Login
You're viewing the assemblag.es public feed.
  • This Is My Glasgowthisismyglasgow@mastodon.scot
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:17 AM

    Somewhere behind these modern flats on Errol Gardens in the Gorbals area of Glasgow once stood 71 Rose Street. This was much like any other tenement in Glasgow, except that in 1900 it was the focal point for the last outbreak of bubonic plague in Scotland.

    This was part of the third plague pandemic which officially lasted from 1855 until 1960. While it killed millions in India and China, Europe was largely spared, but on the 3rd of August 1900, it unexpectedly reached Glasgow.

    Cont.

    #glasgow

    Modern tenement flats on a Glasgow street.
    💬 1🔄 4⭐ 0

Replies

  • This Is My Glasgowthisismyglasgow@mastodon.scot
    Nov 4, 2026, 9:20 AM

    In total 36 cases were identified, and 16 of those people died. In the densely packed tenements of the early 20th Century Gorbals (which at times was up to 40,000 people per sqaure kilometre), it could easily have been far worse.

    While they were initially slow to realise what was going on, it was probably only the decisive actions of the local health officials that prevented it from being so. However, even with their efforts, it wasn't until November that before was declared plague free.

    💬 2🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Colm Ó DonnchadhaColmDonoghue@mastodon.ie
    Nov 4, 2026, 10:09 AM

    @thisismyglasgow
    A few years ago my sister said to us she got published in a scientific paper

    Oh yeah what was it about?

    I helped find a new species of yersina.....

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0