Rowland Hill (preacher) - Smallpox Vaccination

Smallpox Vaccination

Rowland Hill was on close terms with Dr Edward Jenner, the pioneer of small-pox vaccination, and prosecuted his own plans to inoculate the congregations he visited or preached to. He published a tract on the subject in 1806 at a time when many medical men refused to sanction it. Later he became a member of the Royal Jennererian Society, which was established once the practice became accepted in Britain, India, the USA and elsewhere. Dr John Coakley Lettsom, an eminent Quaker physician of the day wrote to Rowland Hill commenting: