The Great Plague in Cambridge 1665-1666

Every school child hears about the Great Plague of London but what happened in the rest of the country? For our November talk Dr Evelyn Lord takes us nearly 450 years back to look at the plague’s effect on Cambridge.

This is the story of the people who lived, worked and died in Cambridge during the great plague of 1665-1666. It traces the plague from house to house, and looks at what happened in the colleges and university as the students went home, fellows fled to the countryside, and the university closed. It uses primary sources such as parish registers, lease books, diaries and letters as well as state papers, to show what it was like living in Cambridge at that time. It aims to remind us today that like us those struggling to survive in 1665-1666 were people with the same aspirations, emotions and sorrow as we have today.

Dr Evelyn Lord was the course director for the University of Cambridge’s Master of Studies in Local History and tutor for local history at the University of Cambridge, Institute for Continuing Education. She is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is currently chair of the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History and a member of the Cambridgeshire Records Society executive committee.

This talk takes place at Ross Street Community Centre which is a fully accessible venue. Doors open at 7pm, the talk starts at 7:30pm. Admission £3, all are welcome.

You can view the video of the talk below: