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dc.contributor.authorLidwell-Durnin, J
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-26T13:10:46Z
dc.date.issued2022-04-25
dc.date.updated2022-04-26T10:34:56Z
dc.description.abstractIn the summer of 1780, anti-Catholic riots led by Lord George Gordon in London left hundreds dead and stretches of the city burnt and destroyed. Eighteen months later, during a tense period in the city's history, London was invaded by brown-tail moth caterpillars. The metropolis and surrounding countryside disappeared behind the tents and nests of the insects, prompting widespread fear of famine and plague. With the memory of the riots still fresh, philanthropists such as Jonas Hanway and entomologists like William Curtis sought to assuage the public's fear, insisting that the brown-tail moth outbreak was part of the normal operations of nature, that the infestation bore no danger to the public, and that efforts to alarm the public or describe them as dangerous were contemptuous. At the same time, the conjurer and philosopher Gustavus Katterfelto, performing in the city, sought to profit from the public agitation, developing spectacles and performances that promised the insects would soon deliver famine, plague, and ruin on the city. This article examines the intersection of scientific authority, public fear, and performance, showing that the outbreak placed tremendous stress on the relationship between scientific authority and security in the metropolis.en_GB
dc.format.extent1-23
dc.identifier.citationPublished online 25 April 2022en_GB
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x22000048
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/129462
dc.identifierORCID: 0000-0003-2062-7022 (Lidwell-Durnin, John)
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherCambridge University Press (CUP)en_GB
dc.rights© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.en_GB
dc.titlePlague, Crisis, and Scientific Authority during the London Caterpillar Outbreak of 1782en_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2022-04-26T13:10:46Z
dc.identifier.issn0018-246X
dc.descriptionThis is the final version. Available on open access from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this recorden_GB
dc.identifier.eissn1469-5103
dc.identifier.journalThe Historical Journalen_GB
dc.relation.ispartofThe Historical Journal
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_GB
rioxxterms.versionVoRen_GB
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2022-04-25
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Reviewen_GB
refterms.dateFCD2022-04-26T13:00:32Z
refterms.versionFCDVoR
refterms.dateFOA2022-04-26T13:10:55Z
refterms.panelDen_GB
refterms.dateFirstOnline2022-04-25


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© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.