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