Blue plaque unveiled to honour vaccine pioneer
ANEW blue plaque honouring a pioneering West surgeon and the first person to coin the term ‘vaccination’ has been unveiled in Plymouth.
Dr Richard Dunning was born in Plymouth in 1761. He married his wife Anne at Stoke Damerel Parish Church in April 1785. They went on to have a son, also called Richard, and a daughter named Jane.
Dunning was one of the founder members of the Plymouth Medical Society and was living in Dock (now Devonport) at the time it was established.
His plaque is now located outside 8 Albemarle Villas, just off Paradise Road, where he lived during the latter part of his life.
The plaque was proposed by the Plymouth Medical Society which awards the ‘Richard Dunning Cup’ in his honour each year.
Mr Dunning been interested in cowpox since the early 1800s and had been following the work of Edward Jenner (1749-1823), a wellknown physician and scientist. Jenner had published a paper detailing his experience with farmers who had suffered blisters on their hands from milking cows affected by ‘the pox’, but who’d then turned out to be immune from the much more dangerous smallpox virus.
At the time, smallpox was a highly infectious disease that caused around 10% of deaths across the world. Jenner collected serum from some of the blisters and used it to inoculate a number of his patients, producing what he believed to be total immunity. Dunning followed suit. His first case was a child in Devonport who he successfully inoculated using serum from a dairymaid in Eggbuckland. He used the term ‘vaccination’ to describe the process. The word comes from ‘vaccinia’ (the Latin term for cowpox), which in turn is derived from ‘vacca’ (the Latin word for cow). Dunning was in regular communication with Jenner, who recognised his work and his use of the word ‘vaccination’.
He announced it in London at a meeting of the Royal Jennerian Society, the organisation that had been set up to promote the eradication of smallpox.
“Smallpox was once so harmful but is now the only human disease to have been eradicated – and it’s the work of people like Edward Jenner and Plymouth’s Dr Richard Dunning that helped make it possible,” said Dr Murray, of Plymouth Medical Society. “
After everything the world has been through over the last few years, and the importance vaccinations have played in the fight against Covid-19, it’s fantastic to be able to commemorate Dunning’s work with a distinctive blue plaque that highlights the contribution he made to both his local community and to global medicine.”
FLORAL tributes have been left on Plymouth Hoe for a teen who went missing after swimming in the sea. 18-year-old Michael Oppong Yeboah went swimming with friends on Monday, March 18, before he disappeared.
Michael was last seen at East Hoe beach and concern was raised when he did not return to land. A large-scale search was conducted into the early hours of the following day.
Emergency services, including a search helicopter, could not find Michael and the huge search continued in daylight until the following afternoon, Tuesday, March 19, when both police and HM Coastguard diver searches were called off.
Floral tributes, candles and pictures, pictured above, have been left at the shore where Michael was last seen. Kind words were also written onto the sea wall. One note read: “Michael, man, we miss you so much. Find peace my friend.”
DC Adam Fitzpatrick, who is investigating the incident, said: “From our enquiries we know that a group of people have spent the evening together before going down to the shoreline for a swim. The rest of the group returned to land but Michael did not. Specialist search and dive teams have searched the area but have not located him.
“We are supporting Michael’s family and our enquiries are ongoing. Any witnesses are asked to contact police on 101 quoting 50240065594.”