The Plague and the Dawson Family

By Connie Bullock

Raffe Dawson felt very ill. It was mid July 1625, and all around him in London was the Plague of Pestilence. He decided to go home to the house of his father, Thomas Dawson of Bradley, near Malpas, Cheshire.

Within a few weeks of his return, he caused his whole family to die of the plague. The family consisted of widower Thomas Dawson, whose sons were the aforesaid Raffe, Richard and daughter Elizabeth. Thomas' brother, also called Richard, lived with them. Nearby lived his third son John and his wife, Anne. There were also two servants, Thomas Jeffries and Rose Smyth.

Raffe had only been home for a short time when he died of the plague. He was buried on land near their house. In cases of plague, the victims were buried during the hours of darkness and had the word NIHIL written after the burial entry, which showed that they had been buried by their relatives or friends and not in the usual way.

The second person to die after Raffe was the servant Thomas Jeffries, who died on 10^th August. Three days after his death, on 13^th August, Thomas' son Richard died.

Around this time, Thomas had asked his son John and his wife Anne to help them, as he was ill. Three days after his son Richard died, Thomas Dawson himself died. He was buried about 3 o'clock in the morning on 16^th August, probably by his son John and his brother Richard.

Times were very stressful for John, for four days later his wife Anne and his sister Elizabeth both died on 20^th August. They, too, had to be buried nearby.

By this time, there was only Rose Smyth (the servant), his Uncle Richard and John alive. Richard Dawson, sick with the plague and knowing he was going to die, got out of his bed and made a grave, getting his nephew John Dawson to throw straw into the grave, which was not far from the house. He then laid Richard in the grave and covered him with clothes, where he died, on 28^th August, 1625.

The next day John, knowing he was dying, laid himself down in a ditch and died in it, on the night of 29^th August.

On the 5^th September, Rose Smyth, servant, the last of the household, died. She was buried by a William Goode, near to the house.

The above article was written from the entries of Thomas Ridgeways, curate of Malpas Church Registers of 1625. He died a few months later, whether of the Plague is not said, but it says that the entries in the Register just before his death were shaky and smeared, showing that the man was 'stricken'.