Interesting case from 19th century Ireland
 

I am most intrigued by this case which comes up in various editions of the Irish Police Gazette or Hue and Cry from 1874 on "Last Chance to Read":

Donegal
Description of James Diver, native of Croagh, county Donegal, and James Harraghy, native of Donegal, who stand charged with having, on the 11th March 1874, in the barony of Banagh, parish of Inver, caused the death of Denis McGuire, by inoculation with small-pox matter:-
1. James Diver - Large thick lips, prominent teeth; gray eyes, long nose, dark complexion, long face, slight make, 5 feet 7 inches high, about 35 years of age, dark hair; wore a low hard felt hat, worn on back of head, dark coat and trowsers.
2. James Harraghy - Sharp nose, dark complexion, long thin face, slight make, 5 feet 7 inches high, about 46 years of age, dark hair turning gray; wore a low black felt hat, dark frieze frock coat, dark trowsers and vest.
Killybegs, March 24, 1874.

http://www.lastchancetoread.com/docs...e-and-cry.aspx

I wonder whether they were ever caught and tried? I can't find anything on the British Newspaper Archive or Irish Newspaper Archives, nor in the Irish prison records on FMP.

They're not connected to my tree, I'm just being nosy! Surely this was a rare case? You would have thought that if they were "inoculating" him, they weren't intending to kill him, wouldn't you?

I wonder if this is the right death reg?

Name: Dennis M'Guire
Estimated birth year: abt 1871
Date of Registration: 1874
Death Age: 3
Registration district: Donegal
Volume: 2
Page: 32
FHL Film Number: 101587

ISTR there was a general distrust of inoculation at first and this distrust was often a religious one.

As they don't appear to have been medically qualified, perhaps that was the problem?

OC

I love the physical descriptions of the two men. :D

Curiosity aroused, I had a wee look on t'internet and was surpised by how much opposition there was to smallpox vaccination. Here are some bits and pieces...

Because of its greater risks, variolation was banned in England by the 1840 Vaccination Act, which also introduced free voluntary vaccination for infants. Thereafter Parliament passed successive acts that imposed and enforced compulsory vaccination. The 1853 act introduced compulsory vaccination, with fines for non-compliance and imprisonment for non-payment. The 1867 act extended the age requirement to 14 years and introduced repeated fines for repeated refusal for the same child. Initially, vaccination regulations were organised by the local Poor Law Guardians, and in towns where there was strong opposition to vaccination, sympathetic Guardians were elected who did not pursue prosecutions. This was changed by the 1871 act, which required Guardians to act. This significantly changed the relationship between the government and the public, and organised protests increased. In Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1876 the Guardians were arrested and briefly imprisoned in York Castle, prompting large demonstrations in support of the "Keighley Seven". The protest movements crossed social boundaries. The financial burden of fines fell hardest on the working class, who would provide the largest numbers at public demonstrations. Societies and publications were organised by the middle classes, and support came from celebrities such as George Bernard Shaw and Alfred Russel Wallace, doctors such as Charles Creighton and Edgar Crookshank, and parliamentarians such as Jacob Bright and James Allanson Picton. By 1885, with over 3,000 prosecutions pending in Leicester, a mass rally there was attended by over 20,000 protesters.

Under increasing pressure, the government appointed a Royal Commission on Vaccination in 1889, which issued six reports between 1892 and 1896, with a detailed summary in 1898. Its recommendations were incorporated into the 1898 Vaccination Act, which still required compulsory vaccination, but allowed exemption on the grounds of conscientious objection on presentation of a certificate signed by two magistrates. These were not easy to obtain in towns where magistrates supported compulsory vaccination, and after continued protests, a further act in 1907 allowed exemption on a simple signed declaration. Although this solved the immediate problem, the compulsory vaccination acts remained legally enforceable, and determined opponents lobbied for their repeal. No Compulsory Vaccination was one of the demands of the 1900 Labour Party General Election Manifesto. This was done as a matter of routine when the National Health Service was introduced in 1948, with "almost negligible" opposition from supporters of compulsory vaccination.

Vaccination in Wales was covered by English legislation, but the Scottish legal system was separate. Vaccination was not made compulsory there until 1863, and conscientious objection was allowed after vigorous protest only in 1907.

Where England sought to impose vaccination via Poor Law Guardians, both Ireland and Scotland chose rather to work through traditional channels of medical provision and charity – the traditional dispensaries in the former, in the latter dispensaries and hospitals in the cities, and church ministers, schoolmasters, midwives and other lay practitioners in the countryside.

James Diver and James Harraghy must have been lay practitioners.

I remember getting the smallpox jab - don't think they do it now.

And they thought MMR was bad!?

Thanks for the info, Shona. But it still seems strange that they were being treated as criminals - how did they ever get anybody to carry out the vaccinations if they were liable for any deaths that resulted? Or was there more to this particular case, I wonder?

Unless they deliberately injected Mr McGuire with a far higher dose of smallpox vaccine in order to murder him?

As you say, a very odd case.

According to Merry's post above, Dennis McGuire was a three year old child. I can quite see a circumstance where the parents might be egged on to claim that the inoculation caused the child's death - egged on by those who thought inoculation was a godless act. A sort of counter-blast to the prosecutions of people for NOT having their children vaccinated!

OC