In Victorian times doctors did not have modern drugs like antibiotics which help us to fight illnesses today. Diseases like diptheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough and measles could, and very often did, kill children.

Outbreaks were so common that many village schools had to close every year at some point to prevent the diseases spreading among the children. A disease which spread quickly to many people in a local area was called an epidemic.

The very dramatically coloured entry shown here marks the closure of Derwenlas school for four successive weeks in October and November, 1891 because of the outbreak of measles in the area.

There is an example of how dangerous these diseases could be in Victorian times on the next page...

A tragedy at Darowen in 1892...