The Later Years
Life after the Publication of the Inquiry
Edward Jenner became world famous following his publication in 1798 in which he demonstrated that vaccination with cowpox prevented the deadly smallpox.
As use of his treatment spread he found that he had to spend more and more of his time answering correspondence about it. He called himself 'the Vaccine Clerk to the World'. He continued to advise and research on the safest ways to produce and transport his cowpox vaccine.
Sadly, Edward Jenner's family life was marred by illnesses. He had married Catherine Kingscote in 1788, when he was 39 and she 27. She had borne him three children: Edward (1789), Catherine (1794) and Robert Fitzhardinge (1797). His daughter married but did not produce a grandson for him until after his death. His son Robert remained unmarried. His other son, Edward, died of tuberculosis in 1810, aged 21.
His wife, Catherine, had never been strong and her health was a constant worry to her family and friends. Back in 1790 the great John Hunter had written from London enquiring about her condition. On 13 September 1815 she too succumbed to tuberculosis.
1815 to 1823
To ease his depression he returned to past interests: fossil collecting, his home and his garden received much attention.
He had both a kitchen garden and an ornamental area. The latest varieties always attracted him. He imported vegetable seeds from Italy and Spain. He became expert at propagating fruit bushes such as gooseberries, raspberries and figs.
In 1818 he introduced young grapevines from the famous stock at Hampton Court. The previous year he had built an extension for them onto his hothouse at the rear of the main house. Nearly two centuries on, those same Black Hamburg vines annually produce fruit for sale to visitors.
Through his later years Edward Jenner was an active Freemason and magistrate. The plight of the poor and the rising level of crime troubled him. He blamed some of the latter problem on the influx of navvies to dig the Berkeley to Gloucester Canal in 1815.
Edward Jenner's Death
On a cold January day in 1823 Jenner was called out to the local coroner, who had suffered a stroke. The following morning when Edward did not appear for breakfast a servant was sent to call him. He was found unconscious in the library. Jenner's nephew Henry bled him several times, without effect, for he never regained consciousness after his stroke.
He passed away quietly just after two o'clock on the following morning, 26 January 1823, at the age of 73.
He was buried in the family tomb beside the altar in Berkeley Church, next to his parents, eldest son and wife Catherine. The funeral was a very local affair, with no one attending from London.
© 2009-12 Edward Jenner Museum
Registered Charity 284085
Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England.
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