sourced story
1721 (inoculation in Britain); 1796 (Jenner's vaccination)Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

From Inoculation to Vaccine: Montagu and Jenner Against Smallpox

A practice brought back from Constantinople in 1721, then a milkmaid's cowpox and a boy named James Phipps in 1796

On the timeline · around 1721 (inoculation in Britain); 1796 (Jenner's vaccination) · Anatomy and Early Modern MedicineAnatomy and Early Modern MedicineGerm Theory and Modern MedicineFrom Inoculation to Vaccine: Montagu and Jenner Against Smallpox1700172517501775180018251850

Quick facts

Inoculation to Britain
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1721
Jenner's vaccination
1796, using cowpox
Source and subject
Milkmaid Sarah Nelmes; boy James Phipps
Priority note
Benjamin Jesty used cowpox in 1774 but did not publish

What happened

Long before germs were understood, people fought smallpox by deliberately giving a mild case to build immunity. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British ambassador to Turkey, observed the scratch method of inoculation at seasonal inoculation gatherings in Constantinople, and on returning to Britain she had her own children inoculated during a smallpox outbreak in 1721, introducing the practice to London society. Inoculation used real smallpox and carried real risk. Edward Jenner made it far safer. Noticing that dairymaids who caught the milder cowpox seemed immune to smallpox, in 1796 he took matter from a cowpox pustule on the hand of milkmaid Sarah Nelmes and injected it into the arm of a young boy called James Phipps, then later exposed the boy to smallpox to test the protection. Phipps did not fall ill.

Why it matters

Jenner's cowpox method was the first vaccine, and the word vaccine comes from vacca, Latin for cow. It began the practice that would eventually eradicate smallpox entirely and became the model for immunization against many other diseases. Jenner is credited as the founder of vaccination for his systematic experiment, publication, and advocacy, though he was not literally the first to use cowpox; the farmer Benjamin Jesty had inoculated his family with it in 1774 without publishing the result.

How we know

Montagu's introduction of inoculation and Jenner's 1796 experiment on James Phipps using material from Sarah Nelmes are documented in period correspondence, Jenner's own published account of 1798, and medical-history collections that hold the relevant records.

Sources

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