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The system of maritime quarantine thus began and was developed in the
Mediterranean ports, but England does not appear to have taken any action for the
prevention of the importation of plague until the middle of the 17th century.
It was in 1636 that the question was referred to the Royal College of Physicians,
who recommended that "neither man nor goods should come from any suspected
place without a certificate of health or else be sent suddenly away, or be put to the
pest house according to the custom of Italy."
In 1664, however, the trade with the Levant which had hitherto been the monopoly
of the Levant Company was thrown open, and in consequence the King in Council
issued the first English Quarantine Regulations.
In these Regulations it was laid down that bills of health should not be granted
until forty days from the last case of plague, and that if plague developed in a ship
in the Levant the vessel should not sail for England until the cargo had been landed
and aired for forty days.
The next year, 1665, the Great Plague of London occurred and lasted until 1667.
Since that time plague has been almost non-existent in Great Britain, but for a number
of years the outbreak of epidemics on the Continent led to panic legislation in this
country.
In 1720, Dr. Richard Mead in a paper entitled " A Short Discourse Concerning
Pestilential Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent It " expressed the opinion
that he was opposed to passengers and crews performing quarantine in their ships,
but recommended that, if there was sickness on board the healthy should have their
clothes burned, that they should be washed and shaved, and stay 30 to 40 days in the
lazarette. The sick should be kept in houses remote from the healthy, and when
recovered should be washed and shaved and have fresh clothes and be removed to
the houses of the sound for 30 to 40 days.
The recommendations of Dr. Mead and plague in Marseilles resulted in the
Quarantine Act of 1721. At intervals further Quarantine Acts were passed, some of
which imposed a delay of from 60 to 65 days on shipping, and shipping interests
began to complain bitterly, for not only was detention of ships and cargoes a serious
hindrance to trade, but vessels had even been burned and sunk and the quarantine
dues were ruinous.
In 1825 the last Quarantine Act was passed. It prescribed that vessels from ports
infected with plague or other dangerous diseases should be liable to quarantine from
the time of departure from an infected place as ordered by the King in Council.
Customs Officers were instructed to put certain specified questions to Masters of ships
and if there were any suspicious circumstances or answers the Officer of Customs
was to transmit the answers and an account of the circumstances to the Privy Council,
meanwhile detaining the ship in isolation.
Up to the middle of the 19th century quarantine was only directed against plague,
but thereafter it Avas applied against yellow fever and cholera.
In 1831 England endeavoured by quarantine to prevent the importation of
cholera from the Continent, but the system failed, and it was gradually realised that
it was impossible to prevent the infection of cholera from reaching these shores from
neighbouring countries, and that therefore it was of primary importance to remove
the conditions ashore which favoured the spread of the disease. Thus began the
great sanitary reforms in this country, and as they developed, so quarantine declined.
The year 1848 was an important one in the history of Public Health, for it was in
this year that the first Public Health Act and the Nuisance Removal and Diseases
Prevention Act were passed and the General Board of Health formed. It was also
the commencement of the English practice of dealing with ships according to the
health conditions on board at the time of arrival rather than the conditions existing
at the port of departure or call.