The Suttons and the business of inoculation

THE SurroNs, an eighteenth-century family of Suffolk surgeons consisting of Robert Sutton and six of his sons, were largely responsible for promoting the practice of inoculation for smallpox from an occasional medical procedure to a widespread business venture.Their fame and fortune increased in the second half of that century as inoculation became more popular.Jenner's publication of his method of vaccina- tion in 17981 led to a decline in the use of inoculation and it was finally made illegal in 1840.' Possibly because their method of trying to prevent smallpox was superseded by vaccination, the reputation of the Suttons declined to such an extent that some commentators have regarded them as quacks, and their method of inoculation as both valueless and dangerous.Although there have been a number of short accounts about the Suttons, it is believed that this is the first attempt to trace their progress from contemporary sources and to evaluate their methods.Some of the previous accounts are based on that published in the book Lettsom,3 and were apparently derived from family tradi- tions which contemporary sources have shown to be inaccurate. EARLY HISTORY OF INOCULATION IN ENGLAND4The inoculation of smallpox had been practised in Turkey and elsewhere "in the East" before the eighteenth century.Several reports of its use reached the Royal Society of London during the early 1700s.The method became more widely known after it had been described in a letter to Mrs. Chiswell from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was in Turkey in 1717.After her return to London, Lady Mary had her small daughter inoculated by Mr. Charles Maitland in April 1721.In May 1721 Maitland also inoculated Dr. Keith's son, and went on to inoculate six condemned criminals in Newgate in 1722.In April ofthat year the king's surgeon, Claude Amyand, inoculated Princess Amelia aged eleven and Princess Caroline aged nine.Following these events, the procedure gained some degree of acceptance both by the medical *