AT the beginning of June, I wrote an account of the Great Plague of London in 1665-66 and showed what devastation the outbreak of bubonic plague had wrought.

The coronavirus pandemic will not kill anything like the percentage of deaths caused by the plague in 1665-66, otherwise we might be looking at a death toll in London alone of between one and two million people. Still, there are lessons to be drawn from that era, and one of them is to question the efficacy of the so-called four-nations approach and why the Scottish Government has not closed the Border with England – or at least set up checkpoints to ensure that people coming here from south of the Border are not carrying the disease.

For back in 1665, that is exactly what happened and the Great Plague of London did not spread to Scotland because the Border was closed and all trade between Scotland and infected areas of England was halted.

I am not suggesting my article in June started the debate, as it was already ongoing, but many politicians, pundits and citizens have since discussed the idea of closing the Border with England to ensure that the worse rate of infection down south does not spread to here.

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Nobody mentioned 1665 – ignorance of Scottish history remains widespread – and many people maintained it had never happened before, but if you know what occurred then you will conclude that it is just plain wrong to say that no such border closure has ever happened before.

Though there had been outbreaks of bubonic plague regularly since its first visitation to these islands in the 1340s, none was quite so devastating as that first pandemic in which a third of the population of Europe are thought to have died.

That was until 1665 when Britain experienced its first true “metropolitan” plague. In about the space of a century before the Great Plague, London’s population had quadrupled to around 400,000 or more and the rapid expansion of the city, coupled with huge demand on space, meant vast amounts of people crowded into small and smaller amounts of living room. Conditions were unsanitary, with sewage flowing down streets and into the River Thames, which had become a cesspit in places.

Medicine was in its infancy, there was no cure apart from luck, and when the plague arrived it spread quickly and lethally, killing up to 100,000 people. King Charles II and his court left the city, but the King tackled the outbreak from afar with strict and effective instructions issued in his name.

He did not forget his other kingdom which was governed in his name by the Privy Council when the Scottish Parliament was not sitting – and that was most of the time. Remember, it was only five years since the monarchy had been restored, largely by General George Monck leading a mainly Scottish force south to put Charles II on both thrones – or back on one of them as Charles had been crowned King of Scots from 1649 to 1651 until Cromwell came north and conquered Scotland for his “Commonwealth”.

Scotland had learned a very bitter lesson in the 1640s. Plague struck the country in almost every town and city and, while rural Scotland was largely spared, almost all centres of population were affected with tens of thousands dying. The Scottish Parliament and local councils reacted by drafting new and completely draconian rules that stopped people even visiting nearby plague centres, never mind trading with them.

The harshness of that outbreak informed the Scottish Government’s plans to tackle any future threat of plague. We do not know if Charles personally approved what happened after the outbreak in London was reported to Edinburgh, but it is extremely unlikely that he did not know what was being done in his name in Scotland.

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On hearing of the London disaster, the Privy Council took prompt and effective measures, and that included closing the Border as well as stopping trade. As the National Library of Scotland records: “The Privy Council passed a series of acts which forbid trade with countries affected by the plague, in particular England and the Netherlands. Even after the disease had dwindled there, further acts imposed a 40-day quarantine on goods imported from these places.

“Economically, such an interruption of trade was very disruptive, not least since England and the Netherlands were two of Scotland’s main trading partner.”

But the Scottish Government was determined to put lives before lucre, and thankfully still does…

We still have that decree about trade. It is called the Proclamation Discharging Trade and Commerce with the City of London, and other Places of the Kingdom of England, suspected of the Plague. It was published in Edinburgh on December 21, 1665. It reads: “The Lords of his Majesties Privy Council, taking to their serious consideration, that albeit by the infinit mercy of GOD, this kingdom hath been hitherto preserved from the plague of pestilence, which hath long continued at London, and broken out in many other Towns and Places of the Kingdom of England; yet the danger and fear of infection is as great as it hath been heretofore, by the resort of many people and merchants to the city of London, and other places suspected, for beginning Commerce and Trade, and adventuring to bring into this kingdom all commodities as formerly, albeit the Plague is not yet altogether ceased, and that all goods and merchandise to be imported from thence, may be yet justly suspected.”

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At the same time the Border was closed as were the various ports, with anyone attempting to enter Scotland or bring goods in either turned away, fined or imprisoned and their goods often confiscated and burned. The Scottish people went into lockdown at the same time.

Lindsay and Renwick’s History of Glasgow tells us what happened there: “In Glasgow, for instance, the master of works was ordered with diligence to repair the city gates, and by tuck of drum the town’s folk were ordered to shut all entries by their closes and yards under pain of a hundred pound fine and further personal punishment.”

It worked. Not a single case of bubonic plague appeared in Scotland.

What’s the difference between 1665 and 2020? Just the Act of Union which means Scotland doesn’t have a border to close, as the UK Government says.

So let’s change that, please.